6th Mar 2014 12:18
LONDON (Alliance News) - STV Group recommenced payment of a full-year dividend and outlined a progressive dividend policy Thursday, as it saw pretax profit rise in 2013.
The broadcaster recommenced its dividend payment, posting a full-year dividend of 2.0 pence. It signalled a target of 3.0 pence per share for 2014 to be paid; one third as an interim dividend and two thirds as a final dividend payment. It intends to continue a progressive dividend policy in future years.
In a separate announcement Thursday, STV said it had been commissioned for 25 episodes of a new quiz show by BBC One, called 'The Link,' in association with LTV. Warner Bros. International Television Production will act as global distributor, it said.
The show will be hosted by actor Mark Williams, known from the Harry Potter film franchise, and will have a 45 minute run time as teams work together to find a link between questions.
STV posted a pretax profit of GBP12.2 million, up from GBP4.9 million in the previous year, as revenue rose to GBP112.1 million from GBP102.7 million, and certain one-off costs did not reoccur. In 2012 it had posted a non-cash stock write-down of GBP4.1 million relative to its ITV network affiliate status, and GBP1.2 million in legal and other costs in relation to this.
STV said that it had delivered 19% of its earnings from non-broadcast activities. STV is targeting 33% of revenue from non-broadcast activities by 2015, and said it was on track to meet this target.
Revenue growth was boosted by a strong performance in the company's Consumer segment, where a strong airtime performance drove revenue to GBP98.6 million from GBP92.5 million in the previous year. Digital revenues were buoyed by continued growth in catch up viewing, rising to GBP7.5 million from GBP6.5 million in the previous year.
Production revenues grew to GBP13.5 million from GBP10.3 million, due to new commission wins and returning commissions from long running series.
STV said its expects total airtime revenues to be up 5% in the first quarter of 2014, with Scottish airtime revenues up 6% and national revenues up 4%. It expects digital growth revenues to be up 15% to 20% in the first quarter, which it also expects to be their run rate for the full-year.
Shares in the broadcaster were trading up 4.8% at 355.25 pence Thursday.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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