Emap's radio division today reported revenues of £164m for the year to 31 March, up 16% year-on-year but effectively flat once the Scottish Radio Holdings acquisition was accounted for.
The group said Scotland and Ireland performed well but that national ad revenues in the UK were down by 8% and regional ad revenues by 2%.
The radio industry is rife with rumours that Emap Radio is looking to offload some of its stations north of the border, together with the Irish stations that are currently under review.
The group, run by chief executive Tom Moloney, who announced his forthcoming departure last week, has recently suffered a series of blows and is expected to make significant changes to its magazine portfolio as well as its radio arm.
The sale of the Scottish stations has been dubbed a "badly kept secret" among leading industry players and follows poor Rajar results for much of the Big City Network during Q1 2007, with reach and hours falling for most of the Emap-owned stations in Scotland, some losing as many as 800,000 listening hours.
The stations, many of which were acquired in Emap's £391m takeover of Scottish Radio Holdings in 2005, are not currently performing as well as Ireland's Downtown and Cool FM, though at the time of the takeover they were doing considerably better than their Irish counterparts.
One industry expert suggested the division's move from a tightly controlled Scottish business to a large conglomerate such as Emap led to a loss of focus at the stations, which then started to lose cash.
Emap brought in Boston Consulting Group to carry out a strategic review of the business last year, the results of which are set to lead to further changes.
It comes at a time when the radio market is undergoing massive change. Analysts favour a de-merger for Chrysalis Radio from its music division with a possible sale to Guardian Media Group, which recently made £675m from the sale of a 49.9% stake in Trader Media, publisher of Auto Trader magazine.
Virgin Radio, meanwhile, is expected to go back in part to Virgin mogul Sir Richard Branson - who sold it to Chris Evans in 1997 - through a planned IPO.
_1.jpg)
.jpg)
