Crozier: ITV Studios will deliver double-digit growth this year

The CEO of ITV has predicted the UK broadcaster’s international arm, ITV Studios, will deliver “double-digit” growth this year, despite revenues for the first three months of this year dipping 5%.

ITVS, which counts Come Dine with Me (pictured) and Hell’s Kitchen among its formats, posted revenues for the three months to March 31, 2013, of £201 million (US$306.1 million), compared with £212 million for the same period last year.

However, ITV chief exec Adam Crozier was bullish on the unit’s prospects for the year following the acquisition of UK prodco The Garden and, this week, US cable series provider High Noon Entertainment. The revenue dip was attributed to front-loaded programming delivery costs.

“Given the longer-term visibility we have in our Studios’ revenues we’re confident that we will deliver double-digit growth this year. We continue to build on Studios’ organic strength with acquisitions in key creative markets – most recently The Garden in the UK and High Noon Entertainment in the US,” said Crozier.

ITV’s interim statement ahead of its Annual General Meeting this morning also revealed the total cost of the Garden and High Noon acquisitions could eventually reach nearly £80 million dependent upon performance. The Garden cost an initial £18 million, while High Noon set the broadcaster back £25.65 million.

Meanwhile, ITV’s broadcast and online financial segment posted revenues up 6% at £465 million. Overall, ITV’s revenues grew 1% to £571 million.

“As we anticipated, the quarterly pattern of demand from advertisers in 2013 is very different to 2012 although we expect it to even out over the course of the year. While we are cautious about the outlook for TV advertising for 2013, our objective remains to outperform the market over the full year,” said Crozier.

“Looking across the whole year, we again expect to deliver good growth in all parts of the business as we continue to strengthen and rebalance ITV in line with the Transformation Plan [that began in 2010],” he added.