STRONG GROWTH in radio advertising revenue in Britain and Ireland boosted operating profits at UTV Media by 5 per cent last year. The Belfast-based multimedia group reported a profit for 2007 of £26 million on total revenues of £115.6 million - also up by 2 per cent, writes Francess McDonnell.
UTV has recommended a final dividend for shareholders of 8.3p a share in the full-year results. This represents a 4 per cent increase on 2006 and takes the total full-year dividend to 13.50p.
UTV operates the ITV franchise in Northern Ireland, it also owns 24 radio stations throughout Britain and Ireland and a new media division.
The latest results show that together, the radio and new media divisions outperformed UTV's television operation last year.
Revenues from the radio and media division accounted for 56 per cent of the group's total operating profits. Radio advertising in the UK was up by 6 per cent while revenues in the Republic grew by 4 per cent. Turnover at its new media division increased by a modest 3 per cent but it still managed to increase operating profits by 30 per cent.
This was in contrast to UTV's television operation which saw its revenues decline from £42.4 million in 2006 to £41.3 million in 2007. This translated into a 14 per cent fall in operating profit to £10.1 million for this part of the business.
Overall UTV Media posted a return to pretax profit, before exceptional items of £18.6 million, compared to a net loss of £3.9 million for 2006.
John McCann, UTV Media's managing director, says the group has out-performed the wider market and he remains "cautiously optimistic" given the current state of the market. He describes UTV's trading performance in the early part of 2008 as "encouraging".
However, the decline in television revenue at the group poses questions as to where it will concentrate resources in the future.
UTV blames ITV1's programme schedule and contract rights renewal. As a result of these arrangements ITV1's advertising revenue fell by 4 per cent.
UTV says its 2 per cent reduction in television advertising revenue shows it is actually outperforming the ITV network.
UTV Media's UK radio assets include the national radio station TalkSport, aimed at young males, which increased its revenue to 12 per cent last. It has a stake in five of the UK's digital radio multiplexes and plans to launch a new national chat-based radio station, TalkRadio, on this platform.
In the Republic, UTV recently added FM104 to its growing stable of Dublin radio stations. It also owns Q102 and has indicated it would consider for further acquisitions - at the right price.
