Regional publisher Johnston Press says its preponderance of weekly newspaper titles will help it weather the economic downturn as it announced a 25pc fall in profits for the first half of the year.

Half-yearly figures published today revealed that the group made an operating profit of £32.6m in the six months up to the end of June compared to £44m in the same period in 2010.

Overall revenues declined 7.5pc from £207.3m in the first half of 2010 to £191.8m this year, but circulation revenues were more resilient, falling by just 1.8pc.

The figures also revealed a net loss of 179 jobs at the group, with headcount falling from 5,228 at the start of January to 5,049 by the end of June.

The company’s chief executive John Fry said it remained cautious about the economic outlook with advertising revenues continuing to fall in the first seven weeks of the second half of the year.

But he added:  “The Board has confidence that, in the absence of a further significant deterioration in the UK economy, the outcome for the Group in 2011 will be broadly in line with current expectations.”

In his report accompanying the statement, Mr Fry highlighted the group’s large stable of weekly newspapers as a key asset as it seeks to weather the downturn.

“Our portfolio is weighted towards weekly titles which continue to outperform daily newspapers in terms of both circulation and advertising revenue. We expect these trends to continue,” he said.

He also pointed to a North-South divide in revenue performance with titles in the South of England performing more strongly.

“Differences in performance between the geographical regions have continued into the first half of 2011 with revenue declines in Scotland and the North of England being larger than those in the South and Midlands,” said the report.

Mr Fry, who leaves his job in November, also highlighted the impact of last year’s election and the subsequent public spending cuts.

“Since the UK election in May 2010 there has been a considerable fall in public sector activity which now represents only 7.4pc of print advertising against 10.1pc in the first half of last year,” he said.