Johnston Press today confirmed it had called off the sale of its newspapers in the Irish Republic after would-be buyers failed to meet the asking price.

The newsapaper publisher had been looking to offload 11 titles in the Republic in a bid to reduce its debt burden which currently stands at £448m.

But in an interim management statement issued this morning, the company confirmed it had abandoned the proposed sell-off.

“While there was considerable interest shown from both trade and financial buyers, the board decided that it was not at a sufficiently high price to be in the company’s best interest,” it said.

The statement revealed that ad revenues at JP continued to slump with a fall of nearly 35pc for the year to 9 May compared to the same period last year.

It follows the announcement in March that advertising revenues were down 35.9pc for the first nine weeks of 2009 compared with the same period in 2008.

The management statement also showed:

Chief executive John Fry said: “Whilst our market remains fragile, we have seen some stability in advertising revenue over recent weeks, our cost reduction programme is on track, and we are making good progress in the discussions with our debt providers.

“This gives us encouragement that we will be well placed to benefit from any recovery in the economy as and when it emerges.”

Comments

J (13/05/2009 17:14:04)
All together now:
Always look on the bright side of life. Da dum, da dum, da da dum. Always look on the bright side of life.
In’it.

regionalhack (13/05/2009 18:37:51)
Johnston Press have also extended their pay freeze for all staff into 2010. Part of the keeping ‘cost reduction programme…on track’ no doubt. Let’s keep an eye on director’s bonuses too.

long gone (14/05/2009 09:56:29)
Worra load of celts