The company behind the music station FM 104, has increased pre-tax profits by 47 per cent despite a major reduction in advertising spending across the radio sector in 2002.
The station's owners, Capital Radio Productions, posted pre-tax profits of € 379,097 for the year ended June 30th, 2002, compared to € 257,336 the year before,according to accounts just lodged with the Companies Office.
While gross profit was down from € 6 million to € 5.3 million, tight cost control and a lower spend on sales and marketing helped operating profits to rise from € 339,715 to € 530,502. The company does not disclose its turnover under an accounting exemption.
The chief executive of the company, Mr Dermot Hanrahan, said the company was happy with the performance in what was a "lousy" year for radio. He said radio companies around the world had been decimated by the fallout of the September 2001 terrorist attacks on the US, but FM 104 had managed to perform strongly.
The station is owned by aviation millionaire Mr Ulick McEvaddy, promoter Mr Jim Aiken, impresario Mr Maurice Cassidy, Mr Dermot Hanrahan and accountant Mr Pearse Farrell. It has been the subject of persistent takeover rumours in recent years, mainly because it is one of the few remaining commercial radio assets in Dublin not owned by a large radio company.
The level of investment by the company rose during the year to June 2002 from €2.9 million to €3.5 million. The increase of €600,000 in investment reflected in large measure the company's contribution to NewsTalk 106.
