Economic uncertainty hangs over ITV

L Interim results largely in line with City forecasts and ahead of new CEO

George Salmon, equity analyst at financial services company Hargreaves Lansdown, said the interim results were in line with previous guidance.

He noted: “Carolyn Mccall is yet to check-in as ITV’S new CEO, so these results were never going to contain too much in the way of sharp deviations in strategy.

“However, when she does start her new job, it looks as though she will need to navigate ITV through what remains a difficult environment.

“Despite her predecessor, Adam Crozier, bulking up the production studios business, a significant portion of group revenue still comes from selling advertising space. With Brexit uncertainty lingering, ITV is finding customers are putting the brakes on. However, in other areas performance looks pretty good.”

Analysts at Liberum, who have ITV as their top pick stock in the media sector, added: “ITV has not changed their guidance in areas such as the £25m cost savings target or the £25m in programming savings.

“The message that we would take from this is that ITV is confident that its existing cost savings programmes are sufficient i.e. it does not expect a further sharp drop off in the TV advertising outlook.”