LONDON — Emap Group PLC, closed the door on the bulk of its U.S. operations as it confirmed the suspension of FHM magazine in North America.

The London-based magazine and radio company said in a statement that trading conditions in the U.S. meant it was unable to continue publishing the magazine profitably in the U.S.

Conditions “have deteriorated over the past 12 months and we don’t expect an improvement in the near term,” Emap said in a statement Wednesday. The company added that with conditions in the U.S. “worsening,” it decided to suspend publication “to focus resources elsewhere on faster growth platforms.”

A spokeswoman said that FHM’s U.S. Web site would continue to be maintained, and the closure won’t affect FHM’s 30 other editions around the world.

In the six months through September 2006, FHM’s U.S. edition posted a £1.7 million loss on sales of £10 million.

FHM U.S. was a spin-off of Emap’s men’s magazine which is still the U.K.’s market leader. During the 1990s, it rode a popular wave of men’s publishing, dubbed “lads’ mags.” The genre includes Loaded, owned by Time Warner Inc.’s IPC, and Maxim, owned by privately-held Dennis Publishing, and was credited with persuading young men to buy magazines.

Their fortunes, on both sides of the Atlantic, have waned significantly, largely due to the rapid growth of the Internet and more popular weekly men’s magazine formats. In the six months through August 2006, FHM U.K.’s sales fell 25%, while IPC’s Loaded saw a 22% drop in circulation.

Analysts also noted that the closure of FHM U.S. effectively ends Emap’s aspirations to be an international magazine company. The company sold its French magazines unit earlier this year to Arnoldo Mondadori Spa.

Numis Securities said Wednesday the move “doesn’t bode well” for Emap’s U.S. operations, although Numis noted that the closure of FHM U.S. wasn’t a surprise.

Emap’s previous foray into the U.S. market was widely regarded by analysts as a disaster. The company was forced to take a £545 million write-down on the value of Petersen, a U.S. magazines company it bought in 1999 for £1.1 billion, precipitating the departure of its then-Chief Executive Kevin Hand. Petersen was later sold to Primedia for £331 million.

The closure of FHM U.S. is among the first fruit of an ongoing review Emap is conducting of its processes. The company has hired a number of consultants to conduct a review of its operations.

Emap does retain a presence in the U.S. through fashion business information service WGSN, which has a largely U.S. subscriber base.