ITN ANNOUNCES 6% INCREASE IN OPERATING PROFIT

ITN ANNOUNCES 16% INCREASE IN OPERATING PROFITNews and multimedia company ITN has today published its financial accounts for 2014, reporting operating profit before exceptional items of £5.76m on revenues of £112.0m in the fifth successive year of operating profit growth.

Financial headlines are:

Operating profit on ordinary activities before exceptional items increased by 16% to £5.76m - an £8.6m upwards swing since 2009

Operating profit margin pre-exceptional items grew from 4.7% to 5.1%, with every division of the business continuing to be profitable

Group revenue increased to £112.0m a 16% upwards swing since 2010

ITN Productions revenue grew 44% year on year, to £16.7m (2013: £11.6m)

Operational highlights are:

Another year of world-class, agenda-setting journalism resulted in 46 industry accolades across our outlets, including eight coveted Royal Television Society Awards and an International Emmy

From the UK floods to the deadly spread of the Ebola virus, civil war in Ukraine and the rise of Islamic State, our teams across ITV News, Channel 4 News and 5 News consistently shone with incisive reporting and expert analysis

Our fastest growing division ITN Productions saw a 44% rise in revenue to £16.7m (2013: £11.6m), with a broadcast production slate of 170 hours, including major series for all of the UK's terrestrial broadcasters. The TV commercials business continued to expand with 37 advertising campaigns in 2014 including the multi award-winning LEGO ad break, which became the most watched advert of the year on YouTube

Digital growth continued at pace, with 330 hours of clips of sport from the Barclays Premier League, Aviva Rugby, and England cricket amongst others delivered for News UK. The ITV News Livestream website saw users up 230% year on year to 18.5 million monthly views. Channel 4 News partnered with Mashable, Whatsapp and Snapchat to continue to increase its key 18-34 online demographic

ITN Source achieved its second consecutive year of profitability and completed final delivery of the complex Qatar Foundation project - the highest value deal in its history

John Hardie, CEO of ITN, said: 2014 was another successful year for ITN, marking the culmination of a five year period of sustained profit growth and achievement. Never before in ITN's history have we produced work of such breath-taking range and quality.

Our newsrooms are stronger than ever, consistently delivering editorial excellence, alongside an enhanced position with our key clients rebuilt on more profitable terms. ITN Productions and ITN Source continue to thrive, adding a raft of new contracts and expertise. Looking ahead, we can feel justified in our self-confidence, optimism and ambition for 2015 and beyond.

Read the full Annual Report (PDF)

(ends)

For further information, please contact:

Sarah Vaughan-Brown 020 7430 4837/07920 580 529

Director of Corporate Communications, ITN

sarah.vaughan-brown@itn.co.uk

LINK:	http://corporate.itn.co.uk/press.php?parent_id=13&content_id=1418...
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