Johnston Press hits record low over debt concerns

Johnston Press shares crashed to fresh lows as the newspaper publisher said it has yet to secure fresh funding to protect its shaky balance sheet.

The company behind the i and The Scotsman needs to rejig £220 million worth of debts but said no agreement on “these potential amendments” have yet been made.

Chief executive Ashley Highfield said in May he would stand down for family reasons.

Further troubles that emerged today are the threat to digital advertising from GDPR, new privacy rules that came into place in May. Johnston also warned about “future paper costs” and an “extremely challenging” environment.

The shares, which were 363p in February 2014, fell more than 13% to 7.3p. At that price the company has a stock market value of less than £8 million.

Johnston has to repay the £220 million by June next year. It has formed an “ad hoc committee of bondholders” to “consider certain potential amendments to the group’s capital structure”.

The biggest holder of the debt is GoldenTree, a US hedge fund. A shake-up could see GoldenTree take control of the company.