Trinity Mirror, the publisher of the Daily Mirror, bemoaned the "challenging" market as it warned that advertising revenues in its national newspapers division have fallen by more than 5 per cent during the first half of the year.

But the group, led by chief executive Sly Bailey, refused to be drawn on a report that Marcus Evans, a multi-millionaire conference organiser, had approached it with an £800 million bid for the Mirror title. It is believed that Mr Evans' approach is not a recent one and probably took place last year.

A spokesman for Trinity Mirror reiterated the group's earlier comment that: "There are no discussions or negotiations regarding the sale of any of our newspaper titles."

In a pre-close trading update that stood in marked contrast to yesterday's upbeat comments from the owners of The Independent, Trinity said group advertising revenues were expected to have fallen by 0.4 per cent year on year.

Trinity said advertising at its UK national titles, which include the People, had fallen by 7 per cent. In Scotland, where it publishes the Daily Record and the Sunday Mail, advertising sales are down 0.3 per cent.

The group maintained that its national newspapers "continue to hold volume market share of advertising".

As it predicted that its sports division would see advertising revenues grow by 14.5 per cent year on year, and that advertising in magazines and at conferences would show a modest 0.5 per cent pick-up, Trinity Mirror said growth in display and classified advertising revenues had been offset in part by a fall in job and car ads.

Newspapers are particulary sensitive to economic developments and many have seen their advertising revenues tested by the downturn in consumer and business confidence. Their circulations have also been falling amid increased competition from news rivals, particularly over the internet.

Trinity Mirror said today that group circulation revenues for the first half would be up by about 3.1 per cent year on year. As it reported that all of its newspaper divisions should achieve circulation growth, Trinity said circulation figues for its regional newspapers should be up by about 5.2 per cent, with its nationals expected to put on 1.9 per cent and its sports papers to add 9.6 per cent.

The shares had added 0.5 per cent to 627p by mid-morning, valuing the overall group at nearly £1.9 billion.

Trinity's downbeat statement contrasted with yesterday's statement by Independent News & Media that advertising and circulation revenues would both grow this year.

The Dublin-based group said it expected to see a "high single-digit" increase in group advertising revenues for the six months to the end of June, although it said this will be in line with market expectations

"In addition - and in spite of some recent negative market commentary by some competitors in the UK market in particular - forward bookings remain positive in all five markets," Independent said.

Sir Anthony O'Reilly, the chief executive, said he expected "meaningful" growth in underlying profits for the full year.

Trinity pointed out that Trinity and Independent are "operating in a different market in the UK". A spokesman also further distanced the group from direct comparison by pointing out that Independent operates in five markets - Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK.

Shares in Dublin-based Independent News & Media were unchanged this morning at €2.57.

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