Trinity Mirror, Britain's biggest regional newspaper group, has announced that it will cut 800 jobs over the next two years, in a bid to reduce annual costs by an estimated �30m-35m.

Chief executive Philip Graf said that more than 200 jobs had already been shed, and a further 600 would go before the end of 2003.

The job cuts came in response to the firm's first-half profits, which were down 10% year on year to �80.9m.

The firm has been hit hard by the global decline in advertising spending.

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Mr Graf said that national advertising revenues had increased by 2% year on year in July, after a 7% fall in June.

Regional advertising revenues continued to grow, but at a slower rate, Mr Graf said.

The group's Scottish titles, which include the Daily Record and Sunday Mail, saw revenues fall by 1.5% as circulation and advertising revenue suffered in Scotland.

At the same time as the job cuts were announced, Trinity Mirror said it had sold the subscriber list of its internet service provider (ISP) ic24 to high-tech investment firm Brightview for �4.5m in cash.

ic24, which was once among the most popular ISPs in the UK, is itself up for sale

Financial markets were unimpressed by the firm's flurry of announcements.

In mid-morning trading, Trinity Mirror stock was down 1.2%, at 382.5p.

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