UTV to return £55m to shareholders after assets sale

UTV Media is set to return up to £55 million (€77.8m) to shareholders after the sale of its television assets to ITV.

The group is to hold a meeting on December 1st to enable shareholders to vote on the proposed £100 million (€135m), details of which were announced last month.

UTV is expected to receive net cash proceeds of £98 million from the sale after fees are deducted. It said the proceeds will be used to pay down some of the group’s £60.2 million debt and to return a minimum of £40 million in cash to shareholders. It added that it would return an additional €15 million as soon as practicable provided that proposed new bank facilities are in place.

The group forecast that the deal, which includes UTV Ireland would be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2016.

Following the sale, UTV is to focus on its radio interests, which include TalkSport and six stations in the Republic, as well as its digital media business.

As ITV is also acquiring the UTV brand, the Belfast-based parent company of the remaining radio and digital interests will adopt a new name once the deal has been approved.

The group’s first-half results showed that UTV’s television division generated an operating loss of £3.3 million, down from a profit of £4.4 million in the first-half of 2014. For 2015 as a whole, UTV Ireland is expected to post a loss of £11.5 million.