Trinity Mirror, publisher of the Daily Mirror tabloid, said on Monday it was seeing signs of stronger demand for advertising in its national titles as a decline in like-for-like revenue improved slightly in the last quarter.

The company, which is in talks to buy rival titles from Northern & Shell, said group like-for-like revenue fell 8 per cent in the third quarter, an improvement on the 9 per cent decline in the first half.

“We are experiencing improving trends in nationally sourced print advertising revenues, though local advertising, particularly classified remain challenging and volatile,” the company said.

Circulation revenues

Sales for its digital business grew by 4 per cent, although its print advertising and circulation revenues fell by 16 per cent and 7 per cent respectively.

If Trinity Mirror’s talks to buy 100 per cent of Express Newspapers from Richard Desmond lead to a deal, this would represent the biggest shake-up to the newspaper industry for more than a decade.

The group offered no new detail on the transaction on Monday, however, other than to say “the group continues to make progress on discussions”.

– (Reuters/FT Service)