Cost-cutting at regional publisher Johnston Press is expected to produce savings of £30m for the year, its latest results have shown.
The company has published an interim management statement today for the 18 weeks to 3 November in which it says total savings for 2012 are expected to increase to around £30m, £5m more than its previous estimate.
The statement says during the period its like-for-like revenues fell by 11.4pc as it faced market conditions which were more challenging than expected, although it was seeing signs of slow-down in revenue decline during November.
But it says the relaunch of 54 paid-for titles this year has helped to slow down the decline in its year-on-year circulation revenues, which were at 0.5pc for the 18 weeks.
Its statement, which contained no actual revenue figures, said there had been a positive impact on circulation revenues at the 31 newspapers relaunched in the second half of the year, which were up 13.8pc year-on-year immediately after relaunch.
The company said it would continue to focus on reducing its net debt and said its repayment of borrowings was ahead of schedule.
Its net debt has fallen from £351.7m at the start of the year to £336m at the end of October, with further reductions expected during the rest of the year.
Print and digital advertising revenue decreased by 14pc in total on a like-for-like basis, while display advertising declined by 16.8pc in the 18-week period compared to last year and classified advertising fell 19.1pc.
Digital revenues grew by 2.9pc for the period with online display revenues in particular showing strong growth, as the company increased its focus on standalone digital employment advertising
Its statement said its digital audience has continued to grow across its network of websites, with monthly visitors for October showing a 25.2pc year-on-year increase to 9.8m.
Chief executive Ashley Highfield said: “The second half of 2012 has seen acceleration in the implementation of the strategy for the business.
“While market conditions have been even tougher than expected, we have made good progress in restructuring our operations, reducing the cost base, maintaining focus on debt reduction and continuing to invest in growth areas.
“We have moved forward with the re-launch of our titles with encouraging early signs, and our digital business has seen a huge increase in audience this year, as well as the launch of services across iPad, mobile and PC, which will provide a spring-board to future digital revenue growth.
“As a result, the business is moving onto a more stable footing as we go into 2013 when the full benefits of the changes will be seen.”
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There figures are shocking.
As much as you can put a positive spin I know you have tried hard but a 14% drop in print revenue is bad but only a 3% increase in digital revenue off such a low base!
And the fact they don’t actually put the figures in and only give us percentages is damming and really insulting to our intelligence.
What a shambles
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Oh, Sub be good to me…
You, of all people, should know that it’s ‘damning’, not ‘damming’.
I agree with what you say, though.
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I wonder what the gross and net profit was, and what the gross & net profit margins are…?
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So what profit is JP making? Or isn’t it? I read elsewhere that JP wants to reduce its debt to £240m by 2014. How is it going to achieve that set against declining revenues every quarter bearing in mind that’s nearing £100m less than it owes at present? There comes a time when it cannot cut its staffing levels anymore. That time must surely be near. At a generous figure of cutting £30m debt a year from 2014 onwards it would take until 2022 to reduce to no debt at all – providing the interest rate on the outstanding loan was 0 per cent, which of of course it won’t be. And of course by 2022 print will almost certainly be dead – can it grow its digital revenues sufficiently by then to even exist?
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Costs cut by £30m plus £30m for ending the News International contract, yet only £15m cleared off the debt? Where did the rest go?
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Out-of-work Hack… it was done in a hurray!
I have 17 pages to sub today… two for Sunderland Echo, six for Sheffield Star, five for Lancs Evening Post and four for Channel Islands Gazette
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Oh, Sub be good to me…
You, of all people, should know that it’s ‘their’ and not ‘there’ in this instance
I too agree with what you say, though
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The revenue decline is truly alarming and far worse than any comparator. The facts contrast sharply with AH’s claim that the relaunched papers have improved their performance. These figures also indicate that the company is producing no free cash flow and will therefore be unable to pay down debt without even more cost cutting. The banks know that JP will never pay back what it owes and are doing their best to squeeze out as much cash before it inevitably goes bust.
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Oh, Sub be good to me…
You, of all people, should know that it’s ‘hurry’, not ‘hurray’.
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Congrats Sub Mariner.
You spotted my deliberate error.
But please remember I am subbing, writing, taking pics and now we have computers in the toilets so we can carry on working while taking a dump
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