Johnston Press looks for £75m from investors to tackle debts
JOHNSTON Press is planning a rights issue of at least £75m in a bid to shore up its finances.
The company, which has around 200 titles in the UK and Ireland including The Scotsman and Yorkshire Post, has struggled to cope with debts of over £300m built up by acquisitions.
Cost-cutting and redundancies have brought that figure down from its high of £361.7m in June 2012.
However, a smaller debt pile, combined with the possible sale of its 14 Irish newspapers, is likely to lead to better terms of borrowing and more manageable loan repayments.
The rights issue would be the firm’s second in six years. Johnston Press did not comment.