SCOTTISH broadcaster STV has announced that its chief executive will be standing down as it reported a sharp fall in profits for 2023.

Simon Pitts will depart the Glasgow-based company within the next 12 months to take up a new appointment in the first quarter of 2025, it was announced to the stock market yesterday.

Mr Pitts has led STV since replacing Rob Woodward in 2018, when he joined after nearly 20 years with ITV.

He quickly presided over a significant restructuring of the company as he sought to re-establish STV as a force in TV production and grow its presence in digital news and streaming services.

His strategic review led to a controversial revamp of STV's news operation in response to the challenge of reporting in the digital age, and the closure of the company's loss-making STV2 digital channel. The restructuring activity led to 59 redundancies.

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STV said yesterday that the process to appoint Mr Pitts’ successor is underway.

Mr Pitts said: “It has been a huge privilege to lead STV. Since 2018 we have become the most-watched peak-time TV channel in Scotland and retained that position for five years in a row, transformed STV Player into a high-growth streaming service, and created one of the UK's leading TV production groups, and we have today set out further ambitious growth plans for the future.

“With STV's latest diversification targets fully achieved, now is the right time to plan a smooth and orderly succession. Our leadership team is very strong, our strategy is clear and it's delivering. Our STV colleagues are doing a fantastic job producing world class programmes, news and digital and commercial products every day of the year, staying ahead of the competition and creating strong foundations for the future.

“I'd like to express my sincere thanks to Paul [Reynolds, chairman], former chair Margaret Ford and the rest of the board, as well as all my STV colleagues for their unstinting support, drive and creativity over six extremely enjoyable years.”

STV unveiled a new growth plan yesterday under which it will aim to double revenue from its productions business to £140 million, develop new sources of income from advertising, grow audiences and achieve a further £5m of cost savings by the end of 2026.

It came as the company reported a sharp fall in profits for 2023, amid weak conditions in the advertising market, cost inflation, and broader macroeconomic uncertainty.

READ MORE: STV chief declares job cuts have readied broadcaster for growth

Pre-tax profits tumbled by 69% to £5.3m as total advertising revenue fell by 12% to £97.3m.

However, the broadcaster said the outlook for advertising was “improving”.

STV stated that it expects total advertising revenue to increase by around 5% in the first quarter of this year and declared that it has a strong schedule lined up for the first half, culminating with Euro 2024 in Germany where Scotland and England will be in action.

It has forecast that digital video-on-demand advertising, before commission, will rise by 12% in the first quarter, though Scottish advertising is expected to all by 4% over the period, reflecting a decline in Scottish Government advertising.

On productions, the company said that STV Studios saw revenue increase to £66.8m from £23.7m as it secured 58 new commissions in 2023, up 28 on 2022.

The productions arm produced 68 series in 2023 and completed the “transformative” acquisition of Greenbird Media for an initial £21.4m in July. STV said the acquisition, which increased the number of labels within STV Studios from nine to 24 and expanded its pipeline of new programmes, delivered £15m of revenue and £3.2m of operating profits post-acquisition.

Growth in STV Studios, which makes dramas such as Blue Lights for the BBC and Screw for Channel 4, drove an overall rise in total revenue by 22% to £168.4m.

READ MORE: STV outlines 'big ambitions' as studios arm grows

And since year-end STV strengthened its productions business by increasing its stake in Two Cities, a “high-end” drama production company, to 51% from 25%.

STV said it maintained its position as the most-watched peak-time TV channel in Scotland with a viewing share of 21.8%, while on digital the company said it had been a record year for STV Player, with viewing hours up 25% on 2022 to 71 million, and streams 28% higher at 149 million. Total active registered users rose by 400,000 to 1.8 million.

Mr Pitts added: “Our overall financial performance was impacted by weak linear advertising and cost inflation, as expected and related to the challenging UK macro environment, although the start of 2024 has been more encouraging.”

Mr Reynolds said: “Simon has been an outstanding leader of STV over the past six years. As the architect of our diversification strategy, he has successfully led the transformation of STV from a linear broadcaster into a resilient content creation and digital streaming business with an exciting future.”

The STV board proposed a final dividend of 7.4p per share for 2023, resulting in a full-year dividend of 11.3p per share, in line with 2022.

Shares in STV closed down 3.09%, or 6p, at 188p.