Investec

The key story emerging from the release of the new Rajar radio listener stats, according to Investec analyst Steve Liechti, was the strong performance at Chrysalis – especially in London. The company’s Heart 106.2 station came out with a big improvement in its share of listeners from 6.1 to 7.1 per cent and is now number one in London in both reach and audience share for the first time. This is ‘a big positive’ ahead of next quarter’s relative sales performance, and is augmented by news that its nationwide Galaxy network performed well. ‘This youth/R&B area is under pressure given the move to new media by the younger generation, suggesting a good performance,’ says Liechti, adding that the shares are worth buying.

Chrysalis’ performance came in a quarter when GCap’s Capital Radio started its marketing campaign ‘on the basis its product was “right”, underlining the scale of [Chrysalis’] recovery task’.

The broker advises selling GCap’s shares, as Capital Radio was flat and Classic FM and XFM were both down. The group’s figures look ‘slightly disappointing’ and XFM’s national fall in particular ‘looks disappointing for a station the group is targeting as a key growth driver in the digital age’.

Virgin radio’s owner SMG is a hold, after the station boosted its London share slightly to 3.6 per cent and the audience for the breakfast show advanced by 6.2 per cent – ‘encouraging for relatively new DJ Christian O’Connell, who should be adding listeners really by now in our view’.

The rambling at talkSPORT neither gained nor lost at 1.8 per cent of audience share, but its breakfast show crept up from 999,000 to 1,046,000. Investec has the station’s owner, UTV, as another one to buy.