The group blamed the fall on a slump in advertising and the effects of a restructure. Turnover for the year ending December 2003, excluding the company's publishing division which was sold last April, was down to £188.2m from £199.8m the previous year. Television turnover fell 6% and radio revenue fell 10%.
However the company maintains that bookings have started to pick up in 2004 with television revenues up 5% and radio revenues up 7%.
Turnover at Virgin Radio was down 10% to £23.2m compared with £25.9m in 2002.
SMG fought Carlton and Granada in the High Court last year over their plans to use the name ITV when they merged. The group claimed that they were hijacking the ITV name because SMG held the Scottish and Grampian ITV franchises. SMG later reached a settlement with ITV.
Chief executive of SMG Andrew Flanagan said: "Reaching a settlement with ITV has materially strengthened our position. The quality and consistency of bookings for the first four months of 2004 are encouraging and we are seeing growth in each media sector."
Don Cruickshank, chairman of SMG, is expected to quit at its annual shareholder meeting this summer. It has been speculated that former Channel 4 chief executive Michael Grade may take up the post. He became an SMG non-executive in September last year.
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