Shares in media group Johnston Press fell on Wednesday as the company announced further cuts in its Scottish news operations.
The company’s stock dropped 3% as it announced plans to restructure the editorial team serving The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and Edinburgh Evening News.
Up to 45 job are expected to go as a result of the changes, which are due to be implemented by the spring of next year.
“The measures being outlined, which include the opportunity for editorial team members to apply for voluntary redundancy, are proposals at this stage and there will be a full consultation period before final decisions are made,” The Scotsman Publications Ltd editorial director Ian Stewart said.
The move came just hours after the parent group which is led by chief executive Ashley Highfield and which operates a portfolio of almost 260 publications and 200 news and e-commerce websites warned of further “efficiency and restructuring initiatives” in the final quarter of the year.
In an interim statement, the company said total group revenues had fallen by 3.1% in the 16 weeks to October 18, a marginal improvement over the 4.3% decline recorded in the first half of the year.
Advertising revenues fell 3.4% in the period compared with a 4.6% drop in the first half.
The company has been investing heavily in its online operations in recent years and said it had made further progress in the period under review.
Digital revenues increased by almost a fifth in the period and the group’s mobile audience doubled to an average of 6.5 million a month.
The group, which agreed in April to sell its operations in Ireland, returned to growth in underlying operating profit last year for the first time in seven years.
The company said it expected its full-year financial returns to be in line with City forecasts.
“Signs of economic growth are present in most of the group’s geographic markets and whilst some challenges remain, the group is focused on taking the right actions to deliver its strategy and return the business to overall top line growth,” the firm said.
“As a result of the progress in the year to date and our plans for the final quarter, the board expects trading results for 2014 to be in line with current market expectations.”