Sharewatch: BSkyB Rises Despite Renewed Subscriber Worries
Satellite TV superpower BSkyB continued to see its share price increase yesterday, inching up by 0.09% to close at 548˝p despite renewed worries over the broadcaster’s slowing subscriber figures.
A prediction made yesterday by high street electronics retailer Dixons forecast a slump in spending during the Christmas period. The retail giant expressed concerns that the festive shopping period, traditionally the busiest for retailers, seems to have been stunted by recent interest rate rises and general housing market slowdown, spelling bad news for television and radio broadcasters who are hoping to promote their new products over Christmas (see Slow Down Of Electrical Goods May Hit Sky Subscriptions).
Concerns over Sky’s slowing subscriber rate have been raised before, with the broadcaster consistently failing to meet its self-set target of 100,000 new customers per quarter. Earlier this month the company announced that revenue for its first financial quarter had increased by 11% year on year, despite the group adding only 62,000 new subscribers during the three month period (see Sky Revenue Up 11% Despite Missing Subscriber Target).
Elsewhere Trinity Mirror shares saw a 0.95% increase to 636p. The company recently announced a deal with the Guardian Media Group to co-fund a state of the art printing plant in Oldham, Manchester. The combined £45 million investment will see Trinity take on a 15-year contract to print GMG’s regional titles in the North West, starting in early 2006 (see Trinity Mirror To Print Guardian Media Group Titles).
Specialist magazine publisher Future also boosted its stock price yesterday, adding 1.69% to close at 60p. Yesterday the company announced the appointment of David Fernando as the sales director of its London advertising operation. The new sales boss will work closely with Future’s senior advertising management team, with a brief to develop the company’s plan for growth across its UK offices (see Future Appoints Fernando As New Sales Director).
The FTSE 100 continued to climb yesterday, albeit at a reduced rate, adding 9.4 points to close at 4,805.3 while the FTSE 250 added 5.1 points to close up at 6,604.3.
The closing prices of media company shares on Thursday were:
