Emap puts €64.6m book value on its three Irish radio stations

The UK media group Emap has put a book value of £44 million (€64.6 million) on its Irish radio stations Today FM, FM104 and Highland Radio, all three of which are up for sale.

Profit forecasts issued to potential buyers earlier this month indicated the stations could be worth as much as €200 million, based on multiplier rates in recent UK sales.

Emap released its results for the year to end March 2007 yesterday, saying its Irish and Scottish radio operations had performed well, though revenues at other UK radio operations had remained flat or had fallen.

The group has moved its Irish radio assets to a held-for-sale category on its balance sheet. The category shows the assets having a value of £55 million and associated liabilities of £11 million. These are book values.

During the year, the group sold its Emap France business for £380 million. The business had a net book value at the time of £132 million.

Yesterday, the group said operating profits in its radio business rose by £1 million to £34 million in the year to end March. Revenue from radio for the group grew to £164 million from £141 million, but operating margins dropped to 21 per cent from 23 per cent.

Figures released yesterday showed revenue for its operations in the Republic grew by £11 million in 2007, while revenue in Scotland and Northern Ireland increased by £17 million. However, other UK operations saw a £5 million drop in revenue.

Overall, Emap's underlying group revenue was down 1 per cent at £1 billion. Pretax profit was down 13 per cent at £193 million.

The group, which has been the subject of bid speculation since its chief executive left last week, said it expected to remain independent and had not received any approaches.