Reach plc has announced a further expansion into the Republic of Ireland after revealing a 16pc operating profit last year.

The regional publisher’s plans to launch Cork Live were revealed in its 2018 annual results, which were published this morning.

Reach has also revealed it delivered £20m of savings over the course of last year, £5m ahead of target, while operating profit was up from £124.7m to £145.6m.

A total of £3m was made in “synergy cost savings” following the integration of the Express and Star titles into the company.

In a strategic update, the company highlighted the nationwide rebranding of its existing regional websites to the ‘Live’ name as a factor in delivering “continued growth” in audience, with average monthly page views increasing by 6pc year on year to over one billion, although display and transactional revenue were hit over the course of 2018 by algorithm changes made by Facebook and Google.

Average monthly page views on mobile grew by 15pc, while desktop page views fell by 9pc.

The company also mentioned plans to set up “a number of new Live sites” including Cork Live, which would become the company’s second standalone city news site in the Republic of Ireland following the launch of Dublin Live in 2016.

Revenue increased by 17.4pc to £679m, with print revenue increasing by 16.3% and digital revenue growing by 23.5pc.

However on a like for like basis, excluding the Express & Star titles, revenue fell by 6.9pc, with print revenue declining by 8.7pc and digital revenue growing by 5.3pc.

The company revealed there had been a like for like print circulation revenue decline of 5.1pc, with cover price increases partially mitigating volume declines and further price rises also set to be implemented “where appropriate”.

The update also touched on the potential impact to its operations of “onerous customs practices” in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

It said: “From an operational perspective, the key risk is disruption to our newsprint supply chain. We are reliant on some key overseas suppliers who may be affected by onerous customs practices in the wake of no deal Brexit.

“Following our risk assessment, at this stage we do not expect a significant production impact as our main suppliers are either UK-based or are non EU based with their own terminals in ports. We already carry sufficient stock to be able to mitigate the risks associated with delays of up to one week.

“However, we, like many other organisations, are largely reliant on the Government initiating appropriate changes to ensure efficient customs operations to properly eliminate the risk.”