Ad revenue boost for Daily Mail publishers

Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) disclosed the "marked improvement" in January after a dire past couple of years for media firms due to the slump in advertising demand.

Circulation improved at the group's flagship national titles thanks to a subscription and home delivery marketing initiative, with the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday also claiming further market share.

But the group said it remained cautious about recovery hopes over the year ahead, particularly in the UK.

DMGT has taken drastic action over the past year to slash costs, axing jobs and selling-off underperforming businesses amid the recession.

Since the beginning of last year, DMGT has sold the London Evening Standard to Russian oligarch and former spy Alexander Lebedev, shut London freesheet the London Lite and last month called time on its Teletext news and information service two years ahead of schedule.

More than 2,200 jobs have been lost in the past year, of which at least half were shed from its Northcliffe Media regional newspaper arm.

But yesterday's figures confirmed an improving picture, with underlying revenue declines easing to 8 per cent across the group in the final three months of last year followed by the encouraging January result.