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Johnston Press announces closure of 11 free newspapers

Johnston Press logoRegional publisher Johnston Press has announced it has closed 11 free newspapers as part of its ongoing cost reduction programme.

Eight small free titles in the Midlands have closed altogether with a further three titles have been integrated into paid for titles.

The eight titles that have now ceased publication are the Peterborough Citizen, Norfolk Citizen, Rugby Review, Northampton Mercury, Dronfield Advertiser, Eckington Leader, Peak Courier and Sheffield Gazette

The three which have been integrated into larger sister titles are the South Elms Gazette, South Bognor View and the Lutterworth Mail which, as previously reported on HTFP, is now part of sister title the Harborough Mail.

The company delivered the news to shareholders in a trading update published this morning.

It read:  “Johnston Press plc (“Johnston Press” or “the Group”), one of the leading local media groups in the UK, announces an update on its digital growth strategy and cost reduction programme.

“Last week the Group launched its new responsive website, Scotsman.com. In addition a number of its smaller free print titles have been closed, which will allow the Group to focus resource on its digital offering in those and adjoining markets where the growth potential of digital is stronger.

“Eight small free print titles in the Midlands have been closed, and three small free print titles in the North Western and Southern regions have been integrated into paid titles.

“The company has also renegotiated a number of key contracts, including the outsourcing of its in-house advertising creation team and its advertising production and software development contract.

“These initiatives are part of the Group’s existing cost reduction programme and will deliver part year benefit in the last quarter of 2015, with full year benefits in 2016, as previously planned.

“The Company will provide an update on current trading and further details on its portfolio consolidation and cost reduction programme in November.”

23 comments

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  • October 7, 2015 at 9:43 am
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    I think we all know what’s coming, don’t we? Newsquest MD Henry used to be high up the chain at Johnston Press. Nobody could really understand the appointment at the time, but it’s all looking a bit clearer now. Johnquest Press.

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  • October 7, 2015 at 9:47 am
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    First they came for the ‘small’ free print titles…

    And note – ‘this is to allow the Group to focus resource on its digital offering in those and adjoining markets where the growth potential of digital is stronger’ NOT to strengthen any existing print offer!

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  • October 7, 2015 at 9:53 am
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    None of this surprises us now, though it is a shame. I wonder how many papers will still be in existence in, say, three years’ time – October 7, 2018? Hold The News App just doesn’t have the same ring somehow.

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  • October 7, 2015 at 10:11 am
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    Sorry to see the Northampton Mercury go – an eighteenth-century survival, at least in name.

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  • October 7, 2015 at 10:28 am
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    I suppose if you’ve sold off the family silver (premises) and the family jewels (made staff redundant) there’s nowhere else to go to cut costs other than closing papers.

    This exciting news doesn’t seem to have done much for the share price this morning which is languishing at 76p.

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  • October 7, 2015 at 10:53 am
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    There`s two sides to this story,firstly we shouldn’t be surprised as this will become the norm with unser performing titles or those that have lost their readership base and where costs and overheads outweigh the income and secondly in many ways its the route that more groups should be taking to secure the long term future of the group itself and those parts of the business that are viable ( though i can tthink of many that are to be honest)
    pumping money into under performing titles and divisions is a recipe for disaster and makes no sense.

    Look at Archants dire daily offerings where the readership base has dramatically gone and yet they still continue to publish these papers incurring huge costs to do so,and on the back of consistent ad sales revenue losses, like wise the dreadful Mustard tv which must also be an embarrassment and one which must also be flooding out money hand over fist to keep this station going.

    a sad but sadly needed move to secure longer term jobs and one which I believe we will see more over in the coming months

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  • October 7, 2015 at 10:59 am
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    Not sure when Sheffield, Dronfield and Norfolk became part of the Midlands.

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  • October 7, 2015 at 11:46 am
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    Unfortunately there are just too many newspapers available and not enough customers. People have 24/7 news on tap via TV and computers and just don’t want to read outdated news in print. A massive cull of newspapers throughout the country is needed and maybe shareholders/MDs etc having realistic profit margins will help the industry survive into the next century….

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  • October 7, 2015 at 11:57 am
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    Now THAT’S an exciting development!
    Does anyone at JP really know what they are doing?

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  • October 7, 2015 at 12:39 pm
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    I agree with Matthew Kilburn – sorry to see the N’pton Mercury go. Feelings aside however, it can only be a further indictment of Johnston Press management when they close a paper that has served the town for the thick end of 300 years – and this at a time when the place is expanding on the back of a burgeoning new university and an influx of industry.

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  • October 7, 2015 at 2:14 pm
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    I’m slightly surprised by this as most of those free sheets cost next to nothing to produce, had no editorial staff (all the content being recycled from sister titles and produced by the sub hub) and brought in revenue as they were chock full of ads (at the least the Peterborough Citizen used to be). The advertisers liked them as they were going through people’s doors for free and had a far better reach than the paid-for sister titles and their ads were more visible than online. I believe the Peterborough Citizen’s audience was much larger than the Telegraph’s. Are advertisers really going to prefer this? Has anyone asked them what they want? Are the sister titles now going stuffed full of ads and the terrible shapes that go with them? Are advertisers going to be prepared to pay the same for a smaller audience? Is saving the print and distribution costs worth upsetting all the advertisers? What might that cost in the long run?

