Johnston media group suffers more losses

Newspaper group Johnston Press today revealed further pain from the advertising slump as it reported widened half-year losses of £94.2m (€107m).

It said it had axed another 439 jobs to take its workforce down to 5,969 in the first half, following a 15% headcount cull last year.

But the publisher of The Scotsman and Yorkshire Post offered hope the worst may be behind it as ad revenue declines eased from a 32.7% plunge to a drop of 26.1% in the first two months of the second half.

Fellow publisher Independent News and Media – the group behind the national Independent newspaper – also offered little cheer to its investors today as it warned annual earnings were likely to come in at the lower end of expectations.

The group owns a number of titles in Ireland, including the Limerick Leader and Kilkenny People.