The managing director of Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH), Mr Richard Findlay, has said he is confident the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) will approve his €30 million bid for Dublin station FM 104 later this week.
"I would hope they would see the sense in the proposal," he said.
Mr Findlay said both parties were anxious to complete the deal at this stage and it might not happen six months down the line. "The future is a different place, so both companies want to do business now," he said.
Mr Findlay also rejected suggestions that SRH was paying too much for an asset which has been losing market share in the last year to its rival 98 FM.
"It is a very, very good station. It has been the number one station in Dublin before and we are confident it can reach that position again," said Mr Findlay.
He also rejected the argument that with four new licences due to be awarded in Dublin, FM 104's market share would be eroded further. "From my understanding of what the BCI have been saying, the new licences will not duplicate what stations are doing already in the Dublin market," he said.
Capital Radio Productions, owner of FM 104, produced a pre-tax profit for the year to June 30th, 2002, of €379,097. Mr Findlay said analysing one year's profits figures was not that useful. "There has been heavy expenditure in recent times there as I understand it and in 2002 there was a particularly heavy marketing spend, so each year's figures have to be taken in context," he said.
He said all research showed that advertising revenue followed audience and if the station managed to improve its listenership figures the advertising revenue would follow.
The station, according to its last set of accounts, employs 64 people and Mr Findlay said in line with SRH policy he expected most of the current team to remain in place. "I hear the management there are very good".
He also said SRH was prepared to bid for other media assets in Ireland, both newspapers and radio. "We will continue to look at things, if they are at a sensible price we would be interested," he said.
But the focus for the company now was concluding a deal with FM 104, he said. He accepted that previous takeover attempts by Virgin Radio and UTV ended in failure.
According to BCI guidelines companies are not allowed sell their stations for at least two years after winning a licence.
In the case of FM 104, its licence was renewed last April, but both parties are hopeful the two year "moratorium" will not delay the sale.