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  • October 7, 2015 at 2:57 pm
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    if you read the story @paul it refers to this situation becoming common “across the uk” not just on JP territory its a bigger issue than just in the midlands…..

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  • October 7, 2015 at 3:02 pm
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    Employee X draws reference to the situation as a whole Paul and makes valid points
    This closure policy on underperforming titles is not just a parochial one unique to JPshire

    Many people comment on the industry and how a particular story affects those of us in it across the U.K. And long may they continue to do so
    Ps
    I am in JP territory in case you wondered

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  • October 7, 2015 at 4:30 pm
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    roll on November eh?

    “The Company will provide an update on current trading and further details on its portfolio consolidation and cost reduction programme in November.”

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  • October 7, 2015 at 4:53 pm
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    November / pre Christmas = The traditional culling season in the regional press world
    New starts for the new year, new structures in place and all that
    Happy days

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  • October 7, 2015 at 5:07 pm
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    Some of the dreadful JP offerings in the South would not be missed. Sad apologies even for free papers.

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  • October 7, 2015 at 5:11 pm
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    If my memory serves me right the Peterborough Citizen became part of the (much-hyped at the time) new-look Peterborough Advertiser. I might be wrong but I don’t think so. I worked for the then Evening Telegraph at the time. The sister-paper Advertiser (free) was very poor even at that time, it was a just a churn out rubbish exercise, hoping advertisers would be fooled. But they are business people…

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  • October 7, 2015 at 6:53 pm
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    Isn’t that the whole problem “Glad to be out of it” – certainly the Eckington Leader used to be full of news when I worked on it. Who wants to read pages of ads, without any up to date news relevant to the area? These are the very types of newspapers which should be thriving in this day and age!

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  • October 8, 2015 at 7:02 am
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    Not sure why the surprise,it’s part of an industry wide migration from a dying print business to digital which is where majority of the public look for news as evidenced by rapidly dwindling print sales. It makes no sense to prop up ailing papers that have lost their readership bases or to turn them into frees which we all know have no real content and are purely ad grabbers. Yhe reality is that joe public no longer gets his news from a provincial newspaper, those days are gone and the sooner everyone accord this the better.
    The main issue with digital is that no ones found out how to make money from it and without that revenue stream and on the back of evaporating copy sales and dwindling ad revenues makes most regional press groups very vulnerable. Quite why so many groups continue with papers that have lost their appeal yet incur huge costs to produce is a mystery to me.
    Closing underperforming titles in order to reduce costs is like it or not, the only way to go, any other business cuts its cloth accordingly by developing new products or pulling the plug on ones that aren’t profitable.
    if you look at independent publishers of magazines they all appear to be thriving , certainly east Anglian ones in my experience are and talking to the owners and staff ( many ex RP) they do it by finding a gap in te market that the big boys aren’t filling, targeting a specific market or demographic and running it like a proper business, little red tape,genuine team working,quality products and staff a priority and not being overstuffed with highly paid dead weights and ‘managers’ which we all know the regionals are top heavy with, the regionals should take a leaf out of their books as it’s clearly a recipe for success, an athlete compared to a couch potato as one busibess analysts recently commented.

    Sad news but I am sure we will be seeing more closures in the coming months with November the traditional time for announcements about cuts closures restructures and cost savings.
    Makes you wonder how the regional press landscape will look this tune next year

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  • October 8, 2015 at 10:14 am
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    All you turkeys, are you ready for Christmas?
    You know the annual cull is coming.
    I wish it was otherwise.

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  • October 8, 2015 at 12:32 pm
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    @gary
    Love that analogy on the difference between quality local magazines and the traditional regional papers being ” an athlete compared to a couch potato’
    Sums up exactly what the issues sre.
    The main problem for the regionals is that they have been encumbered with underperforming staff, titles with waning readerships,ad teams top heavy with ‘managers ‘ and the comical’ team leaders’ all that are in well paid jobs and with big bonuses yet who contribute little or nothing to the profitability of the company and incur costs far outweighing their salaries.
    It’s a tangled web that’s not easy to unravel as the problems are not just singular ones.

    I think most Mds and bean counters realise the situation of trying to get premiership performances out of non league players when all the top stars have been let go on ‘frees’ but doing something about it appears to be the sticking point. However until the level of costs incurred with plodding dead weights and fat cats is tacked the resulted will continue to disappoint.
    The answer is hiding in full sight

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  • October 8, 2015 at 1:12 pm
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    Desperately sad that the Northampton Mercury is closing. I trained in Northampton in the 1960s when the Chronicle and Echo sold 53,000 copies a night and the Mercury and Herald was a much loved part of the community. Without these local newspapers, where will young journalists get their grounding now?

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  • October 10, 2015 at 4:01 pm
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    Another nail in the coffin of print in this country however many of us including me, have been questioning the wisdom of press groups propping up unprofitable publications and saying that the plug needs pulling before the whole house of cards collapses as a result so, actual titles and individuals aside, this is a bold if unpopular step that does actually make sense and more and more papers ( and sales people and their fat cat managers) need putting under the microscope and decisions made on their effectiveness value and profitability,
    It’s all too easy to complain about closures but continuing to run parts of a business that’s not working is worse.
    Feel for those affected whilst recognising the need for the action ,
    Other news groups take note

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