Trinity Mirror pays first dividend since 2008

Trinity Mirror said it would pay a dividend for the first time since 2008 after tight cost control and digital advertising sales helped the British newspaper publisher to stem the overall rate of revenue decline.

Trinity, which has been battling falling circulation and lower advertising rates at its Daily and Sunday Mirror titles, said it would pay a final dividend of 3 pence per share.

Tight cost control helped the group to post a 1 per cent rise in adjusted profit before tax to £102.3 million, off revenue that fell 4.1 per cent to £636.3 million.

The decline was better than the 6 per cent in 2013, but the group said trading had been tougher in the second half than the first. Print advertising revenue fell by 14.1 per cent in the second half compared to a decline of 8.8 per cent in the first half.

It said a key driver of the slowdown in print revenue had been a reduction in advertising spend by supermarkets.

Trinity said it expected its 2015 performance to be in line with expectations, with analysts expecting a continued deterioration in revenue but a slight pick up in pretax profit.

"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," chief executive Simon Fox said.

Reuters