Sign In
6 Nov 2008 07:00
UTV Media plc (the "Group")6 November 2008Interim Management Statement
This statement covers the period from the beginning of the Group's financial year, 1 January 2008, to the date of this announcement and incorporates the Group's ten month trading period ended 31 October 2008. In that period the Group achieved revenue growth of 6%. Excluding the impact of the FM104 and Tibus acquisitions, which completed during the period under review, like for like revenue and operating costs were broadly in line with last year.
GB Radio
Revenue in our GB Radio division in the 10 months to October was in line with the same period last year compared to an overall market which is estimated to have declined by 6% in this period.
Revenue in November / December is forecast to be in line with last year with the market forecast to be down by 10%.
Earlier this year we took action to remedy the underperformance of our new radio station in Edinburgh, talk107. Despite some improvement, it now seems unlikely that this station can be brought to profitability in a reasonable timescale, particularly in the current market conditions. Therefore, we have decided to curtail our investment in talk107 by offering it for sale. In the event that sale terms can't be agreed, we would propose to close the station and return the licence to Ofcom.
As a shareholder in the consortium which won the licence to operate the second national digital multiplex, we were surprised by the majority shareholder C4's unilateral decision to withdraw from the provision of digital radio services. This decision undermined the business model upon which the consortium's application was based and, consequently, it would seem unlikely that the multiplex will launch in the foreseeable future.
Ireland Radio
Our Ireland Radio division delivered growth of 50% in the ten months to October with sterling translation gains and acquisitions accounting for 15% and 32% of the growth respectively. Like for like growth was 3%.
Revenue in November / December is forecast to be broadly flat against last year on a like for like basis.
Television
Revenue in the ten months to October declined by 6%, compared with a network decline of 7%.
Advertising revenue in November / December is forecast to be down by 10%.
New Media
With the acquisition of Tibus, revenue in our new media business was up by 15% in the 10 months to October with strong margin improvement. Revenue for the year is forecast to be 15% up on last year.
Update on Financing Position
On 15 July 2008 the Company issued 38,361,0111 shares by way of a Rights Issue, raising approximately ‚£49.9m. The net proceeds of the Rights Issue received by the Company have been used to reduce the group's debt and, consequently, its overall gearing.
In conjunction with the Rights Issue, on 25 July 2008 the Group put in place a revised banking facility which comprises a five year, ‚£95 million and ¢â€š¬50 million debt facility.
The increased fragility of the financial markets reinforces the importance of having secured refinancing of our debt through to 2013.
Summary and Outlook
In our Interim Statement on 26 August 2008, we referred to the difficulty of predicting revenue for the rest of the year because of the considerable uncertainty of global and national economies. That uncertainty has been exacerbated by the turmoil in the financial markets over the past two months. However, each of our operating divisions continues to perform well relative to their peer groups and the positive effects of a significant cost reduction programme across the Group should start to be evident in the early part of 2009.
For further information contact:
Maitland +44 (0) 20 7379 5151Anthony SilvermanRowan BrownUTV Media plc
John McCann Group Chief Executive +44 (0) 28 9026 2202 Jim Downey Group Finance Director +44 (0) 28 9026 2176 Orla McKibbin Head of Communications +44 (0) 28 9026 2188
vendor
Follow the stocks
