ITV's recent warning of falling TV advertising spend ensured that a similarly uninspiring outlook from STV (STVG) didn't take the market too much by surprise. Instead, investors took some comfort from a generous dividend rise, amid a fairly resilient performance from the Scottish broadcaster.
IC TIP:
Hold
at
360.3p
Key takeaways included a 19 per cent spike in regional airtime sales and promising video-on-demand growth. Heavy investment to reduce STV's reliance on cyclical advertising markets led the group's digital platform to register a 20 per cent surge in revenue. Management aims to increase the amount of earnings generated from its non-broadcast activities to 30 per cent by the end of next year, up from 23 per cent in the reported period.