Job loss warning from paper owner

The first edition of the Echo was printed in 1879

The company which owns Liverpool's Daily Post and Echo newspapers has warned of more job losses in the group as it steps up a cost-cutting drive.

Trinity Mirror said 28 local titles had been axed this year as it grappled with a deepening advertising slump.

Over recent months the Huyton & Roby Star, Formby Times and Wirral News Group papers have all been affected.

The company said it had increased this year's cost-cutting target to £25m and aims to reduce its 2009 costs by £20m.

It is unclear how many jobs at Trinity Mirror would be affected under its cost-savings plan.

The group issued a profits warning in June after it saw a marked fall in ad revenues, causing shares to plunge 25% in one day.

Digital revenues have fared better amid the boom in online publishing, although the group said even growth in this area had begun to slow as the economic downturn struck.

In September Trinity Mirror said it was moving production of the Daily Post and Liverpool Echo to a single production site in Oldham, Greater Manchester.

The Daily Post was first published at a small printing shop on Lord Street in 1855 while the first edition of the Echo was in 1879.