Johnston Press seeking to sell assets
Publisher Johnston Press announced it would sell some assets in a bid to streamline its business and raise funds for its investment. The company said it had identified “a number of brands” that are not part of its long-term future.
Johnston also reported a 7% fall in total underlying revenue for year to 2 January. Digital was the only business that saw a growth in revenue, while publishing revenue fell 8%. Digital accounted for about 13% of total revenue in the 26 weeks ended 4 July 2015.
The company, which handles over 220 publication titles, has been facing pressure from lesser spending by advertisers during elections.
Earlier in the month, the Guardian reported that the Scotsman’s publisher was planning job cuts, citing communication from the group’s editor in chief Jeremy Clifford.
In December, the company said it had removed five regional managing director roles to improve efficiencies.
Johnston Press had owned a range of regional titles in the Republic of Ireland, but sold them to British advertising executive Malcolm Denmark in 2014.
It still prints a number of Northern Irish titles, however, including News Letter and the Derry Journal.
Johnston Press plc is a multimedia company, headquartered in Edinburgh. Its flagship titles are The Scotsman, the Yorkshire Post and the Falkirk Herald; it also operates around 250 other newspapers around the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man. It is the second-largest publisher of local newspapers in the UK.
