Sharewatch: Carlton And Granada Fall On Merger Concerns

ITV partners, Carlton and Granada, were seen in focus yesterday, down by 3.86% and 1.10% respectively, following concerns that their proposed £2.6 billion merger could be delayed if the Communications Bill is voted down in the House of Lords. Influential Labour peer, Lord Puttnam, yesterday warned that the Bill will face strong opposition unless unless plans to relax the UK media ownership regulations are abandoned (see Puttnam Threatens To Quash Communications Bill).

Trinity Mirror was also in the spotlight following its decision to appoint Ellis Watson to the newly created post of general manager of newspapers (see Trinity Mirror Continues Management Shake-Up). Shares in the newspaper group were down 1.18% to close at £4.17˝p

Meanwhile, Cordiant fell 10.53% after announcing that it is still in negotiations to reach a plan that will secure its future, following the devastating news of a key account loss a couple of weeks ago (see Cordiant Bounces Back As Short-Term Funding Is Agreed).

The FTSE 100 continued to struggle yesterday, but regained early losses after Wall Street turned higher to close 0.5% firmer at 3,987.4, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 added 0.9% to 4,564.8.

The closing prices of media company shares on Monday were: