LONDON (Brand Republic) –
The results were helped by strong ad revenue growth at Virgin Radio, which SMG –- formerly Scottish Media Group -- acquired when it bought the Ginger Media Group in March.
Virgin Radio’s advertising revenues rose 31% year-on-year during the first four months of ownership. A significant amount of this growth has been attributed to income from dotcom advertisers.
SMG has also announced plans to sell 14.6m new shares, or 5% of its equity, to raise £45m. This would be used to reduce £245m of debt, giving the group more flexibility to make investments and acquisitions.
Virgin Radio contributed £6m in operating profits, while the Ginger Media Group’s television production arm added a further £1.5m.
Shares in SMG -- which also owns two of the three Scottish ITV franchises, STV and Grampian, as well as the Glasgow-based newspapers The Herald, Sunday Herald and Glasgow Evening Times -- fell 5p to 295p. Until today they had gained 17% this year.