Johnston Press has reported a loss of £287m for last year, after a non-cash writedown on the value of its newspapers and printing presses, but at an operational level managed to boost profits for the first time in seven years.
The regional newspaper publisher racked up the paper loss – in 2012 its pre-tax loss narrowed to just £6.8m – due to factors including cutting the carrying value of its titles by £202m and its printing facilities by over £60m.
Stripping out these non-cash writedowns and other factors such as titles that were closed or changed from daily to weekly, Johnston Press says that it made an operating profit of £54.3m – a 2.5% year on-year rise,.
At a top-line level, total revenues plunged 15.6% year on year from £358.7m to £302.8m.
For the full story read The Guardian and press release click Johnston Press