Flextech Reports Losses

Pay-TV channel and content supplier, Flextech, has this morning reported its interim results for the period ending June 30 1999. Pre-tax losses at the group were £2.9 million, compared to a profit of £1.7 million for the same period last year. Group revenue fell to £62.5 million from £64.1 million.

Turnover rose by 5.7% on last year to £79.7 million. This included the group’s joint venture with the BBC, UKTV, which also reported an increase in turnover. Its flagship channel UK Gold saw a 66.5% rise in operating profits to £9.1 million; with costs for the launch of new channel UK Play taken into account, the total operating losses were reduced by 15% to £12.6 million.

Chairman and chief executive of the group, Adam Singer, placed the blame for overall losses on the fragile digital market: “The migration to digital in the UK is affecting subscriptions across the industry. However, we are encouraged by the strong demand for digital television and welcome the roll-out of digital cable systems in the near future…We believe that Flextech is well positioned to benefit from the development of the digital market and the launch of interactive systems later this year.”

The group also reported a new acquisition for its interactive arm, Flextech interactive; a 25% shareholding in Multimap, one of the UK’s leading providers of internet mapping services was announced. Flextech Interactive will work with Multimap on a range of products, particularly SceneOne, the UK entertainment guide, which was launched on the internet in 1998.

Flextech: 0171 299 5000