STV Group plc

Thanks very much for coming. Good to see you all. I hope you're all well, and thank you very, very much for joining us today. So in a moment, Lindsay and I will talk you through our results for the full year 2023, provide an update on our financial and strategic progress, as well as a sense of the outlook for 2024 and details of our refreshed growth strategy and three-year plan. As usual, we'll also show you some highlights of what's been another year of big event TV across STV and STV Player. But first of all, let me hand over to STV's chair, Paul Reynolds, for some words of introduction. Paul.

Thank you, Simon. And hello, everybody. There's a lot of news for you today about our progress in 2023 and our plans for 2024 and beyond. And not least the news that Simon has decided to move on to Pastures New in early 2025. Simon has been and is a first-class CEO, as I'm sure you'll agree. His impact in this business has been profound and we wish him all the very best in his new role, which incidentally, he cannot specify what that new role is today. However, having said that, we believe the leadership transition should be a smooth one. Simon will continue as SDV CEO, driving the implementation of the new plan through 2024. And meantime, the board is beginning its succession planning, and we'll update you on that when we have some news to give. Okay, to the business. 2023 has been a year in which SDV has continued to execute its diversification strategy. All the while dealing with the ongoing macro economic uncertainty, which has led to prolonged weakness in both the advertising and program commissioning markets. But we now have a more balanced business across broadcasting, streaming and production and STV showing itself to be a much more capable business, capable of navigating the uncertain times than what we were when we were simply a traditional linear broadcaster. That's the change. Over the last few years, we have invested to build strong growth businesses in the STV player and in the STV studios that are now each contributing very materially to the company's success, as you can see in the numbers today. And alongside these three growth pillars, terrestrial television does continue to have huge relevance and be the foundation of the business because as was demonstrated by the impact of the recent STV drama, Mr. Bates versus the Post Office, which I'm sure many of you have seen. And Simon will talk a bit about those foundations a little later. So it's the combination of these enduring strengths and the new opportunities that makes all of us at STV excited about the future. Well, having laid strong foundations with an excellent senior leadership team in place, the board and I remain confident that we have the platform to deliver profitable growth for your shareholders in the years ahead. And much more about this now from Simon and Lindsay. Back to you, Simon.

Thank you, Paul. I obviously appreciate those very kind words. It has been a huge privilege to lead STV and to serve STV shareholders. We've made significant progress transforming the business into a modern media company led by content and streaming. But with STV's latest diversification targets achieved, it does feel like the right time to start to hand over the baton. We have a very strong leadership team in place, as Paul says. The strategy is clear and delivering. And we're today setting out further ambitious new targets for profitable growth. And of course, I'll be here for a while, as Paul says, to ensure an orderly transition. And we'll be giving the role everything I've got. I can assure you of that until I leave. So 2023 has seen us continue to accelerate the delivery of our successful strategy, and in a tough market, we increased total SDV revenues by 22%, more than offsetting the expected declines in linear advertising revenue. Our studio's revenue and operating profit trebled last year on the back of a standout year for our production business, and digital revenue and operating profit also grew strongly. Collectively, that ensured 75% of STV's earnings came from outside traditional broadcasting last year, well ahead of our 50% target and clear evidence of our successful transformation. On screen, our audience position remains very strong. 2023 was another record year for SDV Player with streams up 28% and we were the most watched peak time TV channel in Scotland for the fifth year in a row. We never tire of saying that. Stretching our lead over BBC One and actually recording the largest viewing share lead over ITV since records began. We did see an expected group operating profit impact of 22% due to the weak linear advertising market and rising costs, both of which are starting to ease somewhat as we move into 2024. Total advertising revenue was down 12% for the full year, again as expected, but the start of 2024 has been more encouraging, with Q1 tar expected to be up around 5%, with big events like UEFA Euro 2024 still to come in the summer. The UK's economic outlook remains hard to predict, of course, but history tells us that advertising markets bounce back decisively as economic prospects improve, and STV is very well placed to benefit when that happens. Notwithstanding the future of the ad market, we are, of course, a much more balanced business these days at both the revenue and profit level, thanks to the strength of our streaming and studios businesses. To accelerate that shift, we are today setting out a refreshed strategy and stretching targets for the next three years to deliver the next phase of profitable growth and more on that new plan later. And it's against that backdrop that the board is recommending a final dividend of 7.4 pence per share, taking the full year to 11.3 pence in line with 2022. Right then, over to Lindsay to delve deeper into the financial results.