Trinity Mirror earnings up 11%

Newspaper group Trinity Mirror saw full year earnings rose 11% after it delivered a bigger than expected reduction in costs.

The company which owns the Irish Mirror and Sunday Mirror titles in Ireland said pre-tax profits rose to £172.5m (€258.77) December 2003 from £155.5m (€232.52) twelve months earlier.

Turnover was up 1.2% to £1.1bn.(€1.65bn) while net debt was reduced by 10% to £605m (€907m) last year.

Trinity Mirror also said that the improving trend in advertising conditions during Q4 2003 has continued into January and February of this year.