Advertising revenue decline sees Johnston Press profits drop 2.9%

THE chief executive of regional newspaper group Johnston Press Tim Bowdler yesterday hailed Ireland as a well-performing region for the group in a generally tough trading environment.

The Edinburgh-based Johnston, the second largest local newspaper publisher in Britain with significant interests in the Irish market, yesterday reported a like-for-like drop in pre-tax profits of 2.9% for the first half of this year to £79.8 million (€118.4m).

Group operating profit rose by almost 7% to £99.4m (€147m), while revenue grew by 18% on the same period last year to £312.2m (€463m). Earnings per share for the period were down by 0.9% at 20.39p, while the interim dividend is up by 10.7%.