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ohnston Press given two additional months to renegotiate debt

Regional newspaper publisher Johnston Press has been given two additional months breathing space by its lenders to renegotiate its debt facility.

The Edinburgh-based company, which counts the Scotsman and Yorkshire Evening Post among its publications, has £448m debt and was due to test certain banking covenants today.

However, Johnston Press said late yesterday lenders had agreed to defer testing the debt covenants until 31 August, as "constructive negotiations" continued.

The publisher will provide a further update on its refinancing discussions at the time of the interim results announcement later in the summer.

In May, the regional publisher abandoned the planned sale of its titles in the Republic of Ireland and said failure to sell off the assets meant it had a "strong likelihood" of breaching its financial covenants this year.

Johnston Press then entered discussions with its debt providers to seek a relaxation of existing terms.