Lenders defer Johnston tests
JOHNSTON PRESS, the regional newspaper publisher, yesterday reached a deal with its lenders to postpone by two months the testing of its covenants, which had been due on 30 June.
These tests will now take place on 31 August, after the company holds talks with lenders over the refinancing of its facilities.
Earlier this year, Johnston, which publishes the Scotsman and the Yorkshire Post, said it had cut its net debt by £29m to £448m since the beginning of the year, but warned that operating profit for 2009 would be at the lower end of market expectations.
The company also scrapped plans to sell its Irish titles, saying it hadn’t received a suitably high offer.
Johnston added that advertising revenues for the first five months of 2009 were down 34.4 per cent on the same period last year.
Johnston has been cutting costs and is combining the editorial operations of the Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday to save cash.