DISPOSALS

Newspaper publisher Johnston Press yesterday hailed a strong half-year performance including a double-digit hike in digital advertising revenues and audience numbers.

The owner of The Scotsman, Edinburgh Evening News and hundreds of local titles and news websites, reported a 4.6 per cent rise in overall revenues, excluding classifieds, for the 26 weeks to 1 July.

Digital advertising revenues jumped by 14.8 per cent, excluding classifieds, year-onyear, while digital audiences grew 15 per cent to a record high of 26.5 million unique users a month.

The group also highlighted an increased contribution from the i newspaper, which it acquired in April last year, with circulation revenue rising from £4.4 million to £11m and advertising revenues from under £1m to £3m.

Advertising revenues were flat for the period – print and digital combined and excluding classifieds – having experienced “heavy declines” during 2016.

The group reported an operating profit for the period of

0 CEO Ashley Highfield says digital monetisation is gaining momentum

ASHLEY HIGHFIELD, CEO £4.9m, compared with a halfyear loss of £211.7m last year when there were major writedowns.

Chief executive Ashley Highfield said that to get to the point where print and digital advertising taken together, and excluding classifieds, were flat rather than in decline was “a really important milestone” and “a hell of an achievement”.

The group said its focus on larger titles that have “significant” print and digital reach had resulted in strong profit contributions led by the national-category titles, including The Scotsman and The Yorkshire Post.

The firm cautioned that trading conditions across the industry continued to be “difficult”, especially in classified advertising, but added that it was seeing the monetisation of its growing digital audience gain momentum.

The continuing improvements in trading trend seen in the i newspaper in the first half are expected to continue in the second half “as advertisers seek out a quality, impartial,

“We were very pleased with the divestments we made last year in terms of the sale prices oftheisleofmanand East Midlands titles.”