Johnston Press said it will be forced to cut jobs as a result of these losses. The regional publisher closed 5 papers last year and reported the departure of 768 of its staff through a combination of compulsory and voluntary redundancy, retirement and other reasons.
Financial director Stuart Paterson said: "With a lower revenue base we have to make sure that the cost structure of the base fits".
The company reported a fall of 26.5 per cent in like-for-like ad revenues and a total group revenue fall of almost 20% to £428m. However it also noted that like-for-like ad revenue declined only 7.3% in the first nine weeks thanks to an improving trend in the market.
The publisher is also trying new systems and ideas such as pay-wall and holding back online content in the hope of improving print circulation. The results of these trials are not yet known.
