Express Newspapers recorded an operating loss of £1.1m last year, according to figures filed with Companies House. That compared with a £335,000 profit in 2010.
The publisher, owned by Northern & Shell and headed by Richard Desmond, attributed the loss to a 25% increase in newsprint costs, which accounted for additional expenditure of £10.5m.
But it achieved a 7% increase in turnover, up by £14.6m to £228.7m, by reducing the level of its cover price reductions on the Daily Star and choking off the voucher offers on the Daily and Sunday Express.
Despite the loss, the company claims the underlying performance is "highly satisfactory given the prevailing economic climate."
During the year, staffing increased very slightly - from 502 in 2010 to 505 - but the company announced in March that it planned to make £8m cuts, involving 100 redundancies, including about 70 journalists.
The directors' report also referred to "onerous rental commitments" at its headquarters in the City.
And it noted the shortfall in the funding of two Express pension funds, both of which were closed in 2008 to new entrants. It says it paid £7.75m into the main fund in 2010.
Source: Companies House
