HTV Profits Up 66% To £12.1 Million

At a press conference this morning HTV, the Welsh and western England television broadcaster, announced pre-tax profits of £12.1m for 1995, an increase of 66%.

Earnings per share were up 54% to 10.5p compared with 1994’s figure of 6.8p; profit margins grew to 30% (1994:29%); and Harvest Entertainment (HTV’s rights activities section) showed an operating profit margin of 15% (1994: 11%).

In terms of broadcasting, operating profit grew 25% in 1995 to £8.0 million; Net Advertising Revenue for 1995 increased by 4.5% to £95.3 million and HTV’s share of ITV’s NAR was 6.02% (1994: 6.07%). HTV Group Chairman Loius Sherwood made clear that HTV should not be thought of simply as another ITV broadcaster. It is, he said, a medium sized media company with a range of media interests both nationally and internationally. These include Partridge Films (natural history), First Independent Films (film and video rights distribution which included Dumb and Dumber) and HTV’s non regional TV production (for terrestrial, cable and satellite companies which amounted to 2,000 hours of programming for 1995).

When questioned about the possibility of HTV becoming involved in any media mergers, Mr Sherwood said that HTV were not interested in mergers or take-overs and would rather concentrate on working in alliance with other media companies.

HTV: 01222 590590