After one year as a free, the loss was £16.9m. In the second year, from October 2010 to September 2011, the loss had been reduced to £7m.
Though the £1m profit figure for the 12 months up to September this year is still subject to auditing, Mullins and the owner, Evgeny Lebedev, are confident of the paper's change in fortune.
"It has been tough work," says Mullins, "and it remains tough because the advertising outlook remains bleak. But we are confident of returning a modest profit in the coming year too."
