Daily Mail owner's shares drop 8% as profits fall
Shares in the publisher of the Daily Mail have fallen 8% after falling advertising income hit its half-year profits.
Daily Mail and General Trust also said that the drop in demand for print advertising meant profit margins at its media business would be about 10% this year, down from 13% last year.
It reported an 11% fall in profits to £129m for the six months to 31 March.
The company owns the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The news comes as print media continues to struggle to adapt to ever-increasing competition from online news providers.
Earlier this week, the Daily Telegraph's owners announced plans to cut an as-yet-unspecified number of editorial jobs to offset falls in advertising income.
Murdoch MacLennan, chief executive of the Telegraph Media Group, said conditions had "continued to markedly deteriorate across the sector" over the past three months, with print advertising down by 20% in April.
Revenues at the Mail Online rose £8m from a year earlier, but the company said revenues at the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday fell by £18m.
Shares in DMGT were down 8% at 683p in morning trading.
Chief executive Martin Morgan said: "DMGT's performance in the first half was broadly in line with our expectations, other than the further deterioration in the UK print advertising market.
"The reduced print advertising revenues had an adverse impact on DMG media's operating profits."
Mr Morgan added that, aside from the tough conditions in the print advertising market, the group's revenues were "broadly stable".