Strip away the £6.8m gain on exceptionals and underlying pre-tax profit from regional newspaper publisher Johnston Press dropped £8m to £19.3m, as advertising revenue continues to fall.
True, the rate of decline is slowing and a 6.3 per cent decrease in the six months to 3 July, to £124m, beats the 32.7 per cent slump this time last year, while the like-for-like decline eased to just 3.7 per cent in the first six weeks of the second half. But advertising customers remain ultra cautious, and circulation income also fell 2.8 per cent to £49.1m. Digital sales are providing some growth though, up £1m to £10m in the six month period, but that’s scant consolation.
Johnston Press, publisher of the Yorkshire Post and The Scotsman, is still cutting costs, shaving another £13.6m year-on-year off its cost base by reducing headcount to 5,417. That means more than 2,000 jobs have gone in the past two years. Johnston has also managed to chip £20.9m off net borrowings, but that still leaves a £401m debrt burden, although finance costs of £21m are nearly twice covered by underlying operating profit of £40.5m.
HB Markets expects full-year pre-tax profit of £36m and EPS of 4.2p (from £43.3m and 5.5p in 2009).
JOHNSTON PRESS (JPR) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 16p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 99.2m | |
| TOUCH: | 15.5-16p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 47p | LOW: 13p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | NA | PE RATIO: | 18 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 59p* | NET DEBT: | 106% | |
| Half-year to 03 Jul | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009** | 219 | -94.2 | -10.6 | nil |
| 2010 | 207 | 26.1 | 4.0 | nil |
| % change | -5 | - | - | - |
*Includes intangible assets of £919m, or 144p per share **26 weeks to 26 June | ||||
