REG - STV Group PLC - Trading Update

STVAnnouncement

15/12/2022 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20221215:nRSO7557Ja&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 7557J  STV Group PLC  15 December 2022

15(th) December 2022

STV Group PLC

Trading Update

Advertising market demonstrates further resilience; improved outlook for STV
Studios

 

·   Total advertising revenue for the full year 2022 expected to be down
only c.2% on 2021's record year and up 8% on 2019

·   Strong audience performance boosts advertising in November and
December, driven by I'm a Celebrity and FIFA World Cup 2022

·   STV Studios' growth momentum continues, with £50-55m revenue now
secured for 2023

 

·    STV Group plc today announces that it expects Total Advertising
Revenue (TAR) to be down c.2% for the full year 2022, delivering a resilient
performance, and growth of c.8% compared to the pre Covid year of 2019.

 

·    Within that STV expects regional advertising to perform broadly in
line with national advertising for the year and VOD advertising on STV Player
to continue to deliver good growth.

 

·    9-month TAR was -3%, in line with expectations, and Q3 TAR -17% as UK
economic uncertainty led to caution in the advertising market. As anticipated,
Q4 has seen a stronger performance, boosted by I'm a Celebrity and the FIFA
World Cup 2022, and is forecast to be down c.1% against tough comparators from
2021 (Q4 2021 TAR: +16%). Within that October TAR was down 13%, November up 3%
and December is expected to be up around 6%.

 

·    On screen, STV has had a very strong finish to the year, with I'm a
Celebrity the most watched TV series across all UK TV channels in 2022, and
STV Player's most streamed series ever with over 3m streams. England's World
Cup quarter final defeat to France delivered STV the highest peak-time
audience in Scotland across all channels this year of 1.6m viewers. The
tournament is already STV's most streamed event ever with over 6m streams so
far, over 50% ahead of last year's Euros.

 

·    STV Studios continues to make excellent progress, with over 30 new
commissions secured this year (FY 2021: 15) and previous full year 2022
guidance confirmed of £20-25m in revenues and at least £1m operating profit.

 

·    Additionally, STV confirms improved STV Studios guidance for 2023,
with secured revenues now at £50-55m, significantly ahead of our target to
quadruple revenues to £40m by 2023.

 

 

 

 

STV Chief Executive Simon Pitts said:

 

"STV has performed strongly in 2022 with advertising revenues expected to
finish only 2% behind 2021's record performance and 8% ahead of 2019.

 

On screen we have enjoyed an excellent end to the year, with I'm a Celebrity
proving to be the biggest TV series of 2022, ahead of Strictly Come Dancing,
and the World Cup STV's most streamed event ever with over 6m streams.

 

While we remain mindful of the ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, we are
becoming a more resilient and diversified business that is well placed to take
advantage of the growth in demand for streaming and global content.

 

Our recently announced partnership with ITV significantly strengthens our STV
Player content and advertising proposition, while STV Studios continues to
make great progress towards its goal of becoming the UK's leading nations and
regions production company. With over 30 new shows commissioned this year we
have already secured £50-55m in revenues for 2023, significantly ahead of our
target, and our commissioning pipeline continues to show good momentum."

 

 

Upcoming events

 

There is a site visit for investors at STV's offices in Glasgow scheduled for
25(th) January 2023.  Please contact Kirstin Stevenson to register (details
below). A date will be confirmed in the New Year for the next in our series of
Capital Markets presentations, which will focus on STV's Digital division, and
provide further detail on the recently announced streaming partnership with
ITV.

ENDS

Enquiries:

STV Group plc:

Kirstin Stevenson, Head of Communications, Email: kirstin.stevenson@stv.tv
(mailto:kirstin.stevenson@stv.tv) , Tel: 07803 970106

 

Camarco:

Geoffrey Pelham-Lane, Partner, Tel: 07733 124 226

Ben Woodford, Partner, Tel: 07790 653 341

 

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  TSTFZMMZNDVGZZM