Earnings at the radio group which operates Cork's 96FM and FM104 in Dublin last year declined by 19% to €2.2m due to reduced revenues and increased costs.
New accounts filed by the Rupert Murdoch-owned Onic Audio Ltd show that earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) reduced from €2.73m to €2.2m in the 12 months to the end of June last.
This followed revenues dipping marginally from €23.37m to €23m as the group's cost base rose from €26.12m to €26.66m
The business - formerly named Wireless Radio (ROI) Ltd - last May changed its name to Onic Audio "to reflect a strategic rebrand".
The New York City based News Corporation headquartered owned group also owns Limerick's Live 95Fm, LMFM and Q102 in Dublin and the directors state that the impact of the reduced revenue on EBITDA has been compounded by an increase in operating costs during the year.
The directors state that the group continues to maintain sufficient financial resources to support future growth strategies.
"Digital revenues in particular delivered significant growth in the period, and we continue to invest in this area to promote future growth," they say.
The group's pre-tax loss increased by 30% to €3.58m and a corporation tax credit of €1.57m resulted in a post tax loss of €2m.
The directors state that "economic conditions were turbulent during the year with the ongoing challenges of spiraling cost of living increases and the changing global political environment".
They state that "in spite of these challenges however, the company continues to generate strong revenue performance and we commend the hard work and dedication of our loyal staff base throughout the period under review."
The directors state that the company's licensed stations "deliver significant listenership in their respective franchise areas and combine to offer a quasi-national urban targeted commercial proposition".
The directors state that during the year, the group also launched a suite of new digital services to become the largest content provider on a new DAB+ trial across Leinster, and rolled out a number of new podcasts and visualised offerings to complement this.
They state that the group "has invested heavily in visualised studios for our radio output and also a dedicated space for our Onic Original and talkSPORT Ireland series".
The group recorded a non-cash impairment of €7.8m in an investment in a subsidiary during the year.
Numbers employed by the group last year increased from 235 to 238 as staff costs rose from €11.62m to €11.83m.
Directors' pay totalled €267,000.
The group's combined non-cash depreciation and amortisation costs last year totalled €5.79m. Its operating lease costs totalled €776,000.
At the end of June last, the group had a shareholders' deficit of €13.8m.
This was made up of accumulated losses of €57.37m offset by share capital of €43.56m The group’s cash increased from €1.83m to €2.22m.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
