Daily Mail & General Trust fell into the red as it reported a pre-tax loss of £239m for the six months to 29 March, with an 85% fall in operating profit at its regional arm and a 59% fall across its national newspaper division.

The owner of the Daily Mail and about 100 regional titles said that its results were affected by a £179m non-cash charge principally relating to assets acquired in recent years by Northcliffe, DMG World Media, Euromoney and DMG Radio.

On an adjusted basis, stripping out factors such as exceptional charges, pre-tax profits fell 47% to £77m for the period. Adjusted operating profits dropped 30% year on year to £116m and group revenues decline by 7% to £1.08bn.

Operating profits at DMGT's regional arm, Northcliffe Media, fell 85% to just £6m, with revenue down 23% to £166m.

UK circulation revenues fell by 6% to £35m at the division. The company said that April trading saw UK advertising revenues remaining at 36% below the equivalent period last year. Recruitment revenues in the UK were down 63%, with property down 54% and retail down 11% year on year. However, the company said that other categories were "at or above" previous months.

"In total, advertising revenues in the last 15 weeks have remained steady, with the exception of recruitment," the company said.

At Associated Newspapers, the company's national newspaper arm, operating profit fell 59% year on year to £18m, with revenue down 10% to £455m.

There was a 16% year-on-year fall in underlying ad revenue at the division. Ad revenues were down 8% in the first quarter and 23% down in the second quarter. However, April and May have seen an "improving trend", down 15% to date.

Display advertising was down by 16% to £150m. By sector, all categories were lower, but retail, the largest category, was the best performer, falling by 7% boosted by strong advertising from supermarkets.

Classified advertising fell by 13% to £29m.

The company said that overall circulation revenues at the division remained stable at £181m, due to an increase in cover prices. However, circulation at the Daily Mail fell 5.8% and at the Mail on Sunday 5.6% for the period.

"The overall first-half result has been badly affected by the impact of the recession on our consumer media advertising revenues," said Martin Morgan, the chief executive of DMGT.

"However, the decisive action taken to defend profitability, along with the continued management of our cost base, will help to offset the effect of continued weak trading conditions in the second half of the year."

In November the company unveiled a cost-cutting and revenue-boosting strategy it hoped would save £100m.

DMGT said this morning that revenue and cost-saving initiatives would improve profitability by £150m this year.

In total, the company charged £232m in amortisation charges and impairment losses and £85m of exceptional items.

DMGT said that it expected total headcount to fall by 1,500 this year. Peter Williams, the DMGT finance director, said the company was through the "vast majority" of the cost-savings plan "assuming no further substantial downturn".

The DMGT chief executive, Martin Morgan, said there had been some signs of stabilisation.

"There is little visibility in [ad] bookings in the consumer business – it is very short term," he said. "However, for several weeks in the Northcliffe operation it feels like revenues have levelled out.

"Recruitment is still weak but there is some relative strength in other categories. In the nationals [newspaper division] the year-on-year decline has reduced coming out of March and into April and May. It would be a brave person to call that a trend yet, but at least it is not going the other way."

Morgan said DMGT's business-to-business operations, which accout for 80% of group profits, had proved resilient "in the face of the economic crisis".

For example, its Risk Management Solutions operation saw underlying revenue increase by 11% and operating profit increase by 18% year on year.

The company said it expected full-year results to be in line with market expectations.

The deficit on DMGT's pension scheme rose to £220m. Net debt at the end of the period was £1.2bn, an increase of £212m since the year end. DMGT said that it was trading "comfortably" within the requirements of its banking covenants.

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