Itv revenues up 11% to $871m; boss downplays nordic acquisition chatter
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UPDATE, TUESDAY AM: ITV has been on a shopping spree this year with its most recent acquisition, Britain’s Big Talk Productions, announced just last Friday. But ITV chief Adam Crozier told
reporters on Tuesday morning that, for the moment, the company is “not looking” at further shingles in the Nordic regions where it is also active. That should lay to rest recent speculation
that the UK’s leading private broadcaster was mulling a £90M ($134M) takeover of Helsinki-based Nice Entertainment. Crozier’s comments came on an call discussing ITV’s half-year results. The
company this morning reported a revenue hike of 11% to £568M ($871M). The increase was primarily driven by in-house producer ITV Studios and the company’s online, pay and interactive
divisions. ITV Studios revenues were up 11%, to £395M, with overall EBITDA up 11% to £291M. The company says it is on track for cost savings of £20M as part of Crozier’s five year
transformation plan. Net debt was £52M. Net advertising revenue is expected to be broadly flat for the nine months to end September, but the company says it is “confident of delivering
double digit revenue growth in Online, Pay & Interactive and ITV Studios over the full year.” Crozier said, “We’re making good progress with our strategy of growing and rebalancing the
business as we build new revenue streams and improve margins.” Of the recent acquisitions which also include controlling stakes in _Duck Dynasty_ producer Gurney Productions, Thinkfactory
Media (_Hatfields & McCoys_) and High Noon Entertainment (_Cake Boss_), Crozier said, “We’re showing real momentum in our strategy of creating a robust international content business and
in building substantial strength and scale in the U.S. market.” ITV also holds controlling stakes in the UK’s The Garden and So Television, Norway’s Mediacircus and Tarinatalo in Finland.