NEWSPAPER group Johnston Press yesterday eased the pain of the advertising slump by announcing that it had reached agreement on a refinancing package with its lenders.
The group, which publishes The Scotsman and Falkirk Herald among a huge stable of newspapers across the UK, revealed half-year losses of £94.2 million, but said it had renegotiated its debt facility. Though it had been forced to accept a higher inter
est charge, chief executive John Fry said the agreement "has taken away a material uncertainty hanging over the business". Investors responded positively, marking the shares up 3.25p, or 9.35 per cent, to close at 38p.
The company had lost 439 jobs in the period to take its workforce down to 5,969, following a 15 per cent headcount cull last year.
But the company offered hope that the worst may be behind it, as advertising revenue declines eased from a 32.7 per cent plunge to a drop of 26.1 per cent in the first two months of the second half.
Johnston's half-year losses almost doubled the £53.7m seen a year earlier after a further £126m writedown in the six months to 30 June. The group said it had now written down the carrying and goodwill value of its titles by £543.5m since the beginning of last year.
It dismissed reports earlier this week that it was in talks to sell The Scotsman to a consortium of Scottish businessmen.
"We have done the refinancing on the basis that we don't sell anything," said Fry.
Numis Securities analysts said the half-year figures came in "well ahead" of expectations.
The Irish-based Independent News and Media saw ad revenues fall 19.6 per cent in the same six-month period, while it plummeted into the red with pre-tax losses of 34.7m (£30.5m) against profits of 80.5m a year ago.
The latest ABCe audit for Scotsman.com shows an increase in average monthly unique users to 2.2 million for the period January to June 2009, a 7 per cent rise in unique users on July to December 2008.
Growth in UK traffic has been particularly strong, with a 19 per cent increase in average UK monthly visits.
Michael Johnston, divisional managing director, Johnston Press Scotland, said: "Scotsman.com continues to strengthen its position as the leading news and information website in Scotland. This year we have been particularly pleased with the strong growth in UK traffic, which is central to our online strategy and our ability to add phenomenal reach and value to advertiser's campaigns.
"We continue to deliver new, innovative content and platforms to scotsman.com.
"Although not included in these figures, we are particularly encouraged with the response from the recent launch of our new jobs site,
scotsman.com/jobs, which is already gaining good traction from advertisers and users."
