Johnston Press' Irish operation could face job cuts and closures
THE substantial Irish operations of Johnston Press could face job cuts and closures under a new £30m cost-cutting plan unveiled by its UK parent company yesterday.
The inclusion of the 15 Irish newspapers and two printing presses in the fresh cost-cutting drive emerged when Johnston Press announced it had abandoned plans to sell off its Irish business after failing to attract "sufficiently" high bids.
The company refused to detail how Ireland would be affected by the wave of cuts, which were announced in a trading statement yesterday. "All we can say is that Ireland will be included," a spokesman said.
Industry sources speculated that Johnston Press's printing operations in Limerick and Kilkenny could come in the firing line, since the company already could, arguably, manage with just one.
Between them, the two businesses employ 48 people according to the sale prospectus circulated locally. The same document shows that total employment at Johnston Press Ireland is 339.
Johnston retained Dublin-based Raglan Capital to explore the Irish sell-off in February, and three groups recently tabled final bids. The company yesterday said the Irish sale process had been "terminated" because bids were not "at a sufficiently high price to be in the company's best interest".
The lowest of the bids is understood to have been in the high €20m range, while the highest was below the €40m mark. All were far short of the €70m mooted at the start of the sales process, though Johnston never disclosed a target price.
Yesterday's statement also confirmed that the fall in Johnston's ad revenue is beginning to slow. In the first nine weeks of the year, ad income came in 35.9pc behind the previous year. For the 19 weeks to May 9 that rate slowed to 34.4pc.
- Laura Noonan
