Sharewatch: Radio Groups Rise Following Merger Rumours

Capital Radio and GWR, which were recently rumoured to be dicsusing plans for a potential £840 million merger, were seen in focus yesterday. The radio groups saw shares rise by 5.41% and 3.80% respectively as stocks rebounded from the shake-out in the radio sector last week.

Chrysalis Radio was also in the spotlight ahead of today’s revenue update, which shows that like-for-like revenue increased by 20% in the 10 months to 30 June 2004. This is against the backdrop of a market which grew by 8% growth over the corresponding period.

Meanwhile, BSkyB saw shares inch up by 0.16% to close at 611p, despite news that BT Group is preparing to take on satellite broadcasting giant with plans to launch a pay-per-view television service over its broadband network (see BT Plans To Take On BSkyB With Broadband TV Service).

Falls in pharmaceuticals, coupled with declines in banking stocks took its toll on the FTSE 100 yesterday, which closed down by 0.8% at 4,360.0. The FTSE 250 was down by just 2.4 points at 6.088.2. Volume was 2.3 billion shares.

The closing prices of media company shares on Monday were: