The DMGT has announced that its 2009 half-yearly profits have almost halved.

The Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) has announced half-yearly profits down 47% due to a reduction in advertising spend within its papers and a drop in circulation figures.

Its overall advertising revenues were down 15% to £184 million, while circulation of the Daily Mail fell 5.8% and the Mail on Sunday by 5.6%. The trust attributes this drop in numbers to the lack of CD and DVD giveaways and its focus on marketing campaigns to recruit “long-term loyal purchasers”.

Also causing a loss for the trust was its sale of the Evening Standard newspaper in February, while in March 2009 it announced 1,000 job cuts across its regional titles.

Martin Morgan, Chief Executive, said: “Our B2B operations have been resilient in the face of the economic crisis, achieving growth, excluding the property businesses, boosted by currency gains in the period. The overall first half result has been badly affected by the impact of the recession on our consumer media advertising revenues. However, the decisive action taken to defend profitability, along with the continued management of our cost base, will help to offset the effect of continued weak trading conditions in the second half of the year.

“Our strategy of creating a diversified international portfolio of market-leading businesses in both business and consumer markets is proving to be effective in the current environment and leaves us well positioned to deliver long-term growth.”

The Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday are owned by the trust, along with a number of regional titles.