Terrestrial broadcaster ITV gave its shareholders something to smile about after it doubled its interim dividend to 0.8p on the back of increased revenues and a 15 per cent rise in profit before tax for the half year.
Adjusted profit before tax came in at £235m, compared to £204m the previous year, with adjusted earnings per share at 4.7p (2011: 4.1p) on revenues of £1,279m compared to £1,151m the previous year.
Non-adjusted pre-tax profit saw a decline of 8.0% to £167m, following a decline in TV advertising, which the company said is set to continue into September, with July down 10%, August down 11% and September between flat and down 5.0%.
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Combined broadcast and online revenues rose 4.0% during the six months to £924m.
Adam Crozier, ITV's Chief Executive, said: "The Transformation Plan continues to gain momentum. External revenues are up 10% with all areas of the business delivering growth. The £106m increase in non-advertising revenues, from content, pay and online, was particularly significant and is further evidence that our strategy of rebalancing the business and growing new revenue streams is working.
"Our relentless focus on cash and costs remains key. We're on track to deliver cost savings of £20m this year and our cash conversion is over 100%. We've also further increased the efficiency of the balance sheet with a £275m bond buyback in June, bringing total debt buybacks to £937m since October 2009. We now have positive net cash of £92m compared with £612m of net debt at the end of 2009.
"These results have been driven by a significant increase in our non-net advertising revenues (non-NAR), up £106m or 26% to £514m. Our Studios business has shown particularly strong growth, along with a 3.0% increase in ITV Family NAR - again ahead of our estimate of the market, up 2.0%. This performance demonstrates that we are continuing to grow and rebalance the business in line with our strategic objectives."
The share price rose 5.81% to 75.55p by 10:22.
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