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Mystery over Johnston Press share price rise

Johnston Press logoRegional publisher Johnston Press has responded to a 70pc leap in its share price yesterday by saying it knows of “no operational or corporate reason” for the increase.

Having fallen from a high of 96.75p to 6.19p, shares in the newspaper group rallied yesterday to rise to 15p.

The movement followed a ‘buy’ note to investors from the city brokers Liberum, suggesting that the shares were currently undervalued.

It also came amid rumours that Crystal Amber, a hedge fund which owns a 3.3pc stake in JP, is demanding changes to the group’s management.

There were reports earlier this week that Crystal Amber was to hold a meeting with JP chairman Ian Russell yesterday afternoon.

JP played down the reports, with a spokesperson telling HTFP that the chairman held reasonably regular meetings with all significant shareholders.

The company then issued a statement to the stock exchange at 5.15pm yesterday afternoon following the share price move.

It said: “The Board of Directors of Johnston Press plc notes the rise in the Company’s share price today and confirms that it knows of no operational or corporate reason for the price movement.

“As announced on 4 August 2016, the Group continues to actively explore opportunities for the disposal of further assets.

“These discussions continue to progress satisfactorily. Further announcements will be made as appropriate.”

The group signalled that it was open to offers for some of its 200-plus local newspaper titles in a trading update published in January.

Since then it has announced the sale of its Isle of Man titles to Tindle Newspapers for £4.25m.

4 comments

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  • September 14, 2016 at 1:26 pm
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    The interest in JP’s affairs shown by hedge fund Crystal Amber is clearly behind this boost to the company’s fortunes, although a welcome rise in the share price from 8p to 15p is nothing compared to the huge drops over the last year.
    However, there are still many sales among this morning’s transactions so not everyone is convinced there’s a bright new dawn for JP.
    You cannot produce quality products, whether newspapers or online, without enough staff to do the job properly. Let’s hope Crystal Amber has made some helpful comments to refocus the previous disastrous strategy which has seen the share price plummet to virtually nothing.

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  • September 14, 2016 at 4:42 pm
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    A hedge fund’s entire aim is to get value for its purchase regardless of what it’s buying and & what it has to do to improve it. So if they want a change in management it would be because there has not been enough asset-stripping, not too much. Don’t get your hopes up, folks!

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  • September 15, 2016 at 1:35 pm
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    Bearing in mind the consolidation 15p is still a pitiful price.

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  • September 16, 2016 at 11:44 am
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    I smell a huge rat – nobody make the obvious joke, please.

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