Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH) has said it is still in the market for acquisitions in Ireland, but will not pay over the top for them. Barry O'Keeffe reports.

The chief executive of the media group Mr David Goode said last night that the group, which has a number of media interests in the Republic, was "looking broadly" and was still keen to expand.

"We will not get involved in overbidding," he said.

Mr Goode declined to be drawn on specific instances, but suggested that some recent transactions involving media groups had been quite expensive.

He said any acquisition would have to make geographical and financial sense for SRH.

SRH's media interests here include FM104 and Today FM as well as several newspapers including the Kilkenny People, the Longford Leader, and the Tipperary Star.

The company had to relinquish a minor stake in Newstalk to complete the FM104 deal.

Mr Goode said this had not been an issue as the company had not intended to remain as a minor shareholder.

He said he was very pleased with the current performance of both stations,which he said was 10 per cent ahead in the first six weeks of its new financial year, compared to last year.

Mr Goode was speaking after the company said its full year pre-tax profit was up 12.7 per cent on last year.

SRH said its pre-tax profits £13.3 million (€19 million), up from £11.8 million a year ago.

Radio revenues from continuing operations were up 20 per cent on last year. The total like for like radio revenues were up 10 per cent on last year.

The results include a six-month contribution from FM104. Mr Goode said advertising revenues in Ireland were also up about 10 per cent in the first six weeks of its new financial year.

The company's Score Press division which holds its newspaper interests includes 24 local newspapers in the North.