Regional publisher Archant says it is in a strong financial position despite returning an operating loss of £0.9m.

Interim results for the first half of this year published today show the group’s revenues down 1.1pc year-on-year due mainly to a fall in print advertising revenues.

The statement shows an overall turnover of £66.5m across Archant’s newspapers and magazines, down £0.8m year-on-year, while net debt of £20.7m was £1.5m lower than in June last year.

Local display advertising grew by 3.7pc, though total newspaper and printing turnover was 1.5pc lower, at £43.2m.

The statement also revealed an increase of more than 80pc in visitors to its London websites in June, with London24 now the second largest news website in the capital.

Total digital revenues grew 1.3pc to £3.1m with overall unique visitors to Archant’s websites per month averaging 4.5m to June, up 21.5pc year-on-year.

Archant chairman Richard Jewson said: “Our strategy of driving growth in our key markets, maintaining cost efficiencies and continuing to grow revenue streams through investment in new business, is producing results, albeit against strong headwinds.

“Our core business is cash generative, circulations are growing and we are recording industry-leading sales performances. Our financial position is strong and a new banking agreement taking us through to 2016 was signed in June.

“We are firm in the view that it is right to continue to increase expenditure in areas where we believe we can generate growth.

“We believe we are on the right track, though the absence of any real growth in the economy may hinder our progress. We have the right strategies, the right people and the right products for us to meet our customers’ changing expectations and deliver greater value to our shareholders.

“The economy will eventually recover and when it does we will be in a strong position to take advantage of it.”