The media sector was seen mixed on Tuesday, as investors mulled positive results from Vodafone, speculation that the Bank of England is to issue a warning over the likelihood of a steep decline in house prices and continued concern over unfolding events in Iraq.
Reuters was seen under pressure wiping out gains it had made last week on take-over speculation. The group is understood to have lost out to rivals, Bloomberg and Thomson, to supply brokerage house, Merrill Lynch, with 27,000 terminals. The stock extended losses by 2.02%.
Emap was also in the spotlight after posting a strong set of results (see Emap Shows Good Results In Improving Markets). Numis upgraded its full-year forecast for the group to £170m and said that there was further headroom for borrowing and acquisition. Shares rose by 2.99% yesterday.
Elsewhere, SMG was in focus after refusing to rule out the Barclay brothers as potential buyers for its Herald titles, despite widespread disapproval from MP’s. The stock was seen up 4.15%.
The closing prices of media company shares on Tuesday were:
