National radio station Today FM made a pre-tax profit of €7.4 million on turnover of €19.4 million in the year to the end of March 2007, its first and last full year under the ownership of UK media group Emap. This equates to a pre-tax profit margin of 38 per cent, writes Ciarán Hancock, Business Affairs Correspondent.

Recently-filed accounts for Radio Ireland Ltd also show that the station had accumulated profits of €13.9 million on March 31st last and shareholders funds of €27 million.

This indicates why businessman Denis O'Brien was willing to pay €200 million recently to Emap to acquire Today FM, Highland Radio in Donegal and FM104 in Dublin.

Mr O'Brien has since agreed to sell FM104 to UTV for €52 million, subject to regulatory approval, and is expected to offload Highland for about €10 million sometime this year.

It is understood that Today FM's performance in the 12 months to the end of March 2008 will significantly improve on last year's results.

Today FM, which is headed by Willie O'Reilly, was acquired by Emap from Scottish Radio Holdings in the autumn of 2005. Given that its financial year runs from April 1st to the end of March, there was only one full year when it was under the ownership of Emap. The UK company agreed to sell the station to Mr O'Brien last July but the deal was only completed in recent weeks.

Today FM is one of the most successful commercial radio franchises in Ireland. The accounts show that Today FM spent €2.7 million on sales and marketing in the year to the end of last March, and €6 million on programming. Its line-up includes a number of the country's top broadcasters, including breakfast show host Ian Dempsey, early morning presenter Ray D'Arcy and Matt Cooper, who hosts its evening drivetime show the Last Word. The company also paid corporate tax of just more than €1 million.

Today FM employed 82 staff last year and its employee costs amounted to €4.3 million. No dividend was paid by Today FM to Emap in fiscal 2007.

Directors were paid €574,733 during the year, including pension contributions.

The station received €708,379 in interest payments from "group companies".

The accounts filed last week compare results for the station in the six months to the end of March 2006 with the 12 months to the end of March 2007.

In the six months to the end of March 2006, Today FM achieved a pre-tax profit of €2.9 million on turnover of €8.9 million, a margin of 33 per cent. The radio station incurred operating expenses during that period of €6.4 million and paid €426,951 in tax.