Advertisement
UK markets close in 2 hours 44 minutes
  • FTSE 100

    7,965.89
    +33.91 (+0.43%)
     
  • FTSE 250

    19,870.62
    +59.96 (+0.30%)
     
  • AIM

    743.47
    +1.36 (+0.18%)
     
  • GBP/EUR

    1.1693
    +0.0024 (+0.21%)
     
  • GBP/USD

    1.2639
    +0.0001 (+0.01%)
     
  • Bitcoin GBP

    56,125.37
    +316.02 (+0.57%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • S&P 500

    5,253.32
    +4.83 (+0.09%)
     
  • DOW

    39,797.55
    +37.47 (+0.09%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    82.46
    +1.11 (+1.36%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,228.70
    +16.00 (+0.72%)
     
  • NIKKEI 225

    40,168.07
    -594.66 (-1.46%)
     
  • HANG SENG

    16,541.42
    +148.58 (+0.91%)
     
  • DAX

    18,487.16
    +10.07 (+0.05%)
     
  • CAC 40

    8,223.18
    +18.37 (+0.22%)
     

Broadcaster ITV buys Northern Irish partner UTV's TV assets

(Adds shares, analyst reaction)

LONDON, Oct (HKSE: 3366-OL.HK - news) 19 (Reuters) - ITV (LSE: ITV.L - news) , Britain's biggest free-to-air commercial broadcaster, has agreed to buy the TV business of Northern Irish network partner UTV for 100 million pounds ($154 million) in cash, it said on Monday.

The deal will put 13 of 15 so-called channel 3 licences in the hands of ITV, and the company said the combined business would benefit from ITV's investment in content, its advertising sales team and broadcast infrastructure.

UTV will retain its radio businesses UTV Radio GB and UTV Radio Ireland, and its digital media businesses, Simply Zesty and Tibus Digital, ITV said.

ADVERTISEMENT

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in UTV rose 4.6 percent to a five-month high of 181.5 pence after the announcement, which has been widely anticipated since UTV said it was in talks in August.

Shares in ITV, whose hit shows include soap opera "Coronation Street" and drama "Downton Abbey", were down 0.5 percent at 247.6 pence in a flat market.

Analysts at Citi said ITV was paying above the average transaction multiples for a broadcast business for UTV, which made a loss of 3.3 million pounds in the first half after it launched a new channel serving the Irish republic.

They said cost synergies, however, would make the deal broadly neutral for ITV's earnings per share in the first year.

After the deal, only the two channel 3 licences in Scotland owned by STV will remain outside ITV's control.

Analysts at Liberum said they did not think a final deal to unify the network was likely.

"We do not think ITV will make a bid for STV due to the political sensitivities of Scotland's main commercial broadcaster being owned by London-based ITV Plc," they said.

($1 = 0.6474 pounds) (Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Kate Holton and Mark Potter)