Scottish Radio Holdings sees profits triple

Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH) yesterday re-iterated its commitment to "strategic" acquisitions in the Irish market after the company revealed it almost tripled profits for the six months to the end of March.

The company's chief executive Mr Richard Findlay said the Irish media sector had performed well "given the current downward trend in Ireland's advertising market" but warned there were no concrete signs yet that the sector would fully pull out of the decline in the months ahead.

Net income for the media company increased to £41.5 million sterling (€57.64 million) or 13.8 pence a share for the first half of the year compared to £1.7 million or 5.1p a year earlier.

SRH, which owns the only commercial national radio station, Today FM, together with a number of local stations and newspapers, has a credit line of €63.08 million from the Royal Bank of Scotland to fund further expansion. Last year the company was rumoured to be involved in takeover talks with Country 102 FM and the Limerick Leader newspaper.

Hinting that further potential deals could be in the offing, Mr Findlay said that the advertising downturn meant that "a number of the valuations for media outlets no longer stood up to the current market conditions."

Asked if SRH was actively looking for another Irish acquisition, he replied: "We are committed to the Irish market but we're not just going to buy any newspaper or radio station. We will only buy if the product offers us a substantial market." Mr Findlay also said SRH would not contemplate entering the national newspaper market either in the UK or in Ireland.

"The Irish national newspaper market is just far too overcrowded for us to even think of moving in. We will stick to the regional papers where the profit margins are better and the circulations figures are less volatile."

Last year SRH purchased the Longford Leader for €8.99 million, which was then the equivalent of 15 times profit. Mr Findlay said the paper was a "strategic buy and was returning good profits." He also rejected any suggestion that SRH would buy into the reportedly struggling Dublin Daily.

Radio is SRH's largest operating division with the company's total local and national advertising revenue in the UK and Ireland rising 3 and 8 per cent respectively, in the last six months. As a result total revenues were lifted by 33 per cent.

Despite the recently increased competition in Ireland's radio sector, Mr Findlay maintained that Today FM - the company's biggest money-spinner in the Republic - was continuing to increase its listenership figures and rejected any suggestion that Newstalk 106 FM was encroaching on the station's Dublin audience.