Renewed merger speculation regarding Carlton and Granada boosted the share price of both companies yesterday in a day of reasonable confidence for the media confidence. Carlton ended up 2p at £2.43, while Granada rose 4˝p to £1.28.
A good performance was also seen at SMG, which rose 6p to £1.52˝, despite having reported a fall in pre-tax profits earlier this month, thanks to the advertising downturn (see SMG Profits Hit By Ad Downturn). Telewest Communications ended up 4.55%, while Cable & Wireless was one of the weakest performers, slipping 1.93%. Slightly worse off was Trinity Mirror, which ended down 1.96% at £4.76.
The closing prices of media company shares yesterday were:
