Sharewatch: Ulster TV Dips As CanWest Offloads Shares

Irish ITV station Ulster TV saw share prices suffer yesterday as Canadian media group CanWest completed a £60 million sale of shares in the broadcaster. The Canadian company is expected to use the cash to reduce bank debt, currently standing at a reported £1.2 billion.

UTV closed at 394˝p yesterday, slipping by 6.29%, while parent company ITV suffered a 1.30% dip to finish at 114p. The UK’s largest commercial broadcaster could receive a significant financial boost if media regulator Ofcom goes ahead with proposals to cut it licence fee cut by more than 40%.

Elsewhere, Capital Radio saw a decline, falling by 1.59%. Yesterday saw the company announce two senior positions to handle the marketing for its regional FM network outside of London and develop its portfolio of Xfm, Choice FM and Capital Gold brands (see Capital Creates Two New Senior Marketing Roles).

Magazine giant Emap was also seen in focus, but slipped 1.69% despite securing a £450,000 deal to promote the relaunch of Smirnoff Black Ice across a range of Emap’s men’s lifestyle magazines including FHM, Arena, Empire, Q and Zoo (see Emap Advertising Brings Black Ice To FHM Readers).

The FTSE 100 fell 0.9% to 4,424.7 yesterday, while the FTSE 250 shed 0.6% to close at 6,240 following profit warnings from market heavyweights J Sainsbury and Colt Telecom.

The closing prices of media company shares on Thursday were: