The company that publishes the Irish Times has reported a 6% fall in operating profits to €20.3m (£16.3m) for 2007. It warned of "difficult" trading conditions this year and a challenging outlook for 2009.
A weakness in property advertising contributed to a 3.9% drop in the newspaper's ad revenue. Turnover of the Irish Times Ltd rose 6% to €137m (£110.2m), which included the first full-year contribution from the Myhome.ie property website, acquired at a cost of €50m (£40.2m) in 2006.
Managing director Maeve Donovan said: "Trading obviously has been difficult". But she saw potential "green shoots" in the fact that retailers continue to advertise. She said it was difficult to predict the conditions that were likely to prevail next year.
According to a Sunday Times report in its Irish edition (not online), ad revenues at the Irish Times are down by 35% this year.
