Trinity Mirror has announced this morning that its regionals division has made an operating profit of £35.9m over the year - compared to £68.2m in 2008 (a 47.4% drop).
Regional advertising during the year fell by 29.5% to £198.9m and circulation also dropped slightly.
Bailey
Profit margins were maintained following major cost-cutting in staff and papers throughout the last 12 months, which saw costs fall by £69.7m.
“Regional businesses are hit particularly hard by the recession due, firstly, to the reliance on a higher proportion of advertising revenues than circulation revenues and, secondly, to the fact that the majority of its advertising is classified,” said chairman Sly Bailey.
“Our focus in 2009 has been on managing the business through the downturn and a comprehensive package of measures was put in place to support profitability. We have achieved increased efficiencies by reducing headcount, closing premises and reducing infrastructure costs. We made changes to the format and frequency of a number of titles, closing or selling 30 newspaper titles which had become unprofitable. Along with a restructured portfolio we introduced a simpler, flatter management structure which further reduced costs.
“We also made good progress in implementing our new operating model across editorial, advertising and pre-press. The new model has allowed us to modernise how we publish across print and digital, delivering a step change in efficiencies and a reduction in headcount resulting in significant structural cost savings.”
Bailey said the publisher was not planning to close any further newspapers, nor were there any redundancy programmes planned.
GMG Regional Media
However, due to the timing of the Preliminary Results Announcement, it doesn’t include GMG Regional Media, which Trinity Mirror acquired in February for a cash consideration of £7.4m. The transaction is due to complete on 28th March:
“GMG Regional Media is a perfect strategic fit for our Group. This acquisition, which includes the Manchester Evening News with its proud and rich journalistic heritage, together with the weekly titles and associated websites extends our reach across print and online and is a further step towards our strategic goal of creating a local multi-media business of scale.”
Bailey also said that it wouldn’t be introducing a paywall to its regional websites, although it would trial specific paid online content.
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