In its interim management statement for the 44 weeks to 6 November 2010, the company announced plans to close its Limerick plant in mid-December, which could result in 29 redundancies.

The company said: "In order to further reduce our costs in the Republic of Ireland, where economic conditions remain very difficult, the printing operation in Limerick will be closed resulting in an exceptional cost in the region of £5m, the majority of which relates to the write-down of the remaining asset value of the press."

Last September the company closed its Kilkenny plant.

Despite the closure at Limerick, the company has reported that its debt reduction plan is ahead of schedule, which could save the company £1m in interest next year.

The company's net debt fell to £388m by the end of October, a reduction of £13m in the second half to date.

Johnston Press's statement: "This decrease has allowed us to pull forward the £30m reduction of our facilities scheduled in 2011 to 30 September 2010 and should save the group around £1m in interest costs next year."

The company continues to plough on with its cost saving plan and expects to save more than £20m by the end of the year.

However, the company also said that advertising revenue had declined at the back end of the year, owing partly to government cuts.

Total advertising in the second half of the year was down 5.4% on a like-for-like basis, which was an improvement on the first half decline of 6.3%.

The decline in print advertising revenues, excluding recruitment, in the second half was 2.5%, while the decline in recruitment advertising in the same period was 29.1%.

The statement added: "In the last 18 weeks public sector sourced advertising has been particularly difficult and although it only made up approximately 9% of our total advertising in the third quarter, the declines have been sufficient to slow the overall rate of improvement in advertising performance."