Sharewatch: Buoyant Advertising Market Fails To Boost WPP

WPP saw its share price dip by 1.34% yesterday to close at 551p ahead of news of a long-awaited upturn in the UK advertising market. The latest figures show that the sector is continuing to recover with expenditure rising by 4.8% in the first quarter of 2004 (see UK Adspend Increases By 4.8% In First Quarter Of 2004).

ITV also performed poorly with shares dipping by 1.33% to 111p, despite the fact that more than 20 million sports fans tuned in to watch England’s first round Euro 2004 football match against France on Sunday (see 20.7 Million Watch England Lose Out To France).

Kelvin MacKenzie’s Wireless Group, owner of the talkSPORT radio station, saw shares slide by 0.55% yesterday to rest at 90˝p. The company recently threatened to sue BBC Radio Five Live over a promotional trailer claiming it had exclusive broadcast rights for Euro 2004 (see talkSPORT Threatens To Sue BBC Over Football Claims).

Concern over rising global interest rates gripped city traders yesterday, pushing the London equity market into the red. The FTSE 100 sank by 1.1% to 4,431.1 while the FTSE 250 fell a similar amount to 6,099.3.

The closing prices of media company shares on Monday were: