AGM Statement
18 July 2003 - 9:06PM
UK Regulatory
RNS Number:7127N
Ten Alps Communications PLC
18 July 2003
TEN ALPS COMMUNICATIONS PLC
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
18 July 2003
Ten Alps achieves increased revenues and obtains right to buyback its shares at
AGM
Ten Alps Communications PLC ('Ten Alps'), the AiM-listed media company,
announced increased revenues for the first three months of the 2003/4 at its
Annual General Meeting, held this morning.
Revenues (unaudited) for April to June 2003 were more than 15% higher than for
the same period last year
There was a strong performance in advertising, with a number of new client wins
and increased spending from some existing clients.
The events department, which underperformed in 2002, was showing signs of
improvement, with work carried out for existing and new clients.
In TV, several productions took place in this period. But the bulk of the
group's productions with UK broadcasters should occur in the second half of this
financial year (to March 2004) and beyond. These programmes include three
high-profile political series.
Commenting on the progress, Finance Director Nitil Patel said: "The start to the
year has been encouraging, and particularly so since most of our TV business for
the year has not yet gone into production, so has not yet shown a financial
effect. However we generally remain prudent about the economy and make no
projection for the rest of the year."
Resolutions passed
At the Annual General Meeting held today shareholders passed all the resolutions
proposed, including the company's right to buy up to 14.9% of its issued share
capital in the market for cancellation. That equates to 6,621,390 of the
44,172,080 shares in issue.
Further details of the resolutions are contained in the Annual Report which is
available on the company's website - www.tenalps.com.
Strategy
Commenting at the AGM on the strategy going forward for the Ten Alps, Chief
Executive Alex Connock said:
"We have three key areas of focus for this year:
First - we are investing in rights-owned content. In practical terms, this means
taking elements of rights in our own documentaries through part-financing them,
putting in seed money to our "Scuba Jim" animation, and backing (in part) our
event concept "Firedance."
Second - in view of the favourable environment set to be created by the imminent
Communications Bill for the independent TV production sector, we are actively
seeking to add to the two production companies that we acquired last year. There
is a lot of interest in this area from venture capital and private equity, and
valuations have been rising. So we plan to tread carefully before buying.
Third - since we will continue to see large annual goodwill charges reducing net
profit, we will include profits before goodwill, cash and revenue growth as key
measures of Ten Alps' prosperity."
Contact:
Alex Connock - Chief Executive - 0207 428 3100
Nitil Patel - Finance Director - 0207 089 3686
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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