The Daily Mail's earnings suggest Brexit's impact on advertising may not be as disastrous as first thought

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Daily Mail

Neil Henderson/Twitter

The Daily Mail's front page on Thursday 21 July.

The Daily Mail and General Trust provided some positive news on post-Brexit trading in its third quarter earnings on Thursday.

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The owner of British newspapers The Daily Mail and Metro revealed that print advertising revenues fell just 8% in the three weeks after the EU referendum on 23 June.

This was better than the 11% decline over the three months to 30 June - the period that the Q3 earnings covered - and a significant improvement on the 15% deterioration in ad revenues in the second quarter.

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Daily Mail and General Trust share price increased 2% on Thursday morning following the financial update and analyst Liberum said the earnings should "reassure" investors. Numis added that the post-referendum figures are "particularly encouraging."

The news is a possible signal that the worst of the ad downturn is over and may even put to bed fears that Brexit will create potentially damaging uncertainty for the UK ad market.

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The Mail Online's advertising revenues increased 18%, or £3 million ($4 million), in the three months to the end of June, meaning the group's overall turnover was up 1% year-on-year.

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