Revenue at UTV Media’s Radio Ireland division is up 9% for the first three months of 2014, whilst GB revenue grows 7% and TV is up 5%.
The figures are part of the latest performance results from the company, which owns Q102, FM104, LMFM, Live 95, Cork’s 96fm, C103 and U105 in Belfast.
John McCann, Group Chief Executive, UTV Media plc, said: “The contrasting performances of the first and second halves of the year are evident in these results, with Group operating profit down 36% in the first half of the year and up 10% in the second half. The improvement in market conditions continues into the current year, with all of our divisions recording good growth in the first quarter of 2014.”
UTV Radio is continuing to expand London-based talkSPORT – the national speech station – and also helping to launch a new television channel in Ireland.
The company is also selling some of its non-core activities to focus more on broadcasting. “Our three portals, Propertypal, UTV Drive and Recruit NI, have been sold or are held for sale and we are in the process of divesting of UTV Connect, the company said today.
“The remaining parts, Tibus and Simply Zesty, of what had been our New Media division provide support for our broadcast businesses and have been subsumed into our Television division. We also restructured Simply Zesty under new management to focus its activities on an all-Ireland basis and at the same time implemented an efficiency savings plan throughout the Group.”
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