Emap buys Scottish Radio for €587m
Media group Emap today said it had agreed a £391m (€587m) deal to take over Scottish Radio Holdings, owner of Today FM and newspapers such as The Kilkenny People and The Longford Leader.
Emap, whose initial £374m (€561.4m) offer was turned down by SRH, said the board of the Glasgow-based radio and newspaper group had agreed to its latest 1088p per share bid.
Emap also said it had agreed to sell SRH’s local newspaper operation, Score Press, to Johnston Press for £155m (€232.7m).
Emap said its latest offer represented a 17% premium to SRH’s average middle market closing price of 926p in the 12 months to March 31.
It said it expected the acquisition to be earnings-enhancing in the first full year under its ownership.
Emap chief executive Tom Moloney said the radio industry was a good business, but players needed to have scale of audience and infrastructure.
“This transaction enables us to create the highest quality independent local radio business, reaching all the UK’s major conurbations and delivering a strong position in the Republic of Ireland,” he said.
“This is an important step in Emap’s radio strategy, one that creates real value and leaves us well placed to make the digital step that will be so important in establishing leadership of UK commercial radio.”
SRH chief executive David Goode said the combination of Emap’s radio business with SRH’s network of 22 highly-rated radio stations in the UK and Ireland would create a strong radio group with exciting prospects.
He added that Score Press was a highly profitable and well-run portfolio of weekly newspapers.
“It represents a very valuable asset and a good fit with Johnston Press’s extensive newspaper interests,” he said.
Emap’s existing broadcasting operations include the radio stations Kiss, Kerrang and Magic, along with television station The Hits.
Its consumer magazines include Closer, Empire, Arena, Bliss, Match and Yours, and its business division publishes titles such as Construction News, New Civil Engineer and Screen International.
The portfolio also includes French TV-listings magazines Tele Star and Tele Poche.
In May, it said annual pre-tax profits dropped to £112m (€168.2m) due to a non-cash charge of £30m (€45m) although pre-tax profit before goodwill and one-off items rose 5% to £205m (€307.8m).
SRH has 22 wholly-owned radio stations including Today FM, Cool FM in Northern Ireland, Radio Clyde, Radio Borders, Tay FM in Dundee, Carlisle CFM Radio and Southampton-based Wave 105.
Score Press includes five newspapers in the Republic, 24 in Northern Ireland and 16 in Scotland.
