Shares in Yell Group, the publisher of Yellow Pages directories, dropped 2.28 per cent to 417p in morning trading despite reiterating full-year revenue growth guidance of about 3 per cent in the UK and in its key market, America.

In the six months to 30 September, Yell said that adjusted ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) were up 18.8 per cent to £319.8 million.

Adjusted profit after tax and minority interests was also up 7.3 per cent to £114.7 million.

The results come amid intense US competition, where the company generates about half its revenues.

Analysts had been anxious ahead of the interim results after a warning in April that the company's growth had slowed in the US, hit by fierce competition.

The reaction had been a 20 per cent dive in shareprice, putting the directories group on the brink of relegation from the FTSE 100.

US directories rivals have been cutting prices by as much as 75 per cent or doubling the amount of advertising space available for the same price.

In a research note this morning, Paul Gooden, an ABN Amro analyst, said: “There should be a collective sigh of relief on Yell’s H1 results."

However, UBS remained cautious on the shares, believing that revenue and earnings “outperformance” is due to timing issues.

John Condron, the chief executive of Yell, said: “Yellow Book’s performance is as expected but the US market remains very competitive. Yell UK has taken the first steps to realise the opportunity that more even-handed regulation will give us.

"We continue to invest in the Back to Basics approach at Yell Publicidad, which will allow us to take full advantage of the opportunities in its markets.”

John Davis, the chief financial officer, said: “For the full year, we anticipate that group performance will be in line with expectations.”

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