Sales of magazine, catalogue and retail products which accounted for 35.4% of the group total and over half of Donnelley Print Solutions revenue were down 22.9%.

Book publishing services revenue dropped 5.5%, telecommunications slipped 18.8% and premedia sales fell 18%. The only division to post a sales increase was financial services, up 2%.

Total sales for the three months to 31 March fell 16% to 755m ($1.1bn), while net income before one-time costs slumped 66% to 6.2m.

During the quarter RR Donnelley took an 18.6m charge for restructuring, but benefited to the tune of 20.6m from the reversal of excess tax reserves.

The Chicago-based group whose main UK site is the directory plant at Flaxby Moor, Yorkshire handling the Yellow Pages account said it would cut annual costs by 110m by the end of the fourth quarter, compared to 2000 figures.

Its capital spending for 2002 will be 170m-210m.