Media In The City: SMG Confirms Primesight Sale

Last week, SMG confirmed that it is selling its outdoor advertising division, Primesight, to private equity firm GMT Communications Partners for up to £62 million.

SMG added that its television and cinema advertising divisions and Virgin Radio continue to trade in line with the board’s expectations for the current financial year (Full Story).

Emap released a statement announcing that it has received interest for all parts of the group, having embarked on a review that could see the company broken up (Full Story).

On the back of the announcement, Emap’s share price rose almost 5% to 875p, an increase of almost 40p.

Multimedia group UTV revealed that its operating profit, before exceptional items, was up 4% at £13 million for the six months to June (Full Story), whilst RTL’s total earnings before ebita rose 7.7% year on year to €515 million (£256.3 million) (Full Story).

Meanwhile, regional newspaper group Johnston Press reported a 4.8% decline in profits in the half year to June 30.

The group, which publishes titles including the Yorkshire Post and the Scotsman, said that its operating profit fell to £96.7 million, whilst revenue was up 0.1% at £312.8 million (Full Story).

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