ITV profits boom after best on-screen performance for a decade
Broadcaster ITV has reported a jump in profits before tax of 30 per cent to £435m for the year ended 31 December. 2013 marked the fourth year in a row of double digit profit gains for the company.
Growth in online, pay & interactive of 16 per cent drove broadcast and online revenues up by three per cent.
ITV enjoyed its best year on year on-screen performance for a decade with ITV's main channel up three per cent and ITV Family SOV up four per cent.
Mobile and tablets helped to push long form video requests up by 16 per cent.
Adam Crozier, ITV chief executive, commented:
ITV is now demonstrably a much stronger company both operationally and financially. Over the last four years we've grown our revenues and delivered double digit profit growth every year, our adjusted earnings per share has increased six fold to 11.2p and our cash conversion has been consistently strong.
Looking to the future ITV expects "good growth" at ITV Studios and will continue to look for potential acquisitions.
The board of ITV has proposed an ordinary dividend of 2.4p, with a full year dividend of 3.5p as well as a special dividend of 4p.