Sky rockets by 13 per cent while embattled ITV’s advertising dips
SKY is set to report a 13 per cent rise in profits this week to £1.35billion when it unveils its fullyear results – and is expected to reveal more about its plans to enter the mobile phone market.
The satellite broadcaster, under chief executive Jeremy Darroch, now has major operations in Germany and Italy as well as the UK, and is seen by investment bank Numis as a company which is ‘highly resilient’ in the face of any likely economic downturn after the referendum. Its results are for the year to the end of June.
Meanwhile ITV, which saw its share price plunge by more than a quarter on the day of the referendum result after investors feared a sharp cut in advertising amid a slowdown, is reporting results for the six months to June on Wednesday. Numis expects profits of £410million, putting ITV on target for a seven per cent rise in full-year profits to £900million.
But advertising is likely to have fallen by up to ten per cent compared with the previous six months.
Separately, Revenue & Customs said more than £45million was paid to video games producers in tax relief which led to studios spending more than £400million on UK games development. Jason Kingsley, chairman of video games trade association TIGA and boss of games maker Rebellion, said: ‘In a post-Brexit world, it will be important to retain and strengthen Video Games Tax Relief to attract external investment and maintain competitiveness.’