Emap said today it was riding the storm in radio advertising and expected growth in the current quarter.

The media group, which owns the Magic and Big City station networks, said although advertising revenues were down 5% in April, they would be up by a massive 24% in May and remain positive until the end of June.

That puts the group ahead of some of its rivals, which are expecting the tough market conditions in April to cast a shadow over May and June.

"The reason why we are so strong is that we're not so exposed [as other companies] to the vagaries of the market on a month by month basis," said the Emap chief executive, Tom Moloney.

Other radio groups have been reporting a slump in revenues over the past month:. Newly merged radio giant GCap Media said its revenues had plummeted 17% in April, while Chrysalis reported a 12.5% decline in March and April.

"Looked at over the piece the radio market right now is pretty flat," Mr Moloney said. "There's a lot of uncertainty about the economy, and when there's uncertainty about the economy the broadcast media tends to suffer."

He said the scale of growth in May was partly the result of a "terrible" May last year, when Emap had made "bad judgments with deal partners".

Over the course of last year, Emap's radio advertising - which accounts for around 9% of the company's overall revenues - was down 2% on an underlying basis, underperforming the market, which was up 4%.

The company said radio revenues, including income from digital multiplexes, had increased 2% to £98m in the year ending in March, while profits slipped 8% to £22m, reflecting the investment in new Birmingham heavy metal station Kerrang!.

Radio accounts for around half the turnover of Emap's Performance division, which covers music-related brands in TV, radio and magazines.

The magazines - which include Q, Kerrang, Smash Hits and Mojo - recorded a 3% fall in revenues in the year to March, with circulation flat and advertising down 10%.

Mr Moloney today remained tight-lipped about Emap's plans to take over Scottish Radio Holdings, in which it already has a 27.8% stake.

The chief executive said under takeover rules he could not elaborate on a statement made on March 31, in which Emap said it was "interested in acquiring SRH" but had made "no formal approach" to its board.

Fluctuations in SRH's share price, which dipped to a year low earlier this month, have sparked speculation that Emap could be on the brink of a takeover bid.

Overall Emap's turnover last year was £1.07bn, up 2% on the year before, while pre-tax profit slipped 22% to £112m.

Revenues at the consumer media division, home to magazines including FHM, Closer and Zoo, rose 6% on an underlying basis to £376m, with circulation and advertising revenues up 4%.

In the French magazine market Emap said it had stabilised the performance of listings magazines TeleStar and TelePoche, which suffered last year after the launch of two rival titles.

The company plans to launch a new weekly magazine in France in the next few months at a cost of £9m.

The French division's turnover fell 7% in the year ending in March to £300m.

The company's other division, Emap Communications - which covers business to business magazines, exhibitions and other information products - delivered a 7% increase in turnover to £231m.

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