Trinity Mirror shares hit their highest level this year, after the publisher of the Daily Mirror said that it saw tentative signs of an advertising recovery through the rest of the year.

At the Mirror and the group’s other national newspapers, advertising bookings were down 10 per cent in July, against 14.4 per cent in the first six months of 2008. At its harder-hit regional titles, the decline in July bookings stood at 29 per cent, compared with a 35 per cent shortfall in the first half.

Vijay Vaghela, the finance director, said that Trinity was expecting “a gradual improvement in the rate of decline as we progress through the second half,” helped by easier comparisons with 2008.

Hopes of gradual improvement lifted the shares 9p, or 13 per cent, to 80½p, their highest level since last autumn, in the period shortly after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Pre-tax income in the first half, reflecting the economic conditions, was down 56 per cent to £31.3 million. Turnover was down 17 per cent at £383 million.

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