ADVERTISING REVENUES at Johnston Press newspaper titles in the Republic plunged 19 per cent last year as the regional press group announced a group-wide pretax loss of £144 million.
Total group turnover at the British publisher declined 6 per cent to £374 million, while print advertising revenues fell 9.7 per cent to almost £213 million. Newspaper sales fell 1.1 per cent, with circulation declines largely offset by cover price increases.
The group, which employs 480 people in Ireland, made an operating profit of almost £65 million, but impairment charges on its titles pushed it into a pretax loss.
Advertising revenues in the Republic, which declined to £8.9 million, fell more steeply than in the UK as a result of economic conditions and because advertising income in the Republic is more dependent on “more volatile” display advertisements.
The group has reached agreement with lenders to push the maturity of its loans to September 2015, from 2012, and has signed a new £393 million debt facility.
Chief executive Ashley Highfield said its 30 titles across Ireland – which include the Limerick Leader, the Leinster Leader and the Kilkenny People – would be included in its plan to relaunch its titles on a “platform-neutral” basis from May.
Sales executives across the group are to be equipped with iPads in a drive to capture local business custom, as part of an agreement between Johnston Press, Salesforce.comand Google.
Increases in cover prices are also part of the plan in the UK, but not in Ireland, where Mr Highfield said cover prices were already among the highest in its portfolio.
A “new look and feel” to the print titles, which will see some broadsheets switch to tabloid size, will improve their “overall value proposition” for readers, he said.
Full-time employee numbers fell 7 per cent last year to 4,842, and the group continues to streamline its management layers.
“There will be continuing cost reduction across the group,” Mr Highfield said, adding that there was “nothing specific” planned in Ireland. “We are seeing some green shoots of recovery in the Irish market.”
