More job cuts could soon be made within the Scottish Media Group, with the possibility that some may be made within its three regional newspapers.

The group, which owns The Herald, Sunday Herald and Evening Times, Glasgow, has announced its interim results, which have seen its pre-tax profits fall to £20 million, down from £30 million during the same period last year.

SMG says last year’s restructuring programme, when 40 job cuts were made and recruitment was frozen, is now taking effect, but further cuts among the group’s 1,700 staff could be made.

A spokesperson for SMG said: “We are currently reviewing the headcount through all our businesses to see if there is more scope for job cuts.

“It is possible that this may affect our newspapers, but at this stage we haven’t identified how many jobs will be cut or where these cuts will be made.

“All our businesses are labour intensive and we have still got to keep the quality of our products, so there is a limit to what can be done. It won’t be a huge number.”

The group says a tough advertising market has hit profits.

The decline in ITV advertising took £6m off pretax profits, a further £2m came out due to the increased cost of the ITV licences and another £2m reflected the carrying cost of its stake in Scottish Radio Holdings.

Total group sales fell to £139.7 million from £152.7 million.

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