The Edinburgh-based press group will take on the plants as part of two deals completed this week to acquire the Leinster Leader for 93m (139m) and Local Press Group for 65m.
The deal for the Leinster Leader, which posted turnover of 14m last year, includes a new print site in Limerick running a Goss Community press along with six weekly paid-for titles and an evening newspaper published three times a week.
Johnston Press chief executive Tim Bowdler (pictured) admitted that the publisher had paid "full price" for the Leinster Leader but added that the price also took into account strong growth in the Irish newspaper market.
Local Press Group, which has print sites in Belfast and Londonderry, publishes eight titles in Northern Ireland, three in the Republic and one newspaper in both.
The deals follow Johnston's 155m acquisition of Score Press earlier in the year.
Bowdler laughed off suggestions that Johnston was only targeting the Irish market after having exhausted acquisition possibilities in the UK. "Ireland is a rapidly growing market, but more will happen in the UK," he said.
Johnston press spending
Acquisitions
- Score Press 155m
- Leinster Leader 93m
- Local Press Group 65m
Print sites and upgrades
- New Sheffield 60m
- Portsmouth 45m
- Peterborough 11m
Total
- 428m
Story by Josh Brooks
Johnston Press outlays 160m to pick up three print operations
Acquisitive regional publisher Johnston Press has added three more print sites to its growing group after spending almost 160m to buy two Irish newspaper groups.
