STV profit 'shows growth plan starting to deliver'

Scottish commercial broadcaster STV has said its new growth strategy is "starting to deliver" after reporting strong first-half profits.

Pre-tax profit for the six months to 30 June was £9.1m, compared with a loss of £4.3m for the same period in 2018.

Total revenue fell 5% to £54.9m, which the broadcaster attributed largely to "phasing in" productions and closing its loss-making STV2 channel last year.

Total advertising revenue was down slightly at £48.8m.

STV said lower national advertising income had been offset by continued growth in digital (+19%) and regional advertising (+19%).

The company also reported a £1.7m operating loss in its production wing, but added that "programme deliveries" were strongly weighted to the second half of the year.

The broadcaster's strategic growth plan, announced last year, has included ditching STV2 and investing in programming and digital offerings.

STV chief executive Simon Pitts told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme: "We are very focused on our growth strategy, and as you can see from our numbers it is starting to deliver.

"We delivered our best onscreen viewing performance in a decade - STV is now the biggest peak-time TV channel in Scotland.

"We are bucking the trend in advertising, with digital up 19% thanks to the STV Player. Local Scottish advertising is also up 19% due to the success of our growth fund and we are having a decent time of it in productions too."

'Early stages'

Mr Pitts said the operating loss in productions showed that "we are at the early stages of our turnaround in production".

He added: "The first-half numbers are just a reflection of the fact that we will be delivering the vast majority of our shows in the second half of the year, as opposed to the first half."

In a separate development, STV announced a new partnership with pay television sports broadcaster Premier Sports.

Under the deal, the STV Player will host a live stream of Premier's free-to-air 24-hour sports channel FreeSports.

STV will also become the exclusive advertising sales agent for Premier Sports' subscription services, under a three-year agreement.