3rd Sep 2019 11:34
(Alliance News) - STV PLC boosted its dividend Tuesday after a "strong" performance in the first half of 2018 following a significant restructure process the year prior, meanwhile it also announced a new sports channel partnership.
For the six months ended June, the Scottish broadcaster swung to a GBP9.1 million pretax profit from a GBP4.3 million loss the year prior. This was despite revenue falling 4.9% to GBP54.9 million from GBP57.7 million the year before.
Profit performance was helped by one-off costs falling sharply compared to the year prior. In the first half of 2018, STV recorded GBP12.8 million in exceptional costs primarily related to its restructure process and a provision related to a debtor.
On an adjusted basis - excluding exceptional items - pretax profit widened 7.1% to GBP9.1 million from GBP8.5 million the year prior. Adjusted operating profit rose 10% to GBP11.0 million from GBP10.0 million the year before.
"An operating profit increase of 10% when national advertising revenues are down supports the decisions we took to reposition the group for profitable growth, focusing on STV's regional strengths and the exciting growth potential offered by our digital and production businesses," STV Chief Executive Officer Simon Pitts said.
STV proposed a 6.3 pence per share interim dividend, up 5.0% from 6.0p the year prior.
"In the first half of 2019 we have enjoyed the best all-time viewing share on STV since 2009 and our total advertising revenue has outperformed the wider TV market, driven by continued growth in digital and regional advertising and by the increasing success of the STV Growth Fund which has attracted over 100 new Scottish advertisers to television since launch," Pitts added. "These factors have contributed to a strong first half performance, with a significant improvement in operating margin."
"We continue to make good progress with our strategic growth plan and have laid solid foundations for the future," Pitts continued. "Although current political uncertainty around Brexit will continue to impact total national advertising revenue in the second half, we expect further growth in digital and regional revenue and an improved performance from STV Productions."
In a separate announcement on Tuesday, STV announced it opened a new partnership with pay-to-view television sports broadcaster Premier Sports.
Under the deal, STV will broadcast the free-to-view Freesports channel as a 24-hour live stream on the STV on-demand service STV Player. Freesports will provide up-to-date news on sports including football, rugby and boxing.
"This partnership will provide our viewers on STV Player with access to 24-hour sports coverage," STV Commercial Director Peter Reilly said. "In addition to the wide range of original and archive content already available, FreeSports will further strengthen the STV Player as Scotland's content destination of choice."
In addition, STV will act as an exclusive advertising sales agent for the subscription service of Premier Sports. The three-year deal will see STV help build market share of Premier Sports in the UK through its Premier Sports 1 and Premier Sports 2 channels.
Launched in 2009, Premier Sports holds exclusive rights to sports including Guinness PRO14 Rugby, Scottish Cup Football and NASCAR motorsports.
"We are also delighted to be appointed as exclusive sales agent for Premier Sports," Reilly added. "STV is Scotland's pre-eminent advertising platform and we look forward to bringing our expertise and proven track record of working with advertisers to drive growth for Premier Sports across their digital and broadcast platforms."
Shares in STV were 4.5% higher at 371.00 pence in London on Tuesday.
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