STV chief executive Simon Pitts has revealed he will be leaving the Scottish broadcaster in 12 months’ time to take a new job.
He has been in the role for six years and said he was leaving the firm with a “very strong leadership team.”
The STV board says it has launched a search for a successor.
The former ITV executive said STV has become the “most watched peaktime” TV channel in Scotland under his tenure.
The announcement comes after it revealed profits slumped almost 70% to £5.3m due to a decline in ad revenue and some one-off costs in the year to the end of December.
It added revenues rose 22% to £168.4m, and the advertising outlook has been “improving” in the first quarter of the year.
On his departure plans, Pitt said: "It has been a huge privilege to lead STV. Since 2018 we have become the most-watched peaktime TV channel in Scotland and retained that position for 5 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.”
Chairman Paul Reynolds added: "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.”