talkSPORT owner UTV Media has posted a 6 percent rise in total revenue during 2008 to £120.3m, with radio operating profit up 12 percent. Television ad revenue at the Irish broadcaster fell 7 percent.
Broken down, revenue was marginally down from £46.2m in 2007 to £45.9m in 2008, but with revenue from talkSPORT the figure is up 6 percent. Irish radio revenues were up by 50 percent to £24.9m.
John McCann, Group Chief Executive, UTV Media plc, said: “Given the wider context of the economy and advertising markets, I am pleased with today’s results and our prospects for the future.
“These are clearly unprecedented times and the impact on the Irish and UK economies is well documented. The advertising sector is feeling the full force of the downturn and clearly that is an issue we are actively addressing. We moved early to raise capital and reduce debt through the rights issue and have aggressively cut costs throughout the business. Consequently we have once again outperformed the broadcasting sector and I believe we have the ability to maintain that outperformance. We are not complacent about the situation, but as a management team we are confident of the operational and financial strength of UTV Media.”
UTV closed Edinburgh's Talk 107, and sold Imagine FM and Wave 102 during the year, and launched one new service, Central Radio in Preston, in September.
