Sparks

STV has posted a good H124 result. Revenues were ahead 20%, boosted by the acquisitions in the Studios side of the group of Two Cities and Greenbird and despite a continuing tough commissioning market. Studios has a strong commissioning order book across a good range of genres, which underpins the path to the segmental FY26 target of £140m with a 10% margin. Group total advertising revenue was up 13% in H1, which, including the boost from the Euros, reflected a particularly good performance from the SME segment that STV has been developing. H2 comparatives will be more difficult but overall the group is on track to meet full-year expectations and management’s FY26 strategic targets for the group have been reiterated. The new CEO, Rufus Radcliffe, takes over from Simon Pitts on 1 November and joins from ITV, where he was MD of streaming, interactive and data and responsible for the launch of ITVX.