Chrysalis Radio Outperforms Industry, As Group Profits Jump

The figures were boosted significantly by the sale in September of Galaxy 101 to Vibe Radio Services for £12.5 million (see Chrysalis Takes GWR’s LNR And Sells Galaxy 101). This disposal added £6.3 million to Chrysalis’ profits, according to the group’s half-year figures. During the period, Chrysalis also acquired LBC from GWR Group for £23.5 million (see Chrysalis Takes GWR’s LNR And Sells Galaxy 101). LBC has contributed to five months of the half-year and boosted revenue figures accordingly.

Excluding both the acquisition of LBC and the sale of Galaxy 101, Chrysalis’ radio division saw like-for-like revenues rise by 17.5% to £25.2 million. Overall group turnover rose by 10.3% to £125.5 million, whilst earnings rose by 31.4% to £9.1 million.

The results were further boosted by Chrysalis Radio’s continuing outperformance of the radio industry. Radio revenues rose by 19.8% to £27.2 million in H1, whilst airtime advertising revenues grew by 19.9% to £26.5 million. Over the same period, the radio industry as a whole is believed to have delivered growth of around 2%.

Chrysalis says that this radio outperformance is the result of continuing audience gains across many of its stations, which include the Heart and Galaxy networks.

The group relaunched LBC’s two London station – LBC 97.3FM and LBC News 1152AM – in January this year, placing the talk format on FM and the rolling news service on the AM band. It says that the integration of the stations is running smoothly, with the sales team beginning to “leverage the benefits of selling LBC’s airtime alongside the Heart and Galaxy brands.”

Elsewhere in the group, the television division saw pre-tax operating profits jump from £1.2 million in H1 2002 to £2.8 million this time. The company is in discussions over the sale of its television assets (see Chrysalis To Sell Television Group To Former ITV Heads) and whilst no further details were announced with the results this morning, negotiations are still underway.

Outlook Trading at Chrysalis Radio is in line with expectations, with airtime revenues for March and April showing increases of 9.5% year on year. Excluding the disposal of Galaxy 101 and acquisition of LBC, revenues at the Galaxy and Heart networks rose by 7.7%. Over the same period, the overall radio industry is estimated to have been flat.

“We are particularly pleased with this performance in the light of the current geopolitical environment and the challenging comparative figures for the previous year, which showed 25% growth on March and April 2001,” said chairman Chris Wright.

Despite the continuing uncertain conditions, Chrysalis remains confident of growing audience share and improving revenue yield. This positive statement helped to push shares in the group up by 2.0% to 208.5p by 10.30am today.