Maxim, one of the trailblazers of the 1990s boom in lads' magazines, is to stop printing in Britain after reporting plummeting sales.

The decision to confine the monthly magazine's UK version to the internet - where it still attracts 500,000 visitors a month - represents a further blow for the struggling men's magazine sector as well as highlighting a shift among consumers towards the web and weekly magazines.

Launched in 1995, Maxim was selling 328,000 copies a month at its 2000 peak, behind only Loaded and FHM in the men's magazine market.

But in the face of competition from the internet and weekly titles such as Nuts and Zoo, sales have slumped in recent years and had dipped to 46,000 by the second half of 2008 - a year-on-year fall of 41 per cent.

Dennis Publishing, which produces Maxim, said that June’s magazine would be the last UK edition, but the US print version would continue. The June edition will be on sale from April 23. The online editorial team will be bolstered to produce more material for the site, which will continue to be advertiser-funded.

“We are extremely proud of what Maxim UK has achieved: as a print magazine, it was at the forefront of the UK lifestyle market and as a website it will continue to inform and entertain thousands of readers every day,” James Tye, the publisher’s chief executive, said.

Readers who have paid for subscriptions to the UK magazine will be offered the choice of receiving the US magazine, which still sells about 2.5 million copies, or another Dennis lifestyle publication.

Numerous lads' magazines have suffered heavily in recent years, with Nuts falling 13.3 per cent year-on-year to an average weekly circulation of 234,034 in the six months to December 2008 while Zoo fell 18.7 per cent year-on-year to 145,555.

Loaded and FHM, the 1990s rivals to Maxim, have also seen sales fall, with sales of Loaded dropping by 21.7 per cent year-on-year to 90,071, while FHM fell 13.5 per cent to 272,545.

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