UPDATE 2-RCS Mediagroup cuts outlook, H1 net down 75 pct

(Recasts with more details, analyst's comment)

By Valentina Za

MILAN, Aug 6 (Reuters) - RCS Mediagroup (RCSM.MI) lowered its full-year outlook on Wednesday due to a poor economy, joining other Italian publishers in painting a darkening picture for the sector.

RCS posted a 74.8 percent fall in first-half net profit, a drop amplified by one-off gains in 2007, as analysts had anticipated. It said it no longer expected unchanged earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) this year.

However, "we are confident, thanks to the measures taken, that we will be able to curb the negative effects arising from the economy itself," it said in a statement.

Net profit fell to 36.4 million euros ($56.42 million) from 144.2 million euros in the year-earlier period, when the company had stake-sale gains of 51.9 million euros.

Italian publishers face weakening sales of newspapers and add-on products as the stagnating economy puts advertising sales under pressure. The conservative government has forecast 2008 growth of 0.5 percent.

Rival publisher Il Sole 24 Ore (S24.MI) forecast worsening ad sales in the second half of the year. It also saw a continuation of slack newspaper circulation and a significant reduction in the add-on segment.

Publisher Gruppo Editoriale l'Espresso (ESPI.MI) expects a fall in profits this year and stands ready to boost cost cuts if the negative trend in advertising continues.

RCS said its Italian dailies and magazines had experienced "increasing difficulties" in ad sales in July and August, adding it was impossible to give indications on following months.

"Advertising revenues in Spain also slowed sharply in July, and we do not expect to see a reversal of this trend in the second half of the year," it said.

RCS owns Spanish publisher Recoletos, which it bought last year.

"Visibility on the rest of the year is low and, to be on the safe side, they're lowering their guidance," said an analyst in Milan who asked not to be named. "But to be honest most analysts had already done that."

INTERNET ADVERTISING

The publisher of Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper and Spain's El Mundo forecast add-on products in Italy would likely continue to decline in July-to-December, as would circulation revenues of Italian periodicals.

In the January-June period advertising revenues rose 5.4 percent to 509.5 million euros. Including Recoletos for the full 2007 period, they were down 1.3 percent.

Total revenue stood at 1.35 billion euros, in line with forecasts from analysts at Deutsche Bank and UBS.

RCS confirmed the above-trend performance of Internet advertising after data from Nielsen Media Research showed a 22.7 percent increase in first-half Internet advertising in Italy, against a 0.9 rise for the overall market.

RCS said Internet advertising rose 25 percent in the first half.

Shares in RCS closed up 1.72 percent to 1.593 euros as the DJ Stoxx media index .SXMP was down 0.1 pct. The stock has declined 46.5 percent this year, according to Reuters data. (Reporting by Valentina Za; Editing by Greg Mahlich/ Tony Austin)