Johnston in costs pledge as earnings hit £151.4m

Published on Wednesday 8 March 2006 12:12

JOHNSTON Press, owner of the Edinburgh Evening News, today reported a rise in annual pre-tax profit to a record £151.4 million, from £149.8m the previous year.

But the regional newspaper publisher said that the first couple of months of 2006 had seen tough conditions continuing to linger in the advertising markets, with chairman Roger Parry warning that there were " no early signs of recovery".

Mr Parry said the profit increase stemmed from "tight cost controls and increased business efficiencies" as well as the development of new revenue streams from web-based products.

And he said the Edinburgh-based firm remained "committed to improving operating efficiencies and maintaining a tight control of costs" in future.

Johnston said that advertising revenues in 2005 fell by 3.7 per cent, compared to the 52 weeks the year before, excluding acquisitions.

And chief financial officer Stuart Paterson said he expected ad markets to remain subdued throughout the current year.

"January, February advertising is down 10.5 per cent, excluding acquisitions, but that's against very tough comparatives, and those comparatives will get easier as the year progresses," he said.

Overall revenue for the year to December 31 was 520.2m - a rise of just 0.2 per cent on 2004 "reflecting the significant downturn in recruitment advertising".

During 2005, Johnston brought more than 50 new titles into its portfolio, including the News.

Chief executive Tim Bowdler said the trading environment during 2005 "proved to be more difficult for the regional press than at any time since the early 1990s".

But he said despite that, Johnston had still managed to increase operating margins from 34 per cent to 34.8 per cent.