ITV must now be a bargain. The current team clearly are an issue but you'd think the big American companies would recognise the bargain.

The yield is also high and can be reinvested. That really does limit the down side. You can even win here if it drops further!

Broadcaster ITV reports full-year double digit profit growth

StockMarketWire.com

Broadcaster ITV said today it delivered strong growth in the full year to end-December, with revenue growth driven by Non-NAR. Total external revenues were up 9% to £2.389bn and Non-NAR revenues up £175m to £1.211bn.

Broadcast & Online revenues were up 3% driven by 16% growth in Online, Pay & Interactive and 2% growth in NAR.

ITV Studios revenues was up 20% with good organic growth and acquisitions coming through as planned.

Double digit profit growth for the 4th year in a row

· EBITA before exceptional items up £107m or 21% to £620m

- Broadcast & Online EBITA up 20% at £487m

- ITV Studios EBITA up 24% at £133m

· Adjusted PBT up 27% at £581m

· Adjusted EPS up 23% at 11.2p

· Basic EPS up 26% at 8.3p

Investing in content is driving progress across ITV

· Best year on year on-screen performance for 10 years with ITV main channel up 3% and ITV Family SOV up 4%

· Long form video requests up 16% driven by mobile and tablets

· ITV Studios completed four acquisitions in UK and the US

Focus remains on cash and costs

· Delivered £28m of cost savings in 2013 and targeting a further £10m in 2014

· Profit to cash conversion remains strong at 97%

· Net cash of £164m

· Continued to improve efficiency of the balance sheet through debt buybacks and redemption of the convertible bond

Delivering increased shareholder returns

· The Board has proposed an ordinary dividend of 2.4p to give a full year dividend of 3.5p up 35% and a special dividend of 4.0p in line with last year

Strong 2013 creates a solid platform for 2014

· ITV Family NAR expected to be up 5% to 6% in the 4 months to end April 2014

· Online, Pay & Interactive should again deliver double digit growth in 2014 helped by the launch of ITV Encore

· Expect good growth in ITV Studios and we will continue to look at potential acquisitions

Adam Crozier, CEO, said: 'ITV has taken another significant step forward with 9% revenue growth and for the fourth year in a row we delivered double digit profit growth. All parts of the business are progressing well as we continue to rebalance ITV. Total non-advertising revenues again grew strongly up £175m driven by good performances in ITV Studios and Online, Pay & Interactive.

'The investment we have made in content has driven significant revenue and profit growth in ITV Studios - up 20% and 24% respectively - both organically and through the selective acquisitions we have made in the UK and the US.

'Broadcast & Online performed well. We delivered further strong growth in Online, Pay & Interactive up 16% as we again improved the quality and availability of ITV Player and ITV Family NAR was up 2% as the TV advertising market returned to growth.

'Onscreen we've had our best year on year performance for ten years with share of viewing for ITV Family up 4% driven by our continued investment in our high quality schedules.

'We remain focused on cash and costs. We delivered £28m of cost savings, our group margin has increased by three percentage points and our profit to cash conversion remains high. The strength of our underlying cash flow means that, even after significant investment across the business and increasing returns to our shareholders, we ended the year with £164m of net cash, a similar level to 2012.

'The Board is proposing a final dividend of 2.4p to give a full year dividend of 3.5p, up 35% and a special dividend of 4.0p (£161m) in line with last year. This reflects the board's confidence in the ongoing growth and cash generation of the business and balances the need to invest in the business for future growth with increasing returns to shareholders.

'ITV is now demonstrably a much stronger company both operationally and financially. Over the last four years we've grown our revenues and delivered double digit profit growth every year, our adjusted earnings per share has increased six fold to 11.2p and our cash conversion has been consistently strong. While we've made good progress to date there is still much to do. We remain committed to our strategy for rebalancing the business, with growth increasingly coming from Online, Pay & Interactive and from ITV Studios internationally.

