Emap's revenues were up 4 per cent in the last six months, as the publisher said it was confident it would deliver full-year results "in line with expectations".
Revenue from consumer magazines was down from £193 million to £185m year on year, which the company blamed largely on the closure of titles such as teen magazine Sneak.
Emap said that despite "challenging conditions" in its markets, it had experienced some strong performances in consumer magazines and commercial radio, but that increasing circulation figures in its women's weeklies Heat, Closer and Grazia had been offset by weak performances by FHM and Max Power.
The launch of First had got off "to a slower start than anticipated", but Emap said it was still aiming for a circulation of 150,000 after one year. The company has also earmarked approximately £5m of its new product development investment for digital initiatives.
In its B2B portfolio, revenue was up 11 per cent to £134m from £121m in the same period last year, but underlying revenue was down 5 per cent, due to the weak performance of its recruitment-based public sector titles.
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