Carlton And Granada Have Unhappy Monday

Shares in the ITV companies suffered falls yesterday after a combination of events brought confidence in Carlton and Granada low.

Trading began the day after the Sunday Times had published a leaked letter from Granada chiefs to the Prime Minister, warning of dire consequences including the closure of ONdigital if the relaxation of media ownership does not occur during this Parliamentary session (see Granada Warns Of ITV Disaster).

This was followed by Zenith Media’s predictions that in terms of ad revenue, this year will be the worst in ITV’s 50-odd year history. A slump of 8.9% is predicted, while the figure for the whole of the industry is predicted to slide 0.8%, the first yearly downturn since the early nineties.

The initial fall came early for Granada, which then appeared to recover a little, but slipped again as end of trading loomed, to end down 6½p at £1.41½. Carlton also saw falls early on, but appeared to stabilise a little by lunchtime. However, the afternoon’s trading saw further slippage, and shares ended the day at £3.19, a fall of 15p across the day.

Carlton: 020 7663 6363 www.carlton.com Granada: 020 7620 1620 www.granada.co.uk

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