The company which owns The Scotsman and the i Paper as well as The Edinburgh Evening News is on the market for sale.
There is said to be a pension fund deficit as well as operating losses and the company says it has explored all options to repay the monies due.
The debt which the company has on its balance sheet is around £220million, and it is now finding it difficult to refinance the loans which are repayable on 1 June 2019.
The Takeover Panel has agreed that a ‘formal sale process’ may now be undertaken by the company. This means that the company can talk with any parties interested in buying Johnston Press, although it says that it is not yet in conversation with any such parties. There will be no naming of any parties involved in such discussions, as the Takeover Panel has waived the rulse in this regard.
In August the group announced interim financial results with a statutory operating profit of £7.4m compared to £4.9m in the same period last year.
The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and Edinburgh Evening News moved from their premises on Holyrood Road to the office they currently occupy at Orchard Brae, in a bid to reduce the rent bill. It was said the rent of Holyrood Road was in the region of £1 million a year.
Photographers and staff have been made redundant in the past few years, while Ashley Highfield the CEO left in May and was replaced by David King.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
