Trinity Mirror full year earnings slide

National newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror said annual profit and revenue fell sharply and, while it expects the trading environment to remain difficult, it will continue to invest in the business and pay down long term debt.

The Daily Mirror publisher said pre-tax profit fell to £18.9m for the 52 weeks ended December 30th 2012 from £74.4m the year before. The figure includes a £60m non-cash goodwill impairment charge.

Revenue for the year fell to £706.5m from £760.7m previously. The fall in revenue was in part due to the launch of a new national Sunday tabloid during February 2012.

Operating profit climbed 2.5% to £107.1m while earnings per share grew 10.7% to 29.9p.

CEO Simon Fox commented: "It has become clear to me in my first six months that not only is Trinity Mirror a strong and cash generative business, as evidenced by this past year's financial performance, but that there is significant further unrealised potential."

"We will be investing £8m during 2013 to deliver our strategic objectives whilst ensuring we repay maturing long-term debt over the next 15 months. Over this period our financial flexibility will improve such that we can both meet our pension funding obligations and consider the potential for returning capital to shareholders."

The group said although the trading environment is expected to remain difficult, the strategic initiatives implemented should deliver sustainable profit growth over the medium term.

CJ