UTV receives Euro 2012 boost but warns TV advertising market still tough

RADIO and television company UTV Media said today that the Euro 2012 tournament boosted its advertising revenues and helped it to grow profits for the first half of the year.

However, the talkSport owner is the latest commercial operator to say that the Olympics left it cold, after blanket BBC coverage gave viewers and listeners few reasons to change channel.

It said: “The Olympics did not provide any performance-­enhancing effect on advertising revenue and as a result trading conditions for the third quarter have been less positive than anticipated.”

The ITV licence holder for Northern Ireland, the group is being affected by difficult economic conditions which are depressing TV advertising sales, but it still managed to grow group revenue by 4 per cent to £61.6 million in the six months to June. Pre-tax profits were

3 per cent higher at £11.2m.

The firm said it had continued to invest in talkSport, hiring presenters and signing deals to broadcast Premier League and FA Cup football internationally. The brand is expanding overseas and has begun broadcasting in Mandarin and Spanish.

The firm hiked its interim dividend by 17 per cent to 1.75p.

David O’Brien, an analyst at Shore Capital, said the results were broadly in line with expectations. He said a “lacklustre” outlook for the rest of the year meant he would cut his forecasts for UTV, but management had shown confidence by raising the dividend and he kept his “buy” recommendation on the shares.