(Reuters) - Newspaper publisher Johnston Press Plc (L:JPR) reported a 30.9 percent fall in half-year adjusted pretax profit and said trading conditions for regional newspapers in the UK continue to be difficult.
However, the company said the monetisation of its digital audience continued to gain momentum, partly offsetting the decrease in print advertising revenues.
The newspaper industry has been hard hit in recent years as advertisers have followed readers to online platforms, forcing print publishers such as Trinity Mirror (L:TNI) and Daily Mail and General Trust (L:DMGOa) to cut costs drastically.
Trinity Mirror, which owns the Daily Mirror, on Monday ramped up its cost savings plan after weak print advertising and poor sales of classified ads pushed its half-year adjusted operating profit down 9.4 percent.
Johnston Press said revenue, excluding classifieds, grew 4.6 percent to 85.6 million pounds in the 26 weeks to July 1, on stronger digital business and sales of "i" newspaper.
The 250-year-old company said digital advertising revenue rose 14.8 percent, excluding classifieds, while print advertising revenue fell 4.5 percent.
Revenue from classifieds fell 28.8 percent in the period.
Digital audiences grew 15 percent to a record high of 26.5 million unique users a month, the company said, while page views rose about 20 percent to more than 110 million on average per month.
Johnston, which has over 200 titles across the country, acquired "i", the cut-price sister paper of The Independent, for 24 million pounds last year to tap into its growing circulation revenue and advertising base.
"i" newspaper's circulation revenue rose to 11 million pounds from 4.4 mln pounds, while advertising revenue jumped nearly fourfold to 3 million pounds.
Johnston's adjusted pretax profit fell to 6.7 million pounds ($8.9 million) in the 26-week period from 9.7 million pounds, a year earlier.
The publisher of the Yorkshire Post, The Scotsman, and several regional newspapers said total revenue fell 3.1 percent to 102.9 million pounds.