Twitter users are rising as the social media firm after it targeted online trolls.

Twitter reported growth in revenue but saw monthly active users drop by six million on this time last year, the firm's latest financial results show.

The social media company's revenue for the first quarter of 2019 was $787 million (£605m), up 18% on the same period last year and above analysts' expectations.

The key metric of monetisable daily active users - those expose to daily advertising - was reported as being up 11% to 134 million.

Monthly active users of the platform were reported as 330 million, compared to 336 million in the same period a year ago.

However, the figures also represent an increase of nine million users on the last three months of 2018.

Shares rose 17% at $39.92 on the news. 

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Social media companies have come under increased pressure to improve their methods for detecting and removing abusive content, something Twitter founder and chief executive Jack Dorsey said the company was continuing to work on.

"We are taking a more proactive approach to reducing abuse and its effects on Twitter," he said.

The founder of Fever-Tree will take home a bumper pay packet after the posh mixer maker posted another record year.

Chief executive Tim Warrillow will receive £3.98 million for 2018, up from £844,000 the previous year.

The increase is down to the introduction of a Long Term Incentive Plan (LTIP), which was first approved in 2016.

Property giant British Land is selling off 12 Sainsbury's superstores from its joint venture with the supermarket under plans to slash its exposure to the troubled retail sector.

British Land is selling the stores to Realty Income Corporation for £429 million and said its share of the proceeds will be £193.5 million, representing a "modest premium" to the book value recorded in September last year.

It comes as part of wider plans to cut retail assets to around 30% to 35% of its portfolio, down from around half currently.