INDEPENDENT NEWS & Media yesterday reaffirmed its guidance for the year, predicting a 2010 operating profit of between €220 million and €225 million, excluding one-time items.

In an interim management statement issued to the market yesterday, INM said that year-on-year underlying revenue trends to the end of October were marginally better than those for the six months to June 30th, 2010. While circulation revenue slipped 0.8 per cent year on year, revenue from advertising increased by 1.7 per cent on the year.

Operating profit at the media group, which has interests in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa, was up by approximately 10 per cent year on year, while total group revenues were up by 1.2 per cent.

Despite the continuing improvement in advertising trends since June, the company said visibility on advertising in Ireland and South Africa remains “relatively short term”, though both markets have seen a marginal improvement on first-half trends. First-half figures published in August showed advertising revenue in Ireland declined by 12.4 per cent in the six-month period, though this was an improvement on the 36.2 per cent reverse recorded in the comparable period the previous year.

The company said trading conditions in all its regions still remain “challenging”, reiterating that advertising visibility is still “very short-term”.

It added it has contained costs, despite a 10 per cent increase in newsprint prices in European markets since July 1st, and inflationary cost increases in South Africa. Total operating costs were down fractionally in the period, decreasing by 0.2 per cent.

INM’s first-half results, published in August, showed the media group returned to the black in the first six months of 2010, posting a pre-tax profit of €63 million including exceptional items, compared to a loss of €48.5 million in the same period in 2009.