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Sunday Mirror publisher Trinity Mirror has set aside £4m to deal with phone-hacking claims
Sunday Mirror publisher Trinity Mirror has set aside £4m to deal with phone-hacking claims Photograph: /PR
Sunday Mirror publisher Trinity Mirror has set aside £4m to deal with phone-hacking claims Photograph: /PR

Trinity Mirror sets aside £4m to deal with phone-hacking claims

This article is more than 9 years old

Publisher of Mirror titles and the People says it is now facing 17 civil claims, as it reports a slight fall in adjusted pre-tax profits

Trinity Mirror has made a £4m provision for the future cost of dealing with allegations of phone hacking.

The publisher, which said that it is now facing 17 civil claims, gave the legal update as part of a financial report published on Monday.

Trinity Mirror, which revealed that it will this year reintroduce a dividend payment for the first time since 2008, said that the final cost of dealing with the allegations is not clear.

“The group continues to co-operate with the police in respect of Operation Elveden (the investigation relating to alleged inappropriate payments to public officials) and Operation Golding (the investigation into alleged phone hacking),” the company said.

“The group is aware of a number of civil claims from individuals in relation to phone hacking. In the first half we have provided £4m to cover the cost of dealing with and resolving claims. It remains uncertain as to how these matters will progress, whether further allegations or claims will be made, and their financial impact.”

Simon Fox, the Trinity Mirror chief executive, said that the cost of dealing with the allegations up until making the £4m provision has been in the “low single-digit” millions.

On Thursday Dan Evans, a former freelance news reporter at the Sunday Mirror who admitted listening to hacked voicemail messages, was given a suspended sentence in recognition of his co-operation with police and prosecutors.

Trinity Mirror reported a 66% jump in pre-tax profits to £50.5m in the first half of the year, boosted by £27.5m from the sale of MeteoGroup by PA Group, in which the publisher is a shareholder.

Stripping out such factors Trinity Mirror reported a slight fall in adjusted pre-tax profits to £48.2m.

The company said that the performance in the first half was ahead of expectations and delivered a profit upgrade for the full year.

Total revenues fell 2.3% to £324m, with the decline in May and June at just 1.4%.

Trinity Mirror said that its publishing operation saw revenues fall £7.2m to £281.6m.

Within this total print revenues fell 4.3% to £266.7m – compared with 6.7% in the same period last year – with ad revenues down 8.8% to £108.3m and circulation revenues down 1.2% to £142.5m.

Digital revenues jumped 47.5% to £14.9m.

“They are a very good set of results that indicate good progression in our strategy,” said Fox. “Digital has been particularly impressive. Total revenues are still down but the trends are very encouraging. We are getting closer to that tipping point. The strategy clearly is have to be a growing business, revenues as well as profits.”

Trinity Mirror invested £3m in digital operations in the first six months, in areas including hiring new talent, video, a match centre for the World Cup, and improving the user experience of its products.

The company said that it had been hit by a 10% rise in newsprint prices in the first half, but that the cost will fall in the second half of the year.

Trinity Mirror said that it is on track to make £10m in cost savings this year.

Its pension deficit rose from £252m to £272m while net debt fell to £56m.

“Continued momentum with the strategy coupled with the benefit of a fall in newsprint prices in the second half provides the board with confidence that performance for the year will be marginally ahead of expectations,” the company said.

Trinity Mirror’s share price was up 5.3% to 188p in early trading.

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More on this story

More on this story

  • Phone hacking: Trinity Mirror to pay out over 10 claims

  • Trinity Mirror boss says everything possible done to probe phone hacking

  • Trinity Mirror: 'too soon to know' how phone-hacking allegations will progress

  • Trinity Mirror shareholders to call for transparency on phone-hacking costs

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