Johnston Press sells East Anglia newspaper business for £17m

Johnston Press, the owner of the i, the Scotsman and many local newspapers, has sold its East Anglia business for £17m in order to focus on key growth areas.

The London-listed company said it has completed the sale of Johnston Publishing East Anglia, which owns 13 publishing tiles and websites in the East Midlands and East Anglia to Iliffe Media. The sale also reduces the company’s net debt, which puts it on a “stronger financial footing".

The £17m sale price represents 5.3 times the operating profit of £3.2m before exceptional expenses for the year ended 2 January 2016.

Chief executive Ashley Highfield, said: "This disposal marks a major milestone in our divestment strategy and puts us firmly on the path of refocusing our activities on areas with the greatest growth potential in our selected geographic markets, audience profile and digital growth areas.”

Shares in Johnston Press were down 2.29% to 0.38p at 1314 GMT.