Archant fires warning over press advertising

LONDON - Regional publisher Archant posted a modest rise in profits last year, although it is warning of a tough press ad market in the coming months.

The company said pretax profits rose by 3.4% to £30.5m, despite the sale of its Scottish titles to Johnston Press. Last year, Archant sold its Scottish newspaper titles while adding to its regional activities in Cambridgeshire, with the acquisition of two titles, Agenda and Property Plus.

The company's net debt reduced from £54.8m at the start of 2007, to £36.9m at the year end.

Its regional newspaper and printing operations posted profit growth of 0.9%, while profits at its magazines and contract publishing arm was up by 16.1%.

Meanwhile, the company's online revenues doubled to £2m, as the combined number of monthly unique visitors to its portfolio of websites increased by 53.1%.

Chairman Richard Jewson said: "The outlook for 2008 is uncertain, with a weakening of advertising in the final quarter of 2007 continuing into 2008. Despite these uncertainties, we anticipate that our magazine business will see continued growth and that we will be able to build further upon our online developments."

Tristan O'Carroll
MediaWeek