Italy's Il Sole 24 Ore warns on sales

MILAN, July 3 (Reuters) - Revenues at Italy's Il Sole 24 Ore (S24.MI) could fall by around 8 percent this year on the back of lower advertising sales, the publishing company said.

The group's board urged further actions to be taken including "structural measures" to curb costs.

Il Sole 24 Ore, publisher of Italy's leading financial daily, decided in March to close its free press edition "24 Minuti" as of April because of the poor state of the advertising market.

In March the group, whose net profits fell more than 40 percent in 2008 , said it foresaw "a contraction of operating profitablity" in 2009.

(Reporting by Stephen Jewkes; editing by John Stonestreet)