Newspaper publisher Johnston Press said today its first-half pretax profit fell 2.9 per cent amid a sustained advertising downturn, with no sign of recovery seen in the second half to date.
The regional publisher's profit before tax for the six months to June 30th was £79.8 million (€118.3 million), down from £82.2 million (€121.9 million) in the year-earlier period.
Revenue rose 18 per cent to £312.2 million following the company's acquisition of papers including the Scotsman, but was down 7.5 per cent on a like-for-like basis.
Like-for-like print ad revenues fell 9.2 per cent, for an 8.8 per cent overall decrease including digital ads.
The shares price was up 1.4 per cent at 387-3/4 pence by 8:10 a.m.
Like its rivals Trinity Mirror and Daily Mail & General Trust, Johnston Press has suffered from a sharp fall-off as lucrative classified ads have migrated to the Internet amid a broader downturn in the advertising market.
"The second half has started as the first half finished with no discernible improvement in advertising revenues. Our assessment of the underlying market conditions does not suggest any early recovery in revenue performance," the company said in a statement.
Finance Director Stuart Paterson said he was comfortable with analysts' full-year pretax profit estimates of about £143 million. He also stood by Johnston Press's plan to grow digital revenues organically, but said the company would consider making acquisitions as Trinity Mirror and Daily Mail have done.
"We're working hard to make sure we're getting our share of the advertising dollars that are going online," he said in a conference call with reporters.
Digital ad revenues made up about 2.3 per cent of Johnston Press ad revenues in the first half, from 2 per cent in the same period last year.