Ad revenue cuts hit Johnston Press
Johnston Press has reported a 10.6 per cent fall in advertising revenue for the 18 weeks to 7 May 2011. The company owns almost 20 newspaper titles across the East Midlands, including the Northampton Mercury and Harborough Mail.
Its first quarter revenue fell by 11.6 per cent, although decline has slowed to 7.8 per cent in the first five weeks of the second quarter.
The company said that public sector cutbacks have had a "significant effect", with employment advertising down 30.7 per cent on last year.
This has also damaged digital revenues, because of the "high proportion of employment advertising" online.
Net debt was £388.7m at the end of April, although the company brought forward a £20m reduction scheduled for June 2012 to 28 April 2011, saving £500,000 in interest costs in 2011.
"As explained in our 2010 annual results announcement, newsprint prices in 2011 are significantly higher than last year," the company said.
"Nonetheless we anticipate mitigating this increase and other inflationary pressures through continued cost management as well as generating incremental year on year savings in the region of £5m."
