Johnston Press PLC Regulatory News (JPR)

Johnston Press plc

The i newspaper sees record increase in readers

Johnston Press plc ("Johnston Press" or "the Company"), is pleased to announce that it has continued to increase readers of the i newspaper since it was acquired in April 2016, at a rate which is ahead of management's expectations. The last week's sales show daily circulation consistently over 300,000, peaking at 319,000 on Friday 29 June. The i's advertising revenue for the same week was also the highest it has been since the acquisition.

These figures show a further increase from the week of the Referendum, indicating a continued desire for impartial and informative journalism, highlighting the vital role that newspapers play around major milestones for the country.

Last week also saw a record amount of traffic to the inews.co.uk website breaking through the 1m page views per week barrier for the first time since its April launch with 1.65m page views. Sunday 26 June saw the highest number of page views in a day at 434,431. Since the website was only launched 10 weeks ago on April 14, management are encouraged by this strong start.

Notwithstanding the Referendum, which has evidently been beneficial for newspaper groups in general, i's circulation and readership has steadily increased under the ownership of Johnston Press and editorship of Oliver Duff. By comparison, during the month immediately prior to the acquisition, i had an average audited circulation of 270,182 (Source: ABC March 2016).

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Note: This announcement contains inside information which is disclosed in accordance with the Market Abuse Regulation.