Johnston Press Announces 3.2% Growth In Ad Revenue For H1
With cautious optimism, regional newspaper publishers Johnston Press today announced a 14.3% rise in H1 profits but warned that growth in H2 was likely to be more modest. Following the company’s optimistic trading statement in June (see Johnston Press Sees Positive Second Half), Johnston announced a like-for-like advertising increase of 3.2% buoyed by a 13% increase in recruitment advertising revenue. The motoring sector was down by 5.5% for the period and property rose by a modest 3.4%
Johnston Press chief executive, Tim Bowdler said: “We have made a satisfactory start to the second half with continued modest revenue growth and costs remaining under close control. Given the uncertain market outlook and the clear evidence of a slowdown in the economy as a whole, we have taken steps to ensure that our businesses are in good shape to accommodate any downward pressure on revenues. As publishers of the market leading titles in numerous and widespread local communities around the UK we believe that we are strongly placed.
Despite the current mood of economic uncertainty, which makes it difficult to comment on longer term prospects, present indications suggest that further progress should be made in the second half, resulting in 2001 being another satisfactory year.”
Comment
Analysts this morning claimed that the relatively upbeat figures from Johnston demonstrate that, despite the current market conditions, the outlook is reasonable for other regional publishers – providing recruitment advertising continues to outperform the market in H2.
Shares in Johnston Press remained fairly static this morning, rising from an opening price of 301p to 302½p at 11am.