Leave threat has no effect on STV profit

THE chief executive of STV has stressed that Brexit poses no threat to advertising revenues after the Scottish broadcaster reported a sharp rise in first-half profit.

Pre-tax profit rose 50 per cent to £10.2million, while sales rose five per cent to £56.2million in the first six months of the year, boosted by digital revenues and its production arm.

Turnover at STV Productions doubled to £3.5million, driven by a number of popular recommissioned TV shows, including the Antiques Road Trip for BBC One.

‘The world continues as it did before,’ said STV chief executive Rob Woodward. ‘We haven’t seen any advertisers change their bookings and there is no indication that will happen.’

He added that STV had managed to stay nimble by using social media and offering digital videos to keep viewers engaged once they step away from the television.

But he said the demise of traditional TV channels was not imminent.

‘In Scotland the average STV viewer continues to watch over one hour and 40 minutes of STV every day, 365 days a year, so that’s pretty strong data.’

He would not speculate on the probability of Scottish independence in the wake of the Brexit vote, stressing that STV remains editorially impartial on the issue.

Independence ‘is not an immediate issue’ he said. ‘Our focus is to deliver services in Scotland which are demanded by media services, and content services which are demanded by consumers.’