Ulster Television said last week that like-for-like advertising revenue at its UK and Irish radio stations will probably increase 15% in the six months ending June 2006, as its TalkSport station is helped by the World Cup. "The year to date is again characterised by outperformance, " chairman John McGuckian said. The 15% UK revenue growth compares to a 2 percent decline in the market as a whole, he said. UTV is investing in radio as profit stagnates at the television division, the company's largest unit. UTV bought radio broadcaster Wireless Group in June last year for £97m, and now controls about 25 stations in Ireland and the UK. The stock has fallen 6.8% this year, giving the company a market value of /216.3m. It will be interesting to see whether the company can make up for that drop in share price later in the year.

Barclays

Barclays reported last week that first-quarter profit growth was "excellent" and forecast that revenue will grow as fast as expenses and bad-loan charges for the rest of the year. Analysts have estimated that Barclays will earn 61.2p a share this year, said Barclays' finance director Naguib Kheraj.

However, there remain two crucial issues not raised in last week's trading statement - the question of bad debts among credit card customers and proprietary trading by Barclays Capital.

Barclays chief executive John Varley has been looking to expand abroad amid a rise in consumers' bad debts and competition in the UK. Barclays is on track to post a 2% cost-to-income ratio improvement in UK banking this year, the company reported last week.