Sport Media Group Posts 1st Half Loss Of GBP306,000 Vs Loss Of GBP5.8 Million

Sport Media Group PLC (SPMG.LN), the integrated multi-media group that publishes the Sunday and Daily Sport newspapers and provides digital content for internet and mobile channels, said Thursday it made a pretax loss of GBP306,000 for the first half of the year, compared with a loss of GBP5.8 million in the year ago period, and added that directors expect the group to continue to be cash generative in the second half of the year, EBITDA and pretax profit are likely to be below current market expectations.

MAIN FACTS:

-Revenue for six months ended June 30 GBP9.6 million (2009: GBP11.2 million)

-Underlying pretax profit GBP330,000 (2009: loss GBP612,000)

-Basic loss per share 0.31 pence (2009: loss 4.77 pence)

-Adjusted EPS 0.16 pence (2009: loss 0.89 pence)

-Cash and cash equivalents GBP284,000 (2009: GBP216,000)

-To date, the second half of the year has continued to see a solid performance from the newspaper, with some circulation gains although there is continued pressure on advertising revenues.

-Digital division is optimistic that recent initiatives will produce improvements in its core trading subsidiary over the remainder of the year.

-Further to recent discussions, the group's bankers, Royal Bank of Scotland PLC (RBS.LN), have agreed to a deferment of the monthly loan repayment of GBP50,000 for a period of six months to provide the necessary working capital headroom.

-Shares on Wednesday closed at 1.5 pence.

-By Tapan Panchal, Dow Jones Newswires. Tel [phone], [e-mail]

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