Central Bids £2,000

Press reports today suggest that Central Television has bid only £2000 per annum for its franchise, roughly £5 per day at projected 1993 prices.

Whilst it was already widely acknow- ledged that Central had put in a bid of less than £1m, news spread yesterday of a £2,ooo cash pledge, with share prices rising correspondingly and finishing the day up 20p at 815p.

The minimum bid allowed in the franchise auctions is £1,000, and although the cash pledge will rise in relation to the RPI, Central’s bid seems to make a mockery of a system which has prompted crippling bids as TVS’ £54.1m.

In contrast to the general doom predicted by many analysts for some of the ITV companies, a new report from stockbrokers Rowan Dartington suggests that almost all of the Channel 3 bids (with the possible exception of TVS) make commercial sense.

The report posits that the licences will prove highly profitable, although it may be a couple of years before dividends are forthcomig. Periods of particularly high returns are predicted after 1995.