Independent wary about ad outlook

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The Independent website

Newspaper group Independent News & Media has reported a loss and says advertising will not recover this year.

It made a pre-tax loss of 48.5m euros ($69.6m; £42.7m) for the first six months of 2009, compared with a 96.6m euro profit in the first half of 2008.

The company warned that its full-year earnings would be at the bottom end of current expectations.

The group is confident of reaching agreement with bondholders after rolling over its debt.

Advertising revenue was down 19.6% in the period and no recovery is expected in the second half of the year.

"The group's current forecast presumes a continuation of poor advertising markets to year-end, with no material pick-up from the trend experienced in the first half," its statement said.

The Dublin-based company, whose titles include the Belfast Telegraph, was supposed to have repaid a 200m euro bond in May and has been rolling it over since then.

It is also due to repay 50m euros of bank debt in September.

The company said it would not be paying an interim dividend.

Johnston Press

Another newspaper publisher, Johnston Press, has also seen a decline in advertising in the recession.

Its advertising revenues shrank 32.7% in the first half of the year, with recruitment and property advertising particularly hard hit.

The publisher of the Scotsman, the Yorkshire Post and the Belfast Newsletter has cut another 439 jobs to take its workforce down to 5,969, having already laid off 15% of its staff last year.

It reported a six-month pre-tax loss of £94.2m, compared with a loss of £53.7m in the same period a year ago.

There were rumours earlier in the month that Johnston Press was planning to sell the Scotsman, but they were denied by the company.


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