Johnston Press turns tide on falling ad revenues

by Steven Kiernan, printweek.com 30-Aug-07, 10:58

Johnston Press has curbed the decline in print-based advertising revenues and posted strong growth in its online portfolio.

Its half-year figures to 30 June 2007 showed the fall in print ad revenues slowing to 2.9% year-on-year compared with 9.2% in H1 2006, with a 1% increase in July propping up the result.

Overall profit slipped 4.8% to £96.7m on a slightly improved turnover of £312.8m, up 0.1% on 2006.

Chief executive Tim Bowdler said: "July has seen a continuation of the improving month-on-month advertising trends in the UK."

The results mirror the most recent statistics from the Advertising Association (AA). UK-wide press advertising expenditure grew from a year-on-year decline of 5.4% in the first quarter of 2006 to a 3.3% year-on-year fall in Q1 2007, according to the AA's Quarterly Survey of Advertising Expenditure.

Johnston's strongest growth came from its digital revenues, with online up 33.5% against an overall advertising decline of 1.5%.

Bowdler added: "In percentage terms, the rate of growth is very healthy – £7.3m of revenue in the first half-year."

He said that while digital media would continue to offer positive returns, there were no plans to sideline the printed product.

"It's not an either/or situation – print and digital are working well together. We are creating a central channel of communication working side-by-side. The two are complementary."