13th Nov 2014 07:38
LONDON (Alliance News) - ITV PLC Thursday expressed confidence in seeing "another year of double digit profit growth", as it saw total external revenues rise 8% in its first nine months, driven by "strong progress" across all of its segments.
The broadcaster said external revenues rose to GBP1.80 billion from GBP1.66 billion a year before.
Within this, Broadcast and Online revenues rose 7% to GBP1.43 billion from GBP1.34 billion, driven by 6% growth in net advertising revenue and 24% growth in Online, Pay and Interactive. ITV expects to see Online, Pay and Interactive grow at a similar rate over the full year, due to new deals with pay platforms and strong demand for video on demand.
ITV expects Broadcast to see advertising revenues up 5% over the full year, which it said is "well ahead of the UK television advertising market and [its] best out-performance of the market for five years."
ITV family net asset revenue was up 4% in the third quarter of the year, and up 2% in October. This is forecast to slow to 1% in November, and 1% to 3% in December, leading to overall expectations of 1% to 2% growth in the fourth quarter.
The company noted that its share of viewing for its ITV family business is "not as good" as it would like, it is focused on improving its on screen performance, and expects to outperform the advertising market again in 2015. It launched two new channels during the year, ITVBe and ITVEncore, and said that ITVBe has made an "encouraging start in terms of audience share".
Looking forward, ITV expects its Broadcast business to benefit from ongoing investment, a full year of its two new channels, and a "positive economic and advertising outlook". In 2015 it will focus on improving share of viewing with its programme schedule.
ITV Studios revenue rose 10% in the nine months, boosted by acquisitions. It would have been GBP22 million on a constant currency basis, the company said. The strength of sterling will hit this segment's revenues by around GBP30 million for the full year, ITV said, and its earnings by GBP6 million to GBP8 million.
ITV said it expects full year revenues for this segment of the business to grow by around GBP100 million on a constant currency basis. It expects this business to grow by a similar amount in 2015.
Non-net advertising revenues were up 9%.
The company said it was on track to see GBP15 million of cost savings for the full year.
"Based on our performance to date we are confident that as we continue to execute our strategy we will deliver further growth across the business both creatively and commercially, in the UK and internationally," said Chief Executive Adam Crozier in a statement. "Our cash generation remains strong and, as we move into next year, we will continue to show capital discipline and balance the need to invest for future growth opportunities with increasing returns to our shareholders."
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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