Johnston Press, the regional publisher of titles including the Yorkshire Post and Blackpool Gazette, has extended the deadline for staff to apply for voluntary redundancy programme.
Staff had initially been given a period of 26 days – until October 25 – to apply for the enhanced package but that has been extended for a further week due to the half-term holiday.
The redundancy move came after the publisher announced another sharp fall in revenue, down nearly 15% to £149.9m, with the group £306.4m in debt. That was despite an increase in operating profit, up over 4% to £28.6m for the first half of the year.
The total number of people employed by Johnston Press, whose titles also include the Lancashire Evening Post and Blackpool stood at 4,350 at the end of 2012, a 23.1% drop year on year. In 2006 it employed 7,849 people.
