Johnston Press plc (LON:JPR) has been crowing about the performance of the i newspaper – with some justification – as underlying monthly profits are running at £1mln.
Johnston Press purchased the title for £24mln in April 2016, at which point it had delivered annual underlying earnings (EBITDA) of £.2mln on revenues of £26.1mln; in September, October and November EBITDA was averaging £1mln a month for the first time since Johnston purchased the title.
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The newspaper’s revenue for the first 11 months of the year was £27.5mln. with the title also seeing year-on-year growth in advertising market share.
Circulation has remained steady at 266,000, verified by the Audit Bureau of Circulation Data, despite an increase in the weekday cover price from 40p to 60p.
Shares in Johnston Press were up 2% at 12.75p in early deals.