UTV enjoys 3% revenue rise but remains cautious

talkSPORT owner UTV Media enjoyed a 3% year on year revenue increase in the first four months of 2011, but remains cautious for the rest of the year.

Revenues for the group’s Radio GB division rose 4% year on year, while the UK radio market declined 2%. However, UTV expects revenue in May and June to be down 9% on the same period last year, “reflecting the negative effect of the World Cup comparison”.

The company, which has been linked to a bid for Absolute Radio, saw revenues in its Ireland division fall by 5% in the period to the end of April – with sterling translation exchange losses accounting for 2%. The like for like decline in sales was 3%. This trend is expected to continue in May and June.

Results from the group’s Television division to the end of April were positive – up 8% year on year in line with the network. It is anticipated that the TV division will experience revenue growth of 2% in May and a decline of 8% in June as a result of the World Cup comparison, the company said.

Revenue in UTV’s New Media business in the first four months of 2011 is similar to that achieved in the same period in 2010 – “this trend is expected to continue in May and June,” the group’s IMS said.

“In the current environment of economic uncertainty airtime bookings offer limited forward visibility and we therefore remain cautious about the remainder of the year,” UTV said. “Nonetheless our Television and Radio divisions have had a good start to the year, outperforming in their respective markets and we are currently on track to meet market expectations for the year.”

talkSPORT was named UK station of the year at the recent Sony Radio Academy Awards, and had a bumper set of RAJAR results – with its reach up 37% YoY and 5% QoQ to give it its highest listening figures yet. UTV Radio also fared very well with its portfolio – reporting a 22.5% increase YoY.