CBS reported a 96 per cent plunge in net profit but forecast a “considerably” stronger second half of the year as the US broadcaster’s devastated local businesses showed signs of a rebound.

The company’s shares, which closed down 3.5 per cent ahead of its second-quarter financial report, surged 10 per cent in after-hours trading, driven by CBS’s belief that the “worst is behind” it with signs of a rebound in television and radio advertising.