Trinity Mirror warns of Brexit impact despite sharp increase in profit

Trinity Mirror, the publisher of the Daily Mirror newspaper, warned that Britain's vote to leave the European Union could have a negative impact on its revenue.

The London-listed company indicated the pro-Brexit vote had triggered "increased macroeconomic uncertainty", and while the full extent of the repercussions was and hard to assess, "based on current UK growth forecasts there is a risk that our revenues could be lower than expectations".

Soon after the referendum, the publisher, which owns a number of national and regional titles, said it would take "mitigating actions" to shore-up profits following the Brexit vote. However, it has since revealed that "based on current UK growth forecasts there is a risk that our revenues could be lower than expectations".

Trinity Mirror added that Brexit concerns were not the only challenges facing the company and the sector, with a host of issues potentially ready to surface.

"There are other related factors which affect the group," it said in a statement on Monday (1 August).

"For example, the impact of a tougher UK business environment on interest rates and therefore long-term bond yields and the deficit in the group's defined benefit pension schemes."

A fall in long-term interest rates, has driven Trinity's pension deficit up by £120.8m (€143.3m, $160m) to £426m.

The warning over the Brexit impact came as the company reported its first half profits surged 42% year-on-year to £66.9m, while revenue grew from £288.5m to £374.7m. Like-for-like sales from the group's digital business rose 14.4% from the corresponding period in 2015 to £39.7 million, with average monthly page views rising 19% to 770 million.

However, revenue from print fell 10.3%, continuing an ongoing trend in the sector, as the group with Trinity warned of "increased challenges" in the advertising market.

"Our strategic focus remains to grow digital audience and revenue whilst protecting print revenue and profit," said group chief executive Simon Fox.

"We are confident that our strategy and our strong balance sheet position will enable continued progress despite increased uncertainty around the economic environment."