'In 2014 we again expect all parts of the business to see further growth. In ITV Studios we anticipate good growth, primarily driven by the acquisitions we have made in the UK and internationally. In Broadcast we have started the year with the announcement of two new channels - ITV Encore and ITVBe - and we expect to see double digit growth from Online, Pay & Interactive. The television advertising market continues to show signs of improvement, with ITV Family NAR expected to be up 5% to 6% over the four months to the end of April, and we expect to outperform our estimate of the television advertising market over the full year.'



Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

Ex-divi wed 30th Apr (2.4p + 4p)

UBS note today:
"ITV has acquired Leftfield Entertainment, a long-term target and in line with the strategy of US expansion and acquiring scalable assets to take it to the position of the largest unscripted independent producer in the US. Leftfield has been acquired from its founder and CEO Brent Montgomery for an initial cash payment of $360m for 80% of Leftfield, with further potential payments dependent upon Leftfield's continued delivery of significant profit growth. In 2013, it delivered $38m EBITDA on a pro-forma basis (assuming FY of Sirens), implying just over 12x EBITDA on initial payment. This should have a low to mid-single digit positive impact on ITV consensus EPS for 2015E and leave ITV net debt in H114E.
ITV expects Leftfield to deliver strong growth at a high margin from 2014 onwards, likely at the level of the group and higher than the overall production business, driven by its acquisition of Sirens and new JVs coming through. There are put and call options in place to buy the remaining 20% of Leftfield (call three years, put and call at the end of year five). The total maximum consideration for 100% of Leftfield is $800m; however, this would only be locked in if Leftfield delivers average EBITDA of at least $130m pa between years three and five.
Leftfield is an independent producer of mainly reality programmes with main successes including Pawn Stars (largest show on History Channel), Counting Cars, American Restoration & Real Housewives of New Jersey. Proforma numbers mentioned incorporate Sirens Media, which Leftfield acquired last year, and the impact on earnings includes two joint ventures with Loud Television and Outpost Entertainment. Together these businesses produce more than 300 hours of unscripted programming for over 30 US networks.
ITV is trading on 13x forward EPS vs. the subsector on 14x and we would expect this move to be taken positively. Our PT is DCF derived."

Interim 15th May

A UK Company buying into the US? food for thought so another fence sitting exercise for me for now on this one.

Added (again) @ 188.0 he who dares Stan :O)

Interim Management Statement

ITV growth strategy remains on track

ITV has published the following interim management statement in advance of the Company's Annual General Meeting to be held at 11 a.m. today.

· Total external revenues up 2% to £585m (2013: £571m)
· Broadcast & Online revenues up 3% at £480m (2013: £465m) driven by 2% growth in NAR as expected and 14% increase in Online, Pay & Interactive
· ITV Studios set to deliver good revenue growth over the full year, although the phasing of programme delivery in 2014 means Q1 is down 4%
· Completed the acquisition of 80% of Leftfield, the fast growing US independent producer, as we continue to build our international content business
· On track to deliver £10m cost savings over the full year
· ITV Family NAR is forecast to be ahead of the market, up 7% over H1, with initial indications that July will be positive

Brokers seem to be generally underwhelmed by the figures, but expect a sizeable increase in advertising revenue from the World Cup. Lets hope England go through a few of the stages, otherwise...............

Added again Harry @ 183.0 this morning, this is long term for me.

Long Term, Chris hope your doing well bud. Whats your long term period months or a year or so. Cheers.

PS, harry I think England will get through the group.

But remember a lot of fotty fans now just watch football for footbal no matter who is playing.

You can bet when Brazil are on, the British will be viewing.

At least twelve months mate.

Cheers Chris.

Investec has sounded a cautious note on ITV, saying that some may have expected more from the terrestrial broadcaster with its first-quarter update.

The broker maintained a 'hold' stance on the shares with a 195p target price, saying that the stock's valuation "looks quite full versus media peers".

World Cup may boost ITV sales despite England's early exit from tournament in Brazil
By JONATHON HOPKINS
PUBLISHED: 21:55, 4 July 2014 | UPDATED: 08:56, 5 July 2014

Despite England’s early exit from the tournament in Brazil, the prospect of some mouthwatering weekend games made up for the disappointment, and commercial broadcaster ITV has not seemed to suffer too much from the blow.

