Parent company Daily Mail Group Trust (DMGT) said the decline was partly mitigated by the MailOnline’s 61% revenue growth to £20m (2012: £12m), although this is still dwarfed by printed revenues.
Combined revenue for the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday and MailOnline declined by 4% to £306m, which was attributed to an 8% decline in overall print advertising revenue and the 6% decline in circulation revenue.
London’s free paper Metro was hit by a post Olympics revenue decline of 8% to £40m (2012: £44m).
Overall DMG Media, the division comprising DMGT’s newspapers, Zoopla, Wowcher and digital recruitment firm Evenbase, posted a 6% increase in operating profit on revenues of £406m (2012: £435m).
DMGT chief executive Martin Morgan said good overall underlying performance reflected the strength of the group’s B2B companies and the resilience of its national consumer titles.
He added: "As expected, reported operating profit increased despite a decline in reported revenue resulting from recent disposals.
"Our UK consumer business, DMG media, continued to experience challenging conditions and underlying revenues were slightly down, although the increase in digital revenues more than offset the decline in print advertising revenues."
"We have continued to actively manage our portfolio of businesses and have made several acquisitions and disposals during the period and into the second half, to improve the overall quality and growth prospects of the group."
Morgan said that he expected comparatives in the second half of the year to be adversely impacted by the timing of biennial events and the Olympics, which were one-off benefits in the second half of the last financial year.
"Overall, the outlook for the full year remains unchanged," he added.
