Johnston Press has appointed Mike Butterworth to the board with effect from June 1. He will also become chairman of the audit committee when Mark Pain steps down from the board later this year after seven years.

Mr Butterworth, a chartered accountant, has been a non-executive at St Ives, the international marketing services group, since 2010 and senior independent director since 2012. He was finance director at Cookson Group for eight years until the end of 2012 when Cookson was demerged, and was briefly on the board at demerged Alent.

Johnston chairman Ian Russell said Mr Butterworth's " knowledge and perspective will add significant value to our business".