Pretax losses at the radio group that operates FM104 in Dublin and other Irish stations narrowed marginally to €2.7 million last year.
New accounts filed by the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wireless Radio (ROI) Ltd showed turnover for the 12 months ending June 30th last year rose to €23.4 million, up from €22.4 million previously.
The company also operates Cork’s 96FM, Limerick’s Live 95, LMFM and Dublin’s Q102.
“All of these stations deliver significant listenership in their respective franchise areas,” the directors said.
They also noted that the latest financial numbers came against a difficult trading backdrop.
“Economic conditions were difficult during the period, compounded by the war in Ukraine and the ongoing challenges of spiralling cost of living increases,” they said.
“In spite of these challenges however, the company continues to benefit from improving revenue performance and we commend the hard work and dedication of our loyal staff base throughout the period under review,” they said.
Numbers employed by the group rose from 225 to 235 with staff costs dropping marginally to €11.6 million.
Directors’ pay increased from €265,000 to €271,000.
“Due to the loss made during the year there is an indication of a potential impairment in the value of the radio licences, this has triggered a review of the valuation of the radio licences held by Wireless,” the accounts said.
“The valuation of the licences has not been impaired in the current year based on the value of the estimated future discounted cash flows forecasts based on the reports performed by independent financial services firm Duff & Phelps Limited,” it said.
The directors said that despite the uncertainty they expect company to continue as an operator of local radio stations for “the foreseeable future”.
