2nd Mar 2015 09:35
LONDON (Alliance News) - Trinity Mirror PLC on Monday said it turned to profit in 2014 and said it will pay its first dividend to shareholders since 2008.
The media company, owner of the Daily Mirror newspaper among other publications, said its pretax profit for the 52 weeks to December 28 was GBP81.6 million, compared to a GBP160.8 million loss last year. The loss last year was driven by a GBP225 million goodwill impairment charge it took last year.
Revenue for the year was down to GBP636.3 million from GBP663.8 million a year ago, with an improvement in the first half offset by challenging market conditions in the second. Print advertising revenue fell 14% in the second half, compared to an 8.8% decline in the first half.
Revenue in the publishing arm fell 4.2% in total, pushed down by a 6.3% fall in print revenue to GBP521.6 million, while digital revenue rose by 47% to 32.4 million.
The pretax profit pushed the group to declare a 3 pence per share dividend, the first dividend the company has paid since 2008. It expects to pay dividends of 5 pence per share in 2015.
"Whilst print has remained challenging, our continued focus on efficiency and cost management has resulted in another year of profit growth and strong cash flow which has enabled us to significantly reduce net debt and propose a final dividend for 2014, the first since 2008," said Simon Fox, Trinity Mirror's Chief Executive.
"At the end of the year I implemented a new streamlined management structure and I am confident that this will accelerate our focus on delivering sustainable growth in revenue and profit. The Board expects performance for 2015 to be in line with expectations," Fox added.
Shares in Trinity Mirror were up 0.4% to 201.50 pence on Monday.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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