STV seals 'transformative' £24m deal in bid to form top TV production company: reaction

STV has undertaken a “transformative” £24 million acquisition as it looks to create the “UK’s top nations and regions production company”.

The deal to purchase unscripted TV production network Greenbird Media broadly doubles the size of the STV Studios business, analysts noted. Bosses at the Glasgow-based broadcasting group said it would create an “unrivalled network of senior creative leaders” and an expanded forward pipeline of programme ideas. As a result of the acquisition, STV Studios now has expanded bases in Glasgow and London, as well as offices in Cardiff, Belfast, Brighton and Manchester.

Since its formation in 2012, Greenbird is said to have built the largest independently-owned network of high-quality producers in the UK, with an archive of 2,000-plus hours of content. This year, companies within the Greenbird network - as part of STV Studios - will produce more than 350 hours of new programming across 25 returning series. Some of the hit shows made by the producers in Greenbird’s network include Lego Masters, Bafta-winning the Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan, and Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing.

STV, through its wholly-owned STV Studios subsidiary, has acquired 100 per cent of the issued share capital of Greenbird Media for a total cash consideration of about £24m, of which £21.4m was paid on completion. The merged STV Studios business will be materially earnings-enhancing from day one and is funded from the broadcaster’s existing financial resources.

STV chief executive Simon Pitts said: “Growing STV Studios into the UK’s number one nations and regions production company is one of our core strategic objectives. This transformative acquisition represents a major step towards that goal, adding significant scale and creative firepower to the group and immediately accelerating STV’s overall diversification in terms of both revenue and profit. We’re delighted to be partnering with Greenbird and to welcome their incredibly talented network of creative leaders to the STV family as we jointly aim to grow our production base in the UK and internationally.”

Greenbird founders, Jamie Munro and Stuart Mullin, will join the STV Studios board in the roles of chief commercial officer and finance and integration director respectively, working alongside chief operating officer, Paul Sheehan, and under the leadership of managing director, David Mortimer.

In a joint statement, Munro and Mullin said: “This is an exciting new chapter in Greenbird’s history. We are hugely proud of the Greenbird incubator model we have built. It has given creatives space to flourish and deliver some of the most innovative, entertaining and loved programmes in the UK. Their creative power is unrivalled and has been recognised by viewers, critics, awards panels and through the volume of international sales that their shows have generated.”

Mortimer added: “Over the last four years we have transformed STV Studios’ creative and commercial performance, so now feels like the right time to take our next big step towards becoming one of the UK’s most successful production networks.”

Since its formation in 2012, Greenbird has built a large independently-owned network of producers in the UK, with an archive of 2,000-plus hours of content.

Progressive Equity Research analyst Jonathan Helliwell noted: “STV is broadly doubling the size of its Studios division with the acquisition. Strategically this looks transformative for STV Studios, and further diversifies the group outside of broadcast.”