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Johnston Press hits new slump
Regional newspaper publisher Johnston Press said yesterday its slow recovery from the collapse in advertising had been hit by the withdrawal of government ads, sending its shares slumping. The group, which owns the Scotsman and the Yorkshire Post, had said in August it expected to see some growth in its advertising market sometime this year. But it said the fall in public sector advertising, and in particular the impact this was having on recruitment ads, meant it now expected growth to happen sometime next year but it could not predict when. The government has cut its spending on advertising as part of overall austerity cuts designed to reduce the deficit.