Sharewatch: Wireless Group Rises As Court Battle Begins

Wireless Group was seen in focus yesterday with shares rising by 2% to close at 76˝p after chief executive Kelvin MacKenzie was accused of talking ‘hot air’ in the press and of using his law suit against radio ratings body RAJAR to court publicity.

RAJAR’s barristers claimed that MacKenzies’s motives for taking the company to the High Court over its refusal to immediately adopt a new electronic measurement system had been to generate publicity for his flagship talkSPORT radio station (see RAJAR Moves To Have MacKenzie Law Suit Thrown Out).

Meanwhile, rival radio groups Capital and GWR were also in the spotlight following reports that their proposed £711 million merger could be delayed by up to six months if advertisers and rival radio groups call for a Competition Commission enquiry into the deal. The former was seen up by 2.15%, but the latter dipped 0.29% lower (see Capital/GWR Merger Could Face Competition Enquiry).

Global advertising group WPP and Aegis enjoyed a positive day’s trading with shares rising by 1.27% and 1.97% respectively. Rival France-based Publicis has this morning announced that organic growth rose by 4.8% for the third quarter of this year bringing revenues to €932 million.

The closing prices of media company shares on Tuesday were: