Johnston Press PLC Regulatory News (JPR)

16 Sep 2005 10:30

Johnston Press PLC16 September 2005 For Immediate Release Friday, 16 September 2005 JOHNSTON PRESS plc ACQUISITION OF THE LEINSTER LEADER LIMITED The Board of Johnston Press plc ('Johnston Press') announces today that it hasentered into an agreement with the shareholders of The Leinster Leader Limited('The Leinster Leader', 'the Company') to acquire the entire issued sharecapital of the Company. The Leinster Leader is a privately owned company with 27 shareholders. Its groupof companies publish six weekly paid-for newspapers in the Republic of Ireland,comprising the Leinster Leader, Leinster Express, Offaly Express, DundalkDemocrat, Limerick Leader and The Echo which was acquired by the Company on 5August 2005. The Company also publishes a paid-for evening newspaper in Limerickthree days per week. Total circulation amounts to c. 92,000 newspapers of whichc. 72,000 comprise sales of weekly newspapers and c. 20,000 sales of the eveningtitles. The Leinster Leader has recently commissioned a new print facility on agreen field site in Limerick and for the first time this enables the Company toprint all Leinster Leader titles in-house. From the management accounts, totalrevenues for the year to 31 August 2005 were approximately €21.1 million andthis represents an estimated growth of 15% on the prior year. EBITDA on the samebasis was €8.0 million representing an increase of 31%. The gross assets fromthe management accounts as at 31 August 2005 were €30.2 million. Johnston Press believes that The Leinster Leader represents an attractive andcomplementary addition to its recently acquired portfolio of titles in theRepublic of Ireland. As well as extending Johnston Press' presence in theseprofitable and well-established markets, the acquisition will also provideopportunities for operational and purchasing synergies. Under the terms of the agreement, Johnston Press has agreed to acquire TheLeinster Leader for an aggregate cash consideration of €138.6 million on a debtfree basis and this consideration will be satisfied from Johnston Press' bankingfacilities. Johnston Press expects that the acquisition of The Leinster Leaderwill be earnings enhancing (excluding the impact of acquisition relatedexceptional items) in the current financial year. The acquisition is subject to the approval of the Irish Competition Authorityand the Irish Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment under thelegislation governing competition and the ownership of newspapers. PRESS ENQUIRIES Johnston Press plc 0131 225 3361Tim BowdlerStuart Paterson Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000Richard Oldworth/Suzanne Brocks This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange