Shares in Daily Mail & General Trust (LON:DMGT) saw their worst performance in more than a decade falling by almost 8% at market open today after half-year profits tanked.
The media group, which owns the Daily Mail tabloid newspaper, saw an 11% fall in profits to £129mln following a slump in advertising.
Print advertising fell 13%, outstripping any increase in digital advertising, largely due to the 3% dip in newspaper circulation.
Circulation of the group’s newspapers, the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday, dropped 3%.
"DMGT's performance in the first half was broadly in line with our expectations, other than the further deterioration in the UK print advertising market,” said chief executive Martin Morgan.
"The reduced print advertising revenues had an adverse impact on DMG media's operating profits."
Morgan also announced his retirement after 27 years with the group, eight as CEO. Paul Zwillenberg will take over the role from next month.
In April, the company announced it was considering a bid for the beleaguered US internet group Yahoo. It is still in talks with a number of private equity firms regarding an offer.
Shares were down 8.5% to 681.5p.