UTV pre-tax profits reduced by £9m compared to same period last year

UTV, the Belfast-based media group, made a pre-tax profit of £1m in the first half of 2015 compared to £10m in the same period last year.

The reduced profit was largely due to the problems at UTV Ireland which lost £7.5m.

UTV Ireland was launched in January and broadcasts to the Republic of Ireland.

It has struggled to find an audience and attract advertisers.

UTV said the channel's share of "commercial impacts" had been 11.4% in its first six months compared to its original forecast of approximately 15%.

It said that "teething issues", such as the re-tuning of domestic digital receivers, had further compounded the problem of audience under-delivery.

The company said it was now implementing a plan for UTV Ireland that included "stronger domestic programming, more effective marketing and a better defined branding strategy".

On Monday UTV confirmed that it was in talks about the possible sale of all its television assets, but there was no update about that on Friday.

Overall group turnover was up slightly from £57.8m to £58.3m.

The company said that turnover in its Northern Ireland television business was down by 2% due to an 11% decrease in advertising revenue.

This decrease resulted from a "significant cut" in advertising spending by Northern Ireland government departments.

UTV said this trend was expected to continue and was "expected to create a drag on Northern Ireland television advertising" in the third quarter.