Johnston Press, Britain's third-largest regional newspaper company, reported today that it expects "a satisfactory outcome" for the year. It claims that the rate of decline in advertising revenue has slowed, with like-for-like advertising revenues falling 2.3% for the five months to June 2 compared with a fall of 2.9% from the first nine weeks of the year.
It also reported that circulation revenues were ahead of last year, and is predicting that this improvement will continue into the coming six months. "The revenue performance and outlook is consistent with that anticipated by the board at the start of the year, and therefore we would expect a satisfactory outcome for the year as a whole," it said in a statement.
Johnston Press owns 281 titles, including 18 dailies, claiming a total weekly circulation of 8.8m and a daily circulation of 3.7m. Its main titles include The Scotsman, the Yorkshire Post and the Lancashire Evening Post. Johnston's newspaper websites are building substantial audiences and its digital ad volume has been growing as well. According to today's statement, the group's online revenues are up 34.7% over the past five months.
Johnston also has a presence in Ireland, where it owns the Score Press and Leinster Leader groups, and said its Irish revenues grew by 10.5%.
In recent years Johnston Press has been in the forefront of online experimentation. Now it has signed a deal with the Press Association for video news footage to use on its websites. A PA spokesman said the agreement will "allow online editors at Johnston Press to create a multimedia offering... We will supply up to 60 video clips a week."
Overall then, given the state of the market, Johnston Press appears to be performing rather well. But keep in mind what I wrote yesterday - in the posting immediately below - about the obsession with high profit margins. This has long been the case with Johnston. In fairness, it has invested heavily in digital products, and it has launched several community newsprint titles.
The picture may not be quite so rosy for journalists, however. The Press Gazette reported from the NUJ's annual conference that journalists at a Johnston Press office "fight a daily battle to get their hands on stationery" and "finally reached the end of their tether when they were told by bosses they would have to share pencil erasers". Well, I know it's only an anecdote (and you might well ask why reporters still use pencils), but it does suggest that all is not quite as upbeat, and high tech, as Johnston's board might wish us to believe.
