STV Group has seen its share price fall four per cent in spite of insisting it remains on course to meet annual targets.

The broadcaster yesterday said its trading was in line with expectations between the end of August and start of November.

However that failed to stop the stock, which has been on a strong run, dipping 16p to 353p.

In its trading update, STV said national advertising revenues are tracking six per cent ahead to the end of October and it expects them to be at a similar level across the full year.

Regional airtime revenues are up six per cent to October are expected to come in around five per cent up for the full year.

Chief executive Rob Woodward said the company's digital business, which includes its STV Player catch up services along with a number of apps, is on course to grow between 15 and 20 per cent across 2014.

He said: "All areas of the business are continuing to make good progress."

The company's second city television service, STV Edinburgh, remains on course to launch on January 5. STV has also applied to run local television services in Aberdeen, Ayr and Dundee. Its first city television station in Glasgow has attracted a monthly audience of around 600,000 people.

Jane Anscombe, analyst at Edison Investment Research, said: "A short [third quarter interim management statement] from STV confirms that trading is on track to meet full year estimates."

Malcolm Morgan, from Peel Hunt, said: "The key revenue lines are trading in line or marginally better than we had forecast."