Regional newspaper publisher Johnston Press said it was continuing to battle a tough trading climate as it blamed weak consumer confidence for a further decline in advertising revenues.
The group, which owns titles including The Yorkshire Post and The Sunderland Echo, said yesterday there had been "no discernible improvement" in market conditions as employment, motor and display advertising sales all fell further.
Like-for-like advertising revenues for the five months to June 3 slumped 9.4 per cent, the company said in its pre-close trading update.
Revenues for the same period including acquisitions fell 8.4 per cent, it added.
Johnston, the UK's second-biggest local newspaper publisher, said the fall in advertising revenues were because of difficult conditions across its markets.
It said higher unemployment and lower vacancies had hit jobs advertising while lower car sales and dealer consolidation had led to a drop in motor revenues.
And weakness in consumer confidence and poor results from a number of high street retailers put further pressure on display advertising.
However, Johnston added that it was still seeing growth in its property and other classified markets.
It also said circulation revenues were ahead of last year and it continued to see good growth in digital publishing.
Like-for-like contract printing revenues were down due the closures of the Halifax, Portsmouth Heatset and Scarborough presses, but the firm said there would be increased contract printing after recent acquisitions.
Johnston acquired Scotsman Publications, which publishes titles including The Scotsman and the Edinburgh Evening News , in a £160 million deal last year from Daily Telegraph owners the Barclay brothers.
In yesterday's update it said the integration of recent acquisitions was progressing well and it expected them to be profitable within the year.
It said: "These acquisitions combined with our ongoing control of costs and improved productivity will help offset the impact of increased newsprint prices and the difficult trading conditions."
Johnston currently owns more than 300 weekly and daily evening newspapers including the Lancashire Evening Post, Falkirk Herald and Hartlepool Mail.
Analyst Alex DeGroote, of Panmure Gordon, said advertising accounted for about three quarters of the company's revenues.
Trinity Mirror, owner of The Birmingham Post is the country's largest regional newspaper publisher.
