ITV giants, Carlton Communications and Granada, will need to offer investors a new plan following the closure of their ITV Digital business last month (see Administrators Switch Off ITV Digital), according to analysts at Lehman Brothers. The broker says that part of this new game plan should be the strengthening of the core ITV channel business and its schedule.
The comments come in advance of the two companies’ H1 financial results; Carlton’s are released on 28 May and Granada’s on 30 May.
Carlton Communications For Carlton, Lehman Brothers is forecasting revenue down 10% to £477 million, with advertising down by 13% to £333 million. EBITDA is expected to be down to £44.7 million from £88.9 million.
Granada Granada is expected to show advertising down 12% to £429 million, whilst total revenue drops by 10.4% to £699 million. EBITDA will be down to £93 million from £136 million in H1 2001.
Losses from digital closures The closures of ITV Digital and ITV Sport are likely to incur H1 losses of £50 million and £45 million respectively. For the full year 2002 these losses are predicted to reach £65 million on ITV Digital and £50 million on ITV Sport.
No loss is expected from 2003 onwards.
