UTV announce healthy results for 2007

UTV Media announced its results for the year ending December 31 2007 today, revealing a rise in group revenue of 2% to £115.6m (€151m).

Other highlights included: Radio operating profit up 21% at £14.5m (€19m) after charging start-up losses of £2.4m (€3.1m)) in respect of the group’s radio stations in Belfast and Edinburgh, New Media operating profit up 30% at £1.4m (€1.8m) and net debt reduced by £10.4m (€13.6m) to £107.2m (€140m).

John McCann, group chief executive, UTV Media Group, said: “I am pleased that we are able to announce another strong set of results and continued out-performance of the wider market.

He added: “UTV's trading performance for the early part of 2008 is encouraging and our outlook for the year is cautiously optimistic given the current market uncertainty.”