Johnston Press reports slowdown in advertising recovery

Johnston Press, which publishes the Yorkshire Post, reported like-for-like advertising sales down by 5.4 per cent in the 18 weeks to November 6.

This was an improvement on the 6.3 per cent decline in the half-year to July 3, but the figure came as a disappointment to investors as it reflected a deterioration on the 3.7 per cent drop reported in August.

Advertising from the public sector only accounted for 9 per cent of the company's sales in the third quarter, although the reduction was enough to slow the overall rate of improvement in advertising performance, Johnston said.

Recruitment advertising was down 29 per cent year-on-year in the past 18 weeks but advertising revenues from its property pages and on its websites grew in the period.

Johnston group said the worse-than-expected decline in advertising sales would be offset by total cost savings for the year of more than 20m, an increase of 5m on its previous forecast in May due to restructuring programmes and new IT systems.