ITV’s shares rose this morning by 8% to 41.4p following reports in the weekend papers linking Endemol to ITV.
John de Mol, co-founder of Dutch production company Endemol, responded to weekend reports that Endemol might be interested in ITV by saying that a combination with ITV could make sense, but all would depend on the numbers.
This morning’s Bellwether report suggested that companies were reducing their marketing spend at the fastest rate since 2001, which would be a concern for ITV. Its financial position is heavily influenced by companies maitaining advertising budgets, which seems to be in doubt as the economy heads for a slowdown.
In addition, rival broadcaster BSkyB may soon be forced to sell a large amount of its 17.9% share in ITV on competition grounds, which adds to the uncertainly around ITV’s future.
The leap in share prices will come as a relief to ITV as they have dropped sharply in value recently amid concerns about the outlook for the economy.
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