LONDON, Aug 1 (Reuters) - British newspaper publisherTrinity Mirror said first-half adjusted profit rose 42percent after it bought regional newspaper publisher Local Worldand tightly managed costs in a tough print advertising market.
Shares in the group, which publishes the Daily Mirror andSunday Mirror, were trading up 6 percent at 0919 GMT, asanalysts at Barclays said the results beat its expectations andthe group announced a 10 million pound ($13.2 million) sharebuyback.
The company, which acquired Local World in November,reported adjusted pretax profit of 66.9 million pounds for the27 weeks to July 3 on revenue 30 percent higher at 374.7 millionpounds.
The company said the trading environment was volatile in theperiod, and it saw no more stability in the remainder of theyear, in particular because of macroeconomic uncertainty createdby Britain's vote to leave the European Union in June.
On a like-for-like basis, revenues fell 7.8 percent, whichanalysts said indicated a more than 10 percent fall in printadvertising revenue in the second quarter.
The company said group like-for-like revenue had fallen 9percent in July.
"With circulation much less volatile, that suggests thatprint advertising has returned to a high teens rate of decline-- somewhat worrying given fears on UK macro and the impact onadvertising," Barclays said.($1 = 0.7594 pounds) (Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Adrian Croft)
