Profits come easy at Ritz music company

RITZ Music, the recording company which specialises in easy listening and country singers such as Daniel O'Donnell, Charlie Landsborough and Foster and Allen, has generated pre tax profits of £628,000 in the nine months to the end of last December. Ritz floated on the Ofex over the counter market in London at the end of 1996.

And the company, whose main, shareholder is Mr Mick Clerkin, is planning acquisitions to expand the group's activities. Mr Clerkin said: "A number have been identified aimed at expanding the group's core activities and include the acquisition of new labels, back catalogues and additional artistes."

The £628,000 profits on sales of £4.84 million are ahead of the forecasts given when Ritz joined the Ofex market.

The company has budgeted for a fourth quarter loss of £76,588 with the result that full year results are expected to be around £551,000, again ahead of the £525,000 profit forecast in the flotation prospectus.

"One of the objectives of raising money from the market was to fund increased promotional advertising in order to raise the profile of company artistes, which has successfully been achieved," said Mr Clerkin. No dividend is proposed.