British media group follows trend with internet spending cuts

LONDON - Trinity Mirror, Britain's largest newspaper group, has become the latest media company to cut internet spending, while hoisting up the "for sale" sign over several non-core businesses.

Spending on internet activities, which cost £42m in 2000, will fall for the three years to the end of 2001 to £90m from an earlier plan to invest £150m.

The company will also sell ic24, its free internet service provider (ISP), a 50 per cent interest in PA Sporting Life as well as its magazines and exhibitions division.

The asset sales are expected to raise around £65m.

The group confounded City expectations by reporting solid growth in advertising turnover in the current year. Philip Graf, the chief executive, said: "Advertising growth since 1 January on a like-for-like basis is higher than the second half of last year."

Mr Graf said that growth translated into a 9 per cent advertising revenue gain at the group's national titles, which include The Mirror and The Daily Record, and a 7 per cent increase among its regional newspapers. Recruitment and property advertising have performed strongly, he said.

For 2000, Trinity Mirror reported a slight fall in operating profit to £154m, although a £161m gain on the £300m sale of The Belfast Telegraph to Independent News & Media, publishers of The Independent, helped pre-tax profits jump 74 per cent to £315.3m. Sales edged up 1.7 per cent to £1.08bn and the total dividend rose 10 per cent to 17.6p.

Commenting on the scaled-down internet plan, Anthony de Larrinaga, analyst with SG Securities, said: "It has been clear that the ISP was peripheral and expensive. It is not central to the strategy of building vertical portals in the regions." Trinity Mirror stock ended up 27.5p at 486p.

- INDEPENDENT