UTV shrugs off first-half turnover falls to declare ‘clear signs’ of growth

UTV has said “clear signs” are emerging of all of its business units returning to revenue growth, despite first-half turnover falling by over 10% and ongoing struggles at its Irish-based radio portfolio.

The Belfast-based broadcasting/new media group yesterday reported group revenue of £55.2m (€64m) for the first six months of 2013, just over 10% down on an annualised basis.

Pre-tax profit was down 43% year-on-year at £6.1m and operating profit fell by nearly £5m to £7.8m.

Net debt was unchanged at just over £50m, but its pension deficit halved to £6m and an unchanged interim dividend of 1.75p has been proposed. Diluted adjusted earnings per share fell from 8.78p to 5.18p.

“As expected, the first half of the year has been challenging for the group,” said group chief executive, John McCann. “However, we remain confident about the prospects for growth in the second half as we move into the 2014 World Cup year.”

Management added that it has seen “clear signs” in the early part of the second half of the year of all of its divisions returning to revenue growth.

“The trading challenges of the first half have eased in the second half of the year,” said chairman Richard Huntingford. “We’re encouraged that industry commentators continue to be positive about the remainder of 2013. and it does appear that the last months of the year will make up much of the lost ground.”

The first half of the year saw ad revenue in UTV’s Irish radio portfolio, which includes stations in Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Galway, Limerick, and Belfast, fall by 12%, but still outperform a wider market which contracted by 15%.

Management said yesterday that its Irish radio revenue had slipped further during this month, but added that September is likely to “move into healthy growth”, noting that, after adjusting for foreign exchange movement, revenue should be up by 5% in the third quarter.