Pressed

How, you ask, are things at Johnston Press, run by former BBC technology whizz Ashley Highfield ?

Well, yesterday the company reported a pre-tax loss of £300m, against a £2.2m profit in 2015. The hit was because of a huge write-down in the book-value of its 230-odd titles and print assets - £344m. Excluding the impairment charge and other items, the adjusted operating profit was £42.1m, down 14.5 per cent on a year earlier.

Today the share price is hovering around 20p, valuing the company at £21m. Unfortunately it is also saddled with £220m debt through a bond which needs repaying in 2019.

Mr Highfield has high hopes of more money from sales of the iNewspaper - and has struck a deal to "sponsor" some output on the comedy tv channel Dave; current top show - repeats of "Not Going Out". Full advertising slots on the channel cost from as little as £10 at breakfast to £2,000 for 'late peak'.