Europe's Mecom ad decline steady in Feb, shares drop

European newspaper group Mecom set ambitious targets for growth in its online operations on Wednesday after an improving trend in advertising sales stalled in February, sending its shares down 10 percent. Mecom, based in Britain and run by former Mirror Group Chief Executive David Montgomery, said ad sales fell 8 per cent in February, the same rate as in November and December. It confirmed 2010 core earnings should rise at least 10 per cent. "We cannot yet call an upturn but do take some comfort from more positive recent economic indicators in all of the countries in which we operate. These tend to suggest some improvement in advertising overall," CEO Montgomery said in a statement. All newspaper publishers were hit hard by the recession, which came on top of a structural shift from printed titles to the Web by readers and advertisers. Mecom is betting on news websites aimed at small communities to help revive its fortunes. Shares in Mecom, which owns hundreds of newspapers and websites in the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Poland, fell 9.5 per cent to 178 pence by 0903 GMT, against a flat media index and after a 73 per cent rally this year so far.