Indeed the TV firm – which is sharing World Cup coverage with the BBC – saw its shares get a boost from a note by broker UBS, which returned the stock to a buy rating after a recent pull back, citing a compelling valuation. Interestingly, the broker also raised the possibility that the 7.5 per cent stake that satellite broadcast rival BSkyB still holds in ITV could be placed in the market or sold to a strategic investor.

The BSkyB holding is the rump of a 17.9 per cent stake bought in a surprise move in November 2006 to block a potential takeover of ITV by the cable media company NTL, now part of Virgin Media.

BSkyB sold a 10.4 per cent stake in ITV in February 2010 for £196m, or 48.5p a share, making a loss of around £350m on its original investment. However, with the stock now trading at 183.8p, up 0.1p on the day, the remaining holding could more than make this up.

Sky said it would retain its remaining holding for the medium term and remain a ‘committed shareholder’.

However UBS argues that there is potential for BSkyB to sell the remaining stake as part of its plan to create Sky Europe, given the higher gearing that the satellite TV group would be taking on. The broker thinks it is also possible that BSkyB might instead transfer the shares to its US parent Fox as part of the deal which will see it acquire its stakes in Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia to form Sky Europe. UBS thinks this would also be viewed positively by the market as the ITV stake could then be seen as a strategic holding.

ITV will report first-half results at the end of July, with UBS forecasting revenue growth of 6.6 per cent driven by a World Cup advertising boost, although it thinks England’s exit is likely to mean it is hard for the group to exceed this level.

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/markets/article-2681020/MARKET-REPORT-World-Cup-boost-ITV-sales-despite-England-exit.html

British Sky Broadcasting has sold a shareholding of approximately 6.4% in ITV to Liberty Global Incorporated, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty Global.

The sale by Sky consists of 259,820,065 ITV shares at 185p per share for an aggregate consideration of approximately £481m. Sky intends to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes.



Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

Closed a couple of spread bets (be rude not to) @ 206.0

Resistance 210.0 chart looks way over bought. Target still 230.0 long term or sooner if buyout occurs.

Half Yearly Report

ITV on track to deliver another year of growth

Revenue growth delivered by all parts of the business
· Total external revenues up 7% to £1,225m
· ITV Family NAR up 7% ahead of the market, as expected
· Online, Pay & Interactive up 20% to £67m
· Total ITV Studios revenues up 2% to £402m

Another period of double digit profit growth
· EBITA before exceptional items up 11% at £322m
· Broadcast & Online EBITA up 10% to £250m
· ITV Studios EBITA up 14% to £72m
· Adjusted PBT up 16% at £312m
· Adjusted EPS up 15% at 6.1p

Further investment in content - ITV Studios and on-screen
· Completed acquisition of 80% of Leftfield Entertainment
· Acquisitions coming through as expected
· Investing in organic growth of our international scripted business
· Successful launch of ITV Encore - ITVBe on track to launch later this year
· ITV SOV down 3% in H1, improved from Q1
· Further strong growth in long form video requests, up 20%

Positive outlook for full year and next phase of our strategy
· Total cost savings of around £15m for the full year - £5m ahead of original target
· ITV Family NAR expected to be up 4% to 5% in Q3 and up around 6% in the nine months to 30 September. We will significantly outperform the market over the full year
· Online, Pay & Interactive will deliver strong revenue growth, at least in line with H1
· Our acquisitions will ensure continued good growth in ITV Studios this year and into next year, and we will see a return to good organic growth in 2015 helped by investment in scripted
· Looking ahead we are committed to our original vision for ITV
· We see clear opportunities for investing in growth across the business - in content, online, pay and advertising
· As our strategy evolves we will continue to rebalance the business and grow new revenue streams and there will be an increasing emphasis on international content creation and distribution

Delivering increased shareholder returns
· The Board has declared an interim dividend of 1.4p which will be roughly a third of the full year dividend
· The Board has committed to at least 20% annual growth in the ordinary dividend over the next three years

Having another go to crack resistance @ 210p

Credit Suisse New Target 250p outperform.