London: Shares in Trinity Mirror jumped on Monday after heavy cost cuts enabled the British newspaper publisher to overcome the continued fall in print advertising and pay an interim dividend for the first time since 2008.
The home to the Daily Mirror said its £20 million (Dh112 million, $31.3 million) cost-saving programme had enabled its print titles to generate cash, helping it to pay an interim dividend of 2 pence per ordinary share.
The group had net cash of £23.9 million by June 28, the end of its first half. That was despite an 11.6 per cent fall in publishing print sales, its main source of income, as supermarkets and telecom groups spent less on advertising.
While print publishing came in at £235.7 million in the first half, digital publishing revenue grew by 27 per cent to £18.9 million.
“It was a tough half year for print advertising,” Chief Executive Simon Fox told Reuters. “Good cash generation meant we have £24 million of cash on our balance sheet, the first time in our history that we’ve had cash on our balance sheet.” Analysts also welcomed the comment that July revenue trends were better than those experienced in May and June, and Fox said he hoped the rate of decline would abate in the second half.
Shares in the group rose 8.3 per cent to 144.4 pence by 0828 GMT after a 36 per cent drop in the last five months, valuing the owner of national, regional and digital titles at around £370 million.
