Member Article

Profits slump at Trinity Mirror as digital props up print

Publisher Trinity Mirror saw profits slump last year in their annual results for 2015 which were released today.

Profits at Trinity, which publishes the Daily Mirror along with a raft of regional titles, dropped to £67.2m last year, compared to the £81.6m in 2014.

With digital revenue growing by 21.9% but print falling by 9.5%, the figures also demonstrate the increasing chasm between the profitability of the firm’s digital and printed publications.

The glum figures were further underlined as the group saw overall revenues dip by almost 7%, from £636m in 2014 to £592m last year.

The news comes as Trinity Mirror launches its new daily paper, The New Day, this week in an attempt to give its print business a shot in the arm.

Commenting on the annual results for 2015, Simon Fox, Chief Executive, Trinity Mirror, touched upon the increasingly challenging conditions for print.

He said: “I am pleased with the profit growth we delivered in 2015 despite the challenging print environment.

“Our significant efforts on improving our balance sheet over the past three years enabled the transformational acquisition of Local World.

“We are delighted to welcome the Local World team to Trinity Mirror and are making good progress with the integration of the two companies and finding opportunities to benefit from best practice.

Striking a more cautionary tone, he added: “Whilst we expect print markets to remain difficult in 2016, the continued implementation of our strategy gives the Board confidence in our performance for the year ahead.

“We have today launched, The New Day. It is an exciting and innovative initiative which we believe fills a gap in the market for a daily newspaper designed to co-exist in a digital age.”

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