Trinity Mirror unveils daily deals site as profits slump

Trinity Mirror is launching a daily deals website that it hopes will boost digital revenues, after reporting a 15 per cent slump in like-for-like operating profits across the whole group.

The publisher used its end-of-year results announcement this morning to provide details of the launch, called Happli, which it expects to become profitable by 2014 and generate annual revenues of £20m.

Digital revenues at Trinity Mirror increased by 1.3 per cent in 2011 to £37.6 million. Total group revenue was down two per cent to £746.6 million and operating profit fell 15 per cent to £104.5 million due to increasing newsprint prices.

A slight increase in circulation at the group's national newspapers, helped by the closure of the News of the World, was not enough to offset the decline in advertising. National newspaper revenues fell by 1.7 per cent to £453 million, with operating profits down 12 per cent to £83.1 million.

The regional newspapers reported a 2.3 per cent drop in revenue to £293.6 million and a 15.9 per cent fall in operating profit, at £36.5 million.

Trinity Mirror described the figures today as a "creditable performance" and said "the group is very well placed for the future, when we are through the tough economic environment". It has set a target to make £15 million in cost savings this year.

Revenues at the group's national newspapers are up slightly in the first quarter of this year, but the company added: "Circulation revenues will be volatile with the impact of the launch of the new Sunday title in the national market." Regional revenues are down about seven per cent year on year in the first three months of 2012.

The new daily deals launch, Happli, has been piloted in Manchester and Newcastle and will be rolled out to a further 20 cities this year.

Trinity Mirror said: "There are significant opportunities to drive new digital revenues from this market. We expect the market to evolve, especially on mobile, from being email-centric to mobile/location-based, and individually targeted."

The group also said today that it was two-thirds of the way through implementing a new £45 million "state-of-the-art" cross-platform publishing system at all of is titles, which it expects will be fully in place by the end of 2013.

Further enhancements are planned to the group's websites this year, using the technology and some design elements from the recent Mirror Online relaunch. New mobile applications and paid-for tablet editions are also being worked on, the company said.

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