Jobs at risk as Trinity Mirror plans to double cost savings

The company, which publishes titles including the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Huddersfield Examiner, said it targeted cost savings of £20m this year compared with its previous target of £10m, to protect profit.

The higher cost-savings target would, however, increase restructuring expenses by about £5m to £15m, Trinity Mirror said.

“Despite the weak revenue trends, the company has plenty of cost savings it can still drive...” Liberum analysts said in a note, and kept their “buy” rating on the stock.

Trinity Mirror said on Friday that it expected an 11 per cent fall in revenue for the 26 weeks ending June 28, as print advertising revenue fell by almost a fifth during the period.

Underlying digital publishing revenue, however, is expected to jump 26 per cent in the period, helped by a 50 per cent rise in average monthly unique users and page views.

Trinity, which also owns the Daily Record, the People and regional titles such as the Liverpool Echo and Manchester Evening News, said it expected full-year profit to be in line with expectations.

Trinity Mirror, which has been embroiled in the high-profile celebrity phone-hacking scandal, confirmed that its subsidiary MGN Ltd was seeking permission to appeal against a court ruling ordering it to pay a total of £1.2m in damages to eight phone-hacking victims.

Last September, the newspaper group admitted liability over hacking the phones of four people and said it would pay compensation.