The publisher of the Daily Mirror has settled damages payouts in relation to more than 80% of phone-hacking claims made against its titles, it has announced.
Shares in Trinity Mirror, which also owns the Sunday Mirror, Sunday People and regional titles including the Manchester Evening News, rose more than 6% as investors appeared to welcome the progress on resolving the hacking cases and a positive financial update.
The company’s shares had fallen by almost 50% this year, leaving it worth just £250m.
The publisher surprised investors by saying it expected to marginally beat forecasts for the year and that its reduction in net debt to £35m was significantly better than expectations. However, it said it needed to put a further £11.5m towards phone-hacking costs to “maintain momentum” in resolving the approximately 350 claims against it so far.
The latest top-up will mean Trinity Mirror has set aside £52.5m to date to cover costs, which include damages payouts and legal fees.
“We have made good progress on settling civil claims arising from phone hacking, with damages for over 80% of claims now settled,” the company said. “However, to maintain momentum in bringing the process to a conclusion it is clear that costs, in particular the claimants’ legal costs, will be higher and this has caused us to increase the provision for dealing with these historic matters by £11.5m.”
Last month, Trinity Mirror paid out more than £500,000 to settle phone-hacking claims by 29 people, including the entertainer Les Dennis, TV presenter Natasha Kaplinsky and EastEnders actor Steve McFadden.
Trinity Mirror said it expected to have about £22m left in its phone-hacking costs fund by the end of the year.
“Although there still remains uncertainty as to how these matters will progress, the board remains confident that the exposures arising from these historic events are manageable and do not undermine the delivery of the group’s strategy.” the company said.
Trinity Mirror reported that print advertising remained in steep decline despite the traditional Christmas ad spend. Its print advertising revenues would be down 17% in the fourth quarter, while digital display and transactional revenues would rise by 18%.
