Profits up at Johnston Press as digital sales grow

Ashley Highfield - chief executive of Johnston Press

Newspaper publisher Johnston Press, which owns titles including this one, saw underlying pre-tax profits more than double in the first half of the year as it benefited from lower financing costs.

The group also saw strong growth in digital audiences for its titles, up by over 20 per cent to an average monthly figure of 19.9 million.

Digital revenues grew by 17.5 per cent to £16.5m with mobile revenues almost doubling in the period from January to June.

Total underlying revenues for the 26 weeks to 4 July fell by 4.6 per cent to £128.9m, although the drop was offset by cost savings of £7.6m.

Underlying profit before tax increased 114.3 per cent to £17.8m from £8.3m.

Net debt reduced to £183.3m from £194.2m at the end of last year. The company’s debt figure has fallen from about £300m at the start of 2014 due to a refinancing which also saw the interest rate paid fall from 11.7 per cent to 8.625 per cent.

Chief executive Ashley Highfield said trading conditions in the first half of 2015 had “undoubtedly been challenging”, with May and June being particularly difficult.