John Fry is to step down from his role as chief executive of Johnston Press little over two years after joining the regional publishing business.

Johnston Press issued a statement this morning saying Fry had "notified the board of his intention to step down" and that the process to find his successor had started.

The annoucement came as Johnston Press revealed this morning that it had suffered a year-on-year drop in adjusted pre-tax profit of almost a third last year.

The company said pre-tax profit for 2010 fell 29.6 per cent year on year to £30.5m from the £43.3m it made in the previous 12 months - overall revenue dropped six per cent to £398.1m last year.

Read more at Press Gazette.