Johnston Press ups value of Irish titles

NEWSPAPER group Johnston Press has upped the “carrying value” of its titles in the Republic from €13 million at the end of July 2010 to €31m at the end of July 2011.

In Britain, the group has moved into the growing discount vouchers market in a bid to revive its business after profits fell nearly 50% in the first half of the year.

The group, which counts The Scotsman and Yorkshire Post in Britain and the Limerick Leader and Kilkenny People in Ireland among its publications, recorded pre-tax profits of £13.8m (€15.6m) in the 26 weeks to July 2, down from £26.1m the previous year.

Johnston said the economic environment in the Republic remains challenging, though the print advertising revenue decline in the first half reduced to 18.2% — from 29.0% in 2010’s first half.

Johnston announced a partnership with Nimble Commerce, which will help it launch an online vouchers business in the autumn.

The company also signed a partnership deal with property website Zoopla.

Johnston said the public sector now represents 7.4% of print advertising, downfrom 10.1% in the first half of the year.

In addition, there has been a slowdown in private sector activity, with a 7.7% drop in property ads and an 8.1% fall in motor ads.

Elsewhere, newspaper sales revenue was down 1.8% at £48.2m, while digital revenues dropped 5% to £9.5m.

Johnston shares were flat at 5.2p following yesterday’s results announcement.

Lorna Tilbian, analyst at brokers Numis, downgraded its upper-end forecasts for pre-tax profits to £27m for the full year from £30m.