Sharewatch: Scottish Radio Up Ahead Of Positive Results

Scottish Radio Holdings saw its share price creep up yesterday, adding 1.62% to close at 940p. This morning saw the company announce preliminary results for the year to 30 September, revealing a rise in turnover of 15% to £96.3 million,with like-for-like revenues climbing by 9%.

The company also stated that group operating profit had risen by 16% to £22.1 million. Speculation has risen this week that radio rival Emap would put in a bid for SRH this week, however, it now seems unlikely that a proposal will be tabled until January at the earliest.

Elsewhere BSkyB also saw its share price rise, adding 0.14% to close at 548p. Yesterday afternoon the broadcaster purchased 1,500,000 of its own ordinary shares for cancellation. The company has also come under scrutiny following a prediction by former Sky executive and chairman of Top Up TV David Chance that Freeview penetration will equal that of Sky Digital by December 2005 (see Freeview Penetration Set To Equal Sky Next Year).

Newspaper giant Trinity Mirror was one of the few companies to see downward movement yesterday, losing 1.25% to close at 630p. The company has announced a 15 year printing deal with the Guardian Media Group which will see its Mirror Colour Print plant in Oldham print GMG’s regional titles in the North West, starting in early 2006 (see Trinity Mirror To Print Guardian Media Group Titles).

The FTSE 100 regained lost ground yesterday, adding 25.5 points to close at 4,795.9 while the FTSE 250 added 41.2 points to close up at 6,599.2.

The closing prices of media company shares on Wednesday were: