Johnston Press claims sales increase for relaunched weekly and daily titles
Johnston Press has claimed that the first phase of its relaunch of daily titles to weekly formats has been a success, with an average increase in sales of 77% in comparison with daily sales.
At the company’s AGM today, Johnston Press CEO Ashley Highfield told shareholders that initial sales had been positive, with the daily titles reported to have been making year-on-year sales declines of around 10% ahead of the relaunch.
The Scarborough News apparently saw a sales swing of 102%, the company hasd claimed, while sales of the other titles, Peterborough Telegraph, Northamptonshire Telegraph, Halifax Courier and Northampton Chronicle & Echo has also increased having gone weekly.
The company also said that early figures for its weekly titles were similiarly positive, with an average sales increase of 8% against pre-launch figures.
Having relaunched with increased cover price, the the West Sussex County Times is said to have increase its sales by 19%, following a previous decline rate of 9%.
Highfield said: "While we obviously have to be cautious in extrapolating trends from the initial week post relaunch we are convinced that the relaunch programme will significantly benefit group circulation revenues. We will be paying close attention to the trends established over the medium term and will update the market as appropriate."
The first of the newly redesigned newspapers were released at the start of June.