Sharewatch: Daily Mail Falls On Regulatory Concerns

In a busy day for the media sector, Daily Mail & General Trust was seen in focus, falling 16.25% to 563p, on reports that the Office Of Fair Trading is launching an enquiry into the group’s exclusive distribution in the London region.

Elsewhere, the radio sector was seen in focus after the publication of the RAJAR listening figures for the first quarter of 2003, which revealed a relatively lacklustre performance for All Commercial Radio (see RAJAR Results Q1 2003 – National Commercial Radio Improves Reach). Capital was seen down 6.19%, after its flagship Capital 95.8 FM station saw its weekly reach decline by 10.5% year on year (see RAJAR Results Q1 2003 – Capital 95.8 FM Feels The Heat In London). Chrysalis was seen up 1.44%, after seeing strong growth at key stations.

Meanwhile, the Communications Bill continues to be held up in the House Of Lords, after they were granted extra time to debate controversial changes to the media ownership rules, which will have a huge effect on the media landscape (see Communications Bill May Create ‘Cultural Jurassic Park’).

The closing prices of media company shares on Thursday were: