Daily Mail owner DMGT said today advertising revenues at its newspaper business had grown in the first six months of the financial year but the group now faced an "uncertain" marketplace.
DMGT said advertising revenues at its national newspapers - which also include the Mail on Sunday and the London Evening Standard - rose 2.5% in the six months ending on April 3.
In April advertising was up 1% on an underlying basis, putting it ahead of many other media companies, which have reported an early spring downturn.
Although much of the slump has been put down to the early Easter and the general election, which stopped government advertising during the campaign, DMGT sounded a cautious note about the cause of the malaise.
"The period since the end of March has seen the group's UK newspapers businesses face uncertain advertising markets," the group said in a statement.
"The picture has been obscured by the timing of Easter and by the general election, but recent assessments of consumer confidence are not encouraging.
"We expect our titles to continue to grow their market share and this, together with the greater colour printing capacity, should enable them to outperform their peers."
DMGT's newspapers - which also include the 100-strong regional stable, Northcliffe - account for the majority of the group's revenues.
Revenues at the national newspaper division, Associated, were up 1% to £458m in the first half of the year, while Northcliffe's revenues were flat at £257m, DMGT said.
Overall, the company said it had grown pre-tax profits in the first half of the year by 2% to £77.1m, on turnover up 1% to £1.06bn.
The only division to see revenues fall was DMG Broadcasting, where a "weak" holiday market dragged down Teletext, taking the top line down 23% to £46m.
The group's exhibitions business, DMG World Media, grew revenues by 7% to £90m, while revenues at DMG Information was up 12% to £122m.
Revenues at Euromoney Institutional Investor, the financial publishing arm that is 71% owned by DMGT, handed the company £89m, up 9% on the same period a year before.
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