UKRD pays more dividends in difficult times

UKRD has declared its half year dividend for the third year running, even though CEO William Rogers says trading remains difficult in places.

“Trading continues to be patchy and there’s no doubt that advertising revenues remain very short term, particularly in the national marketplace,” said Rogers.

“As we have increasingly driven our genuinely local strategy, as opposed to the lip service to localness paid by some, there is a clear trend of upward movement in both audiences and locally derived revenues and this is the way we intend to continue to develop our operation.”

The group, which owns 16 local radio stations, recently embarked in a recruitment drive to add Creative Writers to each of its stations.

He continued: “For the benefit of the industry as a whole, I only wish that some of the bigger brands were more successful than they are. It’s clear from even a casual look at RAJAR that some are in decline and this is not good for any of us.”