As new media projects mean higher investments, Swiss media group Tamedia AG saw first half net profit drop to 51.2 million Swiss francs (31.2 million euro) from 52.3 million.

Analysts had made the previous forecast of net profits for the group reaching between 49.4 and 54.8 million Swiss francs, or an average of 51.12 million.

Tamedia has said it expects the economic environment to improve, as EBIT in the period rose by 2.5 percent to 64.4 million sfr, with the margin dropping from 17.8 percent last year to 17.3 percent now, Finanz Nachrichten has reported.

Tamedia also saw sales rise across all division, by 5.5 percent, from 353.7 million sfr last year to 373 sfr million this year.

The media group has invested in its free daily newspaper 20 Minuten and launched four regional editions of flagship paper Tagesanzeiger.