TRINITY Mirror has demanded to see details of phone-hacking claims that slashed the share price of the newspaper group when first revealed last month.
The publisher of the Daily Mirror and Scotland’s Daily Record said it had received no formal claims from alleged victims including former England football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, who has said his phone was illegally tapped by Mirror journalists. Other accusations have been made against the People and Sunday Mirror titles.
In a trading update that included news of stronger advertising revenues in November, Trinity Mirror said it was now seeking details of the hacking allegations. It said no claims had been served.
Despite a 12 per cent decline in advertising revenues during the 17 weeks to 28 October, the company said full-year profits would remain on par with the £104.5 million generated in 2011.
This will be delivered in part by £20m of cost-savings. There was an improvement in advertising revenues for the nationals but a decline in the regional newspaper division, which includes the S&UN titles.
The group had “nothing further to report” on discussions on it taking a minority stake in a new company to be formed from the combination of the Daily Mail’s Northcliffe division and the newspaper assets of family-owned Yattendon.