ITN ANNOUNCES 6% INCREASE IN YEAR-ON-YEAR OPERATING PROFIT

ITN ANNOUNCES 61% INCREASE IN YEAR-ON-YEAR OPERATING PROFIT News and multimedia company ITN has today published its accounts for 2012, reporting operating profit of £3.7m on revenues of £108.7m for the year that saw the return of 5 News to the company, a raft of new one-off and series commissions, as well as services provided to a host of international broadcasters around major UK events.

Financial headlines are:

Operating profit of £3.7m; up 61% on 2011 and ITN's third consecutive year of operating profit growth

Revenues of £108.7m; up 11% on 2011 and marking ITN's highest revenues in 13 years

Going into 2013, every division of the business ITN News, ITN Productions and ITN Source - is now profitable

An increase in the pension deficit from £82.4m to £88.8m, but with a manageable repayment plan in place

Operational highlights are:

- The successful return of 5 News to the ITN stable, with the company relaunching the service and building a state-of-the-art newsroom and bespoke virtual reality studio as it restores its position as news supplier to all three commercial Public Service Broadcasters

- Agenda-setting journalism from home and abroad resulting in a BAFTA News Coverage Award for Channel 4 News and a total of eight Royal Television Society Awards across ITN outlets

- Special one-off commissions including the Diamond Jubilee and US Elections for ITV and an award-winning follow-up to the internationally acclaimed Sri Lanka's Killing Fields for Channel 4

- Cementing digital at the heart of the business with the traffic-tripling ITV News website, relaunches for Channel 4 News online and ITN.co.uk, a ground-breaking citizen journalism channel on YouTube and increased licensing of ITN footage following the digitisation of the ITN archive

- Major new commissions for ITN Productions including: The Agenda for ITV, Dispatches for Channel 4, Mud Men for HISTORY, Truthloader for YouTube, and creation of adverts and commercial content for a range of clients from Procter & Gamble to Virgin Active

- The UK production slate for ITN Productions has grown from 52 hours in 2011 to 118 hours in 2012

- The provision of facilities and on-the-day news material to a host of international broadcasters covering major UK events throughout the year including the Diamond Jubilee, London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics

- Increased staff headcount from 646 to 707 employees to support the expanding business

The success of 2012 for ITN marked the natural culmination of a three year revitalisation plan which has put the company on a stronger platform for continued growth and financial stability, said John Hardie, CEO of ITN. A focused strategy of producing excellent TV news programmes and developing businesses that arise naturally from ITN's strengths has resulted in a strong improvement in operating profit for the third consecutive year, reflecting progress across the board and, going into 2013, profitability in every part of ITN. A blistering start to 2013 has seen our journalism set the agenda, win awards and secure new commissions and contracts as ITN continues to put its stamp on the news and media landscape.

ITN's 2012 accounts are online here

LINK:	http://corporate.itn.co.uk/press.php?parent_id=13&content_id=1379...
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