Johnston Press has revealed a significant rise in profitability at i – the national newspaper it bought from Evgeny Levebev for £24m in April 2016.

Johnston said that i delivered profit of £3.7m in the first six months of the year (earnings before interest, tax, deductibles and amortisation) up 42 per cent year on year.

Circulation revenue for i increased from £4.4m to £11m and advertising revenue was said to be up from £0.8m to £3m in the period (this compares 26 weeks of i newspaper revenues in 2017 versus 12 weeks in the period to 2 July 2016).