Sharewatch: ITV Leads Pack As Media Stocks Stay Low
Broadcasting heavyweight ITV was way ahead of other media stocks last week, with shares rising by 5.17% to close at 101žp as rival companies continued to flounder with only a handful seeing positive growth.
Last week ITV unveiled the third key appointment to its advertiser relationships team, part of an ongoing attempt to improve the company’s image by becoming more customer-centric. The appointment of Maria-Isabel Jassies came just days after Jane Carroll joined ITV Sales from MediaVest and Alex Plumb defected from McCann Erikson (see ITV Sales Recruits Third Agency Account Director).
The release of the latest ABC figures meant a tough week for several publishers, with magazine and radio giant Emap seeing its share price dip by a 0.49% week on week. The company suffered defeat in the men’s weekly magazine market, with rival IPC’s Nuts outperforming Zoo (see ABC Results Jan-Jun 2004: Nuts Out In Front Of Zoo).
Elsewhere, Future Network suffered a 0.42% dip in share price week on week as the company announced a strengthening of its internet operations and a raft of new appointments following a board level review. The new move is intended to increase efficiency and boost the revenue generated by the company’s online projects (see Future Publishing Strengthens Internet Operations).
The closing prices of media company shares on Friday were:
