Newspapers publishing group Trinity Mirror PLC (LON:TNI) said it expects full-year results will be in line with expectations, despite a slide in third quarter revenues.
The Daily Mirror owner had no further updates, however, on its discussions with Northern & Shell over the possible acquisition of the Daily Express and the Star newspapers, other than to say that it “continues to make progress” in the negotiations.
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Trinity said revenue fell by 8% year-on-year on a like-for-like basis, but drew comfort from the fact this was an improvement on the second quarter’s 9% decline.
“We are experiencing improving trends in nationally-sourced print advertising revenues, though local advertising, particularly classified remain challenging and volatile,” the company said.
Publishing revenue fell by 9% with print declining by 10% and digital growing by 4% from a year earlier.
Publishing print advertising and circulation revenue fell by 16% and 7% respectively.
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On the plus side, digital display and transactional revenue growth clocked in at 14%, but classified digital revenues, which are substantially jointly sold with print, remained under pressure.
Trinity’s shares fell 3.60% to 80.25p.