Ten Alps

Although first-half sales and profits declined at TV producer and publisher Ten Alps, in which Bob Geldof is a 9% shareholder, it has just been signed up by BT to provide video production services.

Results for the six months to September show the group’s pre-tax profits reversed 16% to £1.3m due to increased amortisation charges on previous acquisitions, although operating profits fell 3.4% to £1.7m and turnover slipped 1.3% to £37.1m. A busy year had seen the group launch 13 of its own print titles and three new events, as well as winning a net 27 new publishing and communications contracts.

The company began a repeat government contract to produce the cable and online channel Teachers TV, worth over £50m, and lately won a deal to produce GPtv, in association with the National Association of Primary Care. The BT deal – by which the 200,000 users of its Tradespace SME directory will now have the option of making an online video advert produced by Ten Alps – could trump them all.

With Ten Alps’ financial performance now strongly weighted towards the second half, the company will expect to present an improved performance in its annual results next March. Chief executive Alex Connock had a sound-bite to capture the mood: ‘Serious times call for serious media – and this year there has been robust demand for our kind of content.’ Not unusually for the sector, the shares have fallen sharply in recent months and currently trade for around four times full-year earnings. They should outperform sector peers.

Save 50% off your first year’s subscription to Growth Company Investor magazine, and gain immediate access to all the recommendations online. Click here.