Two major newspaper publishers face a drastic drop in ad revenue this year, with the Daily Mirror publisher down 30 per cent and the Yorkshire Post publisher 34.4 per cent lower.

The trading update published by Trinity Mirror covering the 17 weeks up to April 26th showed a 4 per cent decline in circulation and a 13 per cent drop in digital revenue.

Trinity Mirror’s national division saw a 17 per cent drop, while its regional division, which includes the Liverpool Echo and the Birmingham Post was hit by a 36 per cent decline in advertising revenue. These figures point to an 18 per cent overall drop in revenue.

However, Trinity Mirror insists they are expecting to deliver a positive cash flow throughout 2009.

Rival, Johnstone Press have been forced to take action against the fallen ad sales removing all of its Republic of Ireland titles from the shelves. The title which included, the Limerick Leader and Leinster Press were originally up for sale, but bids were too low and so the publisher had to axe the publications.

Johnstone announced that with no money coming in from a sale, they were likely to breach a financial covenant with its lenders this year. The publisher is currently in talks to relax its covenants.

Shares at Johnstone press were reported to have dropped 25.8 per cent as of 9am this morning to 23p, while Trinity Mirror escaped with just a 3 per cent fall to 72.25p.

Currently, Johnstone’s net debt stood at £448 million at the end of April, down £29 million from the start of the year.

Johnstone warned that the fall in ad revenues of 34.4 per cent meant that operating profits for the year are most likely to be towards the lower end of the current market expectations. The publisher plans to make further writedowns of the value of its assets later this year.

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