View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Media Business
August 2, 2017

Johnston Press half year results: Booming profits at the i newspaper but classified ad decline drags down group performance

By Dominic Ponsford

Johnston Press has revealed a significant rise in profitability at i – the national newspaper it bought from Evgeny Levebev for £24m in April 2016.

Johnston said that i delivered profit of £3.7m in the first six months of the year (earnings before interest, tax, deductibles and amortisation) up 42 per cent year on year.

Circulation revenue for i increased from £4.4m to £11m and advertising revenue was said to be up from £0.8m to £3m in the period (this compares 26 weeks of i newspaper revenues in 2017 versus 12 weeks in the period to 2 July 2016).

The average daily circulation of i in June 2017 was 270,990, down 7.9 per cent year on year and including 58,366 free bulk copies.

Overall the regional press group announced a 3.1 per cent fall in revenue to £102.9m for the first six months of this year.

Adjusted pre-tax profit fell 31 per cent to £6.7m

Johnston Press runs 200 local newspaper titles across the UK including The Scotsman, Yorkshire Post and the Falkirk Herald.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

Johnston said that overall digital advertising revenue grew by 14.8 per cent year on year “as demand for trusted, quality, targetable news increases”. This was in line with digital audience growth of 15 per cent to 26.5m unique users per month.

However a sharp decline in print advertising (driven mainly by falls in classified) meant overall advertising revenue fell 11.8 per cent to £52.5m.

The group’s net debt fell by £8.7m to £191.2m in the period. The debt pile cost Johnson £15.2m in financing costs.

The group said in its results: “Encouragingly, whilst print advertising revenues will continue to decline, we are seeing the monetisation of our growing digital audience gain momentum which has seen digital display advertising up 25 per cent year on year across June and July.”

It said it expected the upward trend to continue for i as “advertisers seek out a quality, impartial, concise, daily national news provider”.

Johnston Press chief executive Ashley Highfield said: “This is a business which we have long believed needed to transform, but once done, could return to growth. Thus, since 2012 we have been making the necessary and at times painful changes to transform Johnston Press into a truly cross-platform business.

“Whilst trading remains challenging, the business has responded and, as a result of our substantial efforts and clear strategic focus, I am very pleased to announce that we have posted revenue growth in the business (excluding classifieds) of 4.6 per cent during the half.

“Digital revenues (excluding classifieds) have outweighed the declines of print advertising revenues, helped by an editorial focus that has resulted in digital audiences at a record high, and by a fantastic performance from the i newspaper which has achieved significantly enhanced performance during the sixteen months since acquisition.”

Read the Johnston Press financial results for the first half of 2017 in full.

Topics in this article :

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network