GWR Group, the UK’s most listened to commercial radio group, has seen profits rise by 12% to £6.9 million in the six months to September, but said the radio advertising market remained weak, according to interim results announced today.
The owner of Classic FM, which is currently waiting for regulatory approval concerning its merger with Capital Radio, said that advertising revenue at its flagship station was up by 5.3% for the period and that total revenue rose by 6.4%, boosted by the success of Classic FM TV, Classic FM Magazine and other brand extensions such as CDs.
As anticipated in its September trading statement(see GWR Confident Over Revenue Prospects For the Year), GWR says the radio advertising market has been weak in October and November. October advertising revenues for the Group were down by 8.7% compared with last year and November looks set to be down by 6.6%. However, the Group does expect some improvement in December, although it is thought it will remain down year on year.
Total group revenues at GWR fell by 2% to £61.3m, largely as a result of the discontinued overseas operations, but like-for-like analogue revenues rose by 2.2% to £56.4m for the six month period .
Advertising revenues for the Local Radio Group (LRG) rose by 1.2% for the period and Ralph Bernard, chairman of GWR, said: “The underlying strength of our core local radio group stations, combined with growth at Classic FM, has increased the group’s underlying profitability during the past six months, despite the difficult trading conditions in August and September.”
He added: “During this period, the radio advertising market has been increasingly competitive, with consumer spending showing signs of slowing down and mounting audience pressure from BBC radio. The growth of our digital businesses continues with revenues and listening numbers up.”
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