Johnston Press sees near 50% pre-tax profit drop

Pre-tax profits at regional publisher Johnston Press have dropped by almost 50 per cent in the first half of the year.

According to interim results published today for the 26 weeks ending 2 July, the company reported a £12.3 million decrease in pre-tax profits year-on-year, reaching £13.8 million in 2011 compared to £26.1 million the previous year.

This represents a drop of more than 47 per cent. Total revenues also fell by 7.5 per cent year-on-year, from £207.3 million to £191 million.

Chief executive John Fry said the company remains "cautious" about advertising outlook for the second half of the year, as it reports a 10 per cent decrease year-on-year for the first half of 2011.

Today's figures also show a 5 per cent decrease in digital revenues for the half year period, a drop of £500,000.

In a further breakdown of the revenues, print advertising was shown to have dropped by £12.8 million, to £111.3 million, while newspaper sales dropped by just under two per cent.

"We continue to be cautious about the advertising outlook for the second half of the year with total print advertising revenues in the first seven weeks down 8.1 per cent," Fry said.

"The rate of decline in print employment revenues is reducing as the 2010 comparables reflect the fall off in this category which started in the second half of last year.

"Digital revenues, which returned to year-on-year growth in May, have continued to grow in the second half with the first seven weeks showing an increase of 6.8 per cent on the same period in 2010. Circulation revenues continue to perform well."

He added: "In the absence of a further deterioration in the UK economy, the board is confident that the outcome for the group in 2011 will be in line with current expectations."

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