UTV Media sells Liverpool radio station Juice for £10m

Broadcaster UTV Media has sold Juice FM, its radio station in Liverpool, to Capital owner Global Radio for £10 million.

UTV announced in January it was considering disposing of some or all of its local stations in England after reducing its full-year revenue forecast for its fledgling television station UTV Ireland by £2.5 million.

The company owns 13 independent local radio stations in England including Signal 107 in Wolverhampton, Radiowave in Blackpool and Peak FM in Derbyshire. It also owns the national station Talksport in Britain as well as eight stations in the Republic.

Juice FM, which was set up in 1998, reported revenues of £2.2 million and profit before tax of £408,000 last year. As of 31st December 2014, the station had gross assets of £603,000.

UTV Media said its strategic review of its remaining UK independent local radio stations is ongoing.

Group revenues at UTV Media rose by 7 per cent to £29.7 million from €27.8 million for the first quarter of 2015, with television revenues up 25 per cent.

The group said revenues from its British radio division, including Talksport, were flat at £13.2 million.