Daily Mail publisher cuts revenue outlook for information business

(Adds analyst quotes, detail)

LONDON, Jan 26 (Reuters) - The owner of the Daily Mail newspaper cut the revenue outlook for its sizeable information division on Thursday, sending its shares down as much as 8 percent.

It was also hit by concerns over its advertising revenues, which analysts said showed weakness heading into the end of 2016.

Daily Mail and General Trust, known for its flagship newspaper and Daily Mail website, also started the process of selling down its stake in financial publisher Euromoney to slim down its sprawling range of businesses.

The group reduced its revenue forecast for its information business to mid-single digit growth, from a previous forecast of high-single digit growth.

The information business in the first quarter was adversely affected by reduced levels of activity in the UK market of its European property segment.

This business provides information and analysis for the property, education and energy sectors, and accounts for around a quarter of the group's revenues.

The company also said its overall profit outlook for the year was unchanged and that it was otherwise trading in line with its expectations.

First (Other OTC: FSTC - news) -quarter revenue was 520 million pounds ($657 million), in line with last year on an underlying basis.

House broker Credit Suisse (IOB: 0QP5.IL - news) highlighted other areas of weakness in the trading update.

"Organic growth in (the first quarter) was weaker than expected at Euromoney, dmg media and dmg information," the Credit Suisse analysts said in a note, keeping a "neutral" rating on the stock.

The Swiss bank said dmg media, which includes its stable of newspapers and remains the group's biggest business by revenue, appeared to have had a very weak December for advertising, after a strong start to the quarter.

After growth of 1 percent in the first eight weeks, the overall figure of a 4 percent fall for the quarter implied a drop of 11 percent in December, the Credit Suisse analysts said, partly due to timing effects around Christmas.

Underlying print advertising in the quarter fell 11 percent, further evidence of the trend of declining ad revenues for British newspaper publishers.

Daily Mail and General Trust reduced its stake in Euromoney, a separate business information company, from around 67 percent to around 49 percent.

Analysts at Jefferies said this was "a key first step, arguably, in the evolution of the group."

"(It's) perhaps not our preferred approach, but it certainly delivers greater financial flexibility for DMGT going forward," Jefferies' analysts said in a note.

Euromoney said separately it was trading was in-line with the board's expectations, though underlying revenues fell by 5 percent.

($1 = 0.7914 pounds) (Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by Kate Holton and Jane Merriman)