UTV talks sport and TV

Investors' concerns may be compounded by licensing delays, which hampered promotion of UTV Ireland and talks with advertisers. These factors depressed initial audiences and ad revenues, leading management to double its expected full-year operating loss for the channel to £6m. On the bright side, advertising growth in Belfast, Dublin and London drove overall television sales by 5 per cent to £34m. And UTV Ireland's audience share swelled by more than a quarter to 13.2 per cent in the first nine weeks of this year.

Operating profit soared 45 per cent at UTV's Radio GB division. That was driven by talkSPORT's comprehensive coverage of the FIFA World Cup, which lifted revenues and helped it reach a record weekly audience of 3.3m. Moreover, management expect the advertising appeal of talkSPORT's predominantly male, middle-class audience to allow it to raise prices and maintain profits this year.

Currency shifts and a weaker outlook for UTV Ireland prompted broker Numis to slash its pre-tax profit and EPS forecasts by almost a quarter to £12.8m and 10.8p, rebounding to £21.5m and 18.2p in 2016 (from £17.2m and 14.3p in 2014).