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LONDON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Shares in Trinity Mirror jumped on Monday after heavy cost cuts enabled the Britishnewspaper publisher to overcome the continued fall in printadvertising and pay an interim dividend for the first time since2008.
The home to the Daily Mirror said its 20 million pound($31.3 million) cost-saving programme had enabled its printtitles to generate cash, helping it to pay an interim dividendof 2 pence per ordinary share.
The group had net cash of 23.9 million pounds by June 28,the end of its first half. That was despite an 11.6 percent fallin publishing print sales, its main source of income, assupermarkets and telecom groups spent less on advertising.
While print publishing came in at 235.7 million pounds inthe first half, digital publishing revenue grew by 27 percent to18.9 million pounds.
"It was a tough half year for print advertising," ChiefExecutive Simon Fox told Reuters. "Good cash generation meant wehave 24 million pounds of cash on our balance sheet, the firsttime in our history that we've had cash on our balance sheet."
Analysts also welcomed the comment that July revenue trendswere better than those experienced in May and June, and Fox saidhe hoped the rate of decline would abate in the second half.
Shares in the group rose 8.3 percent to 144.4 pence by 0828GMT after a 36 percent drop in the last five months, valuing theowner of national, regional and digital titles at around 370million pounds. ($1 = 0.6395 pounds) (Reporting by Kate Holton; editing by Sarah Young and LouiseHeavens)