Additional paragraphs in Footer Copyright Text

[phil2]

phil2

August 24, 2018 at 6:27 pm

Hi Team,
Following an earlier question, I am inserting the following code into the Theme Options > Misc Options > Footer Copyright Text.

<div class="row" style="text-align:center">
<div class="col-md-4">
[copyright] [the-year]: Organisation Name. All rights reserved.
</div>
<div class="col-md-4">
This page last updated on [updated-date]
</div>
<div class="col-md-4">
Designed & built by <a href="*Login to see link target="_blank">Avalon Marketing & Website Design Ltd</a>; hosted by <a href="*Login to see link up/" target="_blank"> Rosetta Group</a>
</div>
</div><!-- row -->

I’ve spotted that the output has additional paragraphs inserted. Specifically, before my code there is a <p></p> and again after my code.
Is this normal behaviour? How can I prevent it for the footer without using display:none css?
Many thanks,
Phil.