13th Feb 2015 07:45
LONDON (Alliance News) - Trinity Mirror PLC said Friday it is increasing its provision for settling phone hacking claims with individuals by 50%, as it has become evident that the costs to settle the claims will be "higher than previously envisaged".
The company has raised its provision to GBP12 million from the GBP8 million it had previously guided. The company's subsidiary Mirror Group Newspaper admitted liability to four individuals who had sued it for intercepting their voice-mails last September. At that time, it had agreed to pay out GBP125,000 in total to settle six phone-hacking claims against individuals.
Amongst the individual claims, former England football club manager Sven Goran Eriksson and actor Christopher Eccleston both settled their claims for GBP30,000 each.
Trinity Mirror noted Friday that there inevitably "remains some uncertainty as to how matters will progress and whether or not new allegations or claims will emerge and their possible financial impact." Back in September, Trinity Mirror said it faced nearly 50 compensation cases and 28 claims had already been registered with the court.
It said it continues to co-operate with the Metropolitan Police Service in their ongoing investigations, and takes "all allegations seriously". It has published an open apology to the victims of phone hacking Friday in the Daily Mirror.
The company also said Friday it expects to post adjusted profits and earnings per share for the 52 weeks to December 28 marginally ahead of consensus forecasts. It will announce its full-year results March 2.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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