JOHNSTON Press shares sagged 16 per cent as the publisher of The Scotsman unveiled an impairment charge of £184million on its publishing assets and print titles.

The Edinburgh-based group warned about the impact of the Brexit vote on its advertising market, and reported a half-year loss of £183.7m, after the £2.2m profit a year ago.

Underlying pre-tax profit was down 27 per cent at £12.3m, on underlying revenues down 10 per cent at £113m.

However, a 15 per cent decline in the first quarter was cut to 4.7 per cent in the second, helped by strong circulation revenue for the i, the daily newspaper bought for £24m from the publisher of The Independent earlier this year.

Johnston divulged individual publication circulations, saying the i was up 10.5 per cent year on year, the Yorkshire Post down 9.8 per cent and The Scotsman down 10.9 per cent.

Digital audiences grew 22 per cent in the first half year-on-year, but weekly publications declined 11 per cent and regional dailies were down 14 per cent.

Johnston said trading was “marginally” below its expectations and its focus would remain on cutting costs and shoring up the group, particularly given the uncertainty following the EU referendum result.

The shares fell 2.25p to 11.5p, valuing Johnston Press at £12.2m.