Emap considers options for Irish stations

LONDON (Reuters) - Media group Emap EMA.L said on Tuesday it was considering its options for its radio stations in Ireland as it said it expected full-year underlying revenues to be down 2 percent and difficult conditions to continue.

The group, which owns magazines FHM and Grazia and radio stations Magic and Kiss, said it expected the difficult trading conditions in consumer media markets to continue in 2007 and 2008.

It joins newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror (TNI.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and media company Chrysalis (CHS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) in considering a sale of assets amid the difficult conditions.

The group, which warned in February that its annual operating performance would be at the bottom end of forecasts due to market weakness, said the outcome for its financial year to March 31 would be in line with current expectations.

It said it was on track to deliver total revenue growth of 3 percent, with underlying revenue down 2 percent.

Underlying revenue was expected to be down 2 percent in the UK consumer magazines, down 6 percent in international consumer magazines, flat for business-to-business and down 1 percent for radio. It was up 11 percent for television.

"Despite the widely reported challenges in some of our markets we are on track to deliver 3 percent revenue growth for the year," Group Chief Executive Tom Moloney said.

"We believe that the actions we are taking to reshape the group will position us to deliver sustainable growth."

Emap said it was on track to deliver the 20 million pounds of annualised cost savings over the next two years.