GDPR bites for Johnston Press as group revenues slide 9%
Johnston Press has become one of the first media organisations to take a GDPR-related hit after the group cited the impact of more onerous European privacy restrictions as a contributory factor to a decline in digital ad revenues.
GDPR bites for Johnston Press as group revenues slide 9%
Overall revenues fell 9% over the first half of the year on the back of this weak performance, casting a cloud over today’s AGM at which shareholders were already set to fret over future paper costs and an ‘extremely challenging’ publishing sector.
In a trading update Johnston reported: “The trading environment remains extremely challenging, exacerbated in recent months by uncertainty around future paper costs and the impact of GDPR on digital advertising revenues. We expect to see continued pressure on revenues in the second half of the year, and a requirement for cost savings.”
Johnston Press is in the midst of a strategic review which could see it amend both its capital structure and pension scheme to meet onerous pending debt liabilities, with £220m due for repayment on 1 June 2019.
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