Post Publishing Plc (post), the publisher of the Bangkok Post, Post Today and M2F newspapers, posted a first-half net profit of 20.6 million baht, down from 48.6 million in the same period last year.

Consolidated sales and service revenue rose by 15% year-on-year to 1.08 billion baht, while the cost of sales and services rose by 25.8% to 795 million.

Second-quarter profits was 16.77 million baht, compared with a profit of 32.21 million the same period last year. Consolidated sales and service revenue rose by 13.4% year-on-year to 555 million baht, while the cost of sales and services rose by 26.2% to 404 million.

Supakorn Vejjajiva, the president and chief operating officer, said operations in June showed a clear improvement, boding well for the second half.

Strong gains in advertising sales in M2F, the company's weekday tabloid, helped to boost overall advertising sales in the first half by 32% year-on-year. Circulation for M2F has risen to more than 400,000 copies a day since the first quarter, making it the largest newspaper in Bangkok.

"Even without M2F, our advertising sales were up by 10% year-on-year in the first half, well outpacing the 4% growth recorded by the industry," said Mr Supakorn.

"The trend for the rest of the year look very positive."

The company's magazines, which include Elle, Marie Claire, Martha Stewart Living and Science Illustrated, showed strong gains in the first half, with profits of 30 million baht, Mr Supakorn added.

POST shares closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 6.10 baht, down 65 satang, in trade worth 3.4 million baht.