Capital toasts breakfast revival

JOHNNY Vaughan has proved a successful heir to Chris Tarrant at breakfast, according to Capital Radio chief executive David Mansfield.

He said: 'He's only been on air for four weeks and we won't really know until the official ratings in July, but all the anecdotal evidence from listeners and advertisers is that Johnny is very popular.

'He is certainly appealing to younger listeners in a way Chris didn't, but I don't think we are going to lose people at the older end of the market.'

Financial results for the year to end-March were fairly flat, with revenue up 4% at £59m and headline pre-tax profits marginally higher at £12.1m.

But the group's listener figures improved considerably, particularly at the flagship Capital FM, where the breakfast show won back some 133,000 listeners, many of whom it had lost to closest rival Heart.

The dividend is unchanged at 6p.