Newsquest, the publisher of regional titles including The Northern Echo, The Bolton News and the Lancashire Telegraph, has said the continuing decline in print revenue meant it would have to keep cutting costs.
In its latest annual report, for the 12 months to the end of 2019, the publisher revealed it had seen profits fall from £78.2m in 2018 to £9.7m, with revenue down from £197.3m to £187.7m.
It said it closed 10 free newspapers during 2019 and said there had been “no significant changes in resolving the question of how funding for independent local journalism on a systemic scale can be achieved”.
It added: “Currently the declines in print revenues outweigh the growth in digital revenues resulting in the need to continue to find cost savings.”
The company acknowledged the “significant disruption” brought by the Covid-19 pandemic and that “robust cost control and re-engineering of the business” were essential to protect it.
In March, Newsquest furloughed about 10% of its 650 editorial staff but was then criticised by the National Union of Journalists for using the scheme as a “waiting room” for redundancy.
In June, chief executive Henry Faure-Walker then admitted to staff that “very heavy declines” in revenues over the previous three months meant the company could not return to pre-Covid staffing levels.
Despite the toll taken by the pandemic, director Paul Hunter added in the annual report: “The company remains confident about its ability to emerge from this crisis because of the diversity of its revenue streams, the support of staff and the actions of Government to address the economic weakness.”
According to the report, full-time staff numbers fell from 2,413 in 2018 to 2,125 last year.
