Chrysalis swings back in the black

MUSIC, radio and publishing group Chrysalis burst back into profit in the past six months, just in time to highlight its attractions to potential bidders under the new Communications Act regime.

Chief executive Richard Huntingford declared: 'We're not on the auction block. We're just concentrating on running the business really well. But I suppose people will notice that we have outperformed our peers in the radio sector and we've got two really great brands in Heart and Galaxy, which both have a lot of audience growth to come.'

Chairman Chris Wright still owns 28% of Chrysalis but is said to be in no hurry to sell out. He said: 'We are in the strongest position to capitalise on any changes in the industry environment that will be brought about by the forthcoming Communications Act.'

The group made a pre-tax profit of £648,000 in the six months to end February against losses of £5.6m in the same period last year. Turnover rose by 21% to £113.7m and earnings per share were 0.6p compared with losses of 2.94p. The radio division had flat sales, which was much better than the 12% decline across the industry. Sales surged 24% in March and April and Chrysalis now claims just over 9% of the UK radio audience.

In music publishing, it 'continues to shrug off the woes of the global music market', according to Huntingford. He cited new releases including David Gray's White Ladder and also back-catalogue material - particularly the likes of Tom Jones, David Bowie and Blondie being used as backing music in TV ads such as Heineken and Wella.

Television operating profits fell from £1.9m to £1.2m and could be hit further after the Budget ended sale-and-leaseback film financing. Richard and Judy on Channel Four is pulling an audience of two million and the sixth series of Midsomer Murders was commissioned for ITV.

Dotcommery is now pretty much behind Chrysalis with a 40% stake in rival Digital Media its last remaining interest. It lost £2.4m compared with £9.1m previously.