Disposal gains and higher circulation revenues offset weak advertising trends and higher severance charges to increase first-quarter profits at the New York Times, the publisher said as it reported flat revenues for the period.

Print advertising revenues fell 7.2 per cent in the three months to March, while digital advertising revenues fell 10.3 per cent, dragged down by continued troubles in cost-per-click and display advertising at About.com, the consumer information website.

About.comrevenues were down 21.3 per cent, while digital advertising for the group's newspaper brands slipped 2.3 per cent.

However, the addition of digital subscriptions coupled with price rises for the print edition of the New York Times lifted group circulation revenues by 10 per cent.

Digital subscriptions to the New York Times, its flagship title, and the International Herald Tribune, introduced last year, grew from 390,000 in December to 454,000 in March, a gain of about 16 per cent. The company did not break out figures for the two titles. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012