Sharewatch: ITV Partners Fall On Negative Guidance

ITV partners, Carlton and Granada, were in focus again yesterday after a note from leading brokers, Morgan Stanley, reiterated an underweight rating for the two groups.

According to analysts, there are likely to be incremental costs if Carlton and Granada’s sales houses are spun off to enable their merger to go through. These are expected to amount to at least £10 million plus £5 million costs in replicating programming and ad sales co-ordination functions.

Elsewhere, the media sector was dented by the sell-off which hit the broader market and Reuters fell 5.19%.

Broader market sentiment was hit by concerns that higher bond yields will translate into higher borrowing costs and rein back the US economic recovery.

The closing prices of media company shares on Wednesday, were: