Trusted brands help publisher Johnston Press retain business
REGIONAL PUBLISHER Johnston Press delivered results in line with market expectations with its chief executive saying the trusted brands in the group’s portfolio were increasingly attractive to national advertisers. Johnston Press, which owns
The Yorkshire Post, delivered an EBITDA of £40.1m compared with £43.9m, driven by increases in digital, circulation and print revenue.
Total adjusted revenue was £201.2m, down 4.5 per cent yearon-year, with the i newspaper delivering an EBITDA of £9.3m.
Digital revenue was £25.9m, up three per cent and the wider group’s debt declined below the £200m mark to £196.9m ahead of crucial refinancing talks in June 2019. The group’s digital audience passed the 25m mark with overall digital traffic up by 19 per cent.
However, statutory figures showed total revenue of £201.6m compared with 2016’s £222.7m with a loss of £95.0m compared to £300.7m in 2016, down 68.4 per cent.
Chief executive Ashley Highfield said: “There is no doubt the regional and local advertising market is difficult. The national print advertising market, particularly in quarter one of this year, is strengthening, and we are seeing a shift in spend of large companies back into trusted brands and into print.
“I think particularly after many years of just buying programmatically where the ROI is everything and the context of where the advert appears is nothing, [that] everything from the fake news agenda right the way up to the current issues within trust with Facebook has caused a lot of chief operating officers to reappraise their marketing mix.”
Analysts at Panmure issued a buy notice on the firm.