Johnston Press, an Edinburgh based company, suffered from ‘subdued’ advertising spending in the run-up to the general election, but the regional newspaper publisher has somehow continued cutting costs and expects to deliver full-year results in line with expectations.

The company reported advertising sales for the first four months of the year down by 7.1%, compared to 12 months ago.

The cause of this uncertainty has come out to be the general elections as said by Johnston that advertising over the first three months was stable but was "subdued" in April. The group however expects sales to pick up again from the summer.

Johnston Press, which owns the Scotsman and the Yorkshire Post and hundreds of local papers, in its latest management statement, reported that the key areas of focus for the group were management of costs and cash. It aimed at, a yearly cost saving of at least £15m, an increase from the £10m it previously stated.

“This will continue through the second quarter,” said Johnston, who does not expect to see any significant improvements in the current trend until the third quarter of the year.

There could be job losses the company predicted, but they however did not plan to close. Earlier this year Johnston Press reported a 56% fall in full year pre-tax profits to £43m.