British regional newspaper group Johnston Press, owner of a number of Irish titles, said today that total advertising revenues were down 2.9 per cent in the first nine weeks of the year.
The publisher owns a range of Irish titles, including the Leinster Leader, the Dundalk Democratthe Longford Leader, the Kilkenny Peopleand the Tallaght Echo.
Roger Parry, Johnston Press
The company, which publishes more than 300 regional and local papers, also said its revenues this year would be similar to 2006 when it rose 16 per cent to £602 million.
It posted a pre-tax profit before exceptional items of £146.7 million in 2006, meeting forecasts. The final dividend was set at 6.2 pence, making the total dividend 11 per cent higher at 9.3 pence.
Chairman Roger Parry said the rate of decline in advertising revenue was falling and "accordingly the board believes that we will continue to see an improvement in the year-on-year performance over the coming months".
The company and its rivals have suffered recently as lucrative classified ads migrate to the Internet as part of a broader downturn in the advertising market.
Mr Parry said: "Our online revenue continues to grow rapidly but from a small base. In the broader context, we believe the main issues relating to advertising volumes are linked to overall economic conditions rather than online migration.
"The investments in our new print operations and ongoing enhancements to our operating systems will bring benefits during 2007 but overall we expect revenues to be at a similar level to 2006. With newsprint and other underlying costs rising, our efforts will continue to be focussed on maximising the efficiency of the business and pursuing initiatives to drive new revenue growth both in print and online," he added.
Johnston Press shares, which have underperformed the media sector by 18 per cent over the past 12 months, closed at 416 pence yesterday to value the business at £1.2 billion.
Additional reporting:Reuters