22nd Mar 2019 19:07
LONDON (Alliance News) - Moody's Investors Service late Friday affirmed the Baa3 issuer rating of ITV PLC with stable outlook.
"ITV's Baa3 rating is supported by the company's strong broadcasting franchise and well-established programming operations in the UK and the track record of growing share of viewing over the last three years", said Sebastien Cieniewski, Moody's lead analyst for ITV.
However, the ratings agency noted that telecommunication firm's rating remains constrained by the high exposure to UK advertising spend which is cyclical and expected to remain under pressure in the context of Brexit.
Moody's also highlighted the pressure on ITV's margins which it expects to weaken in 2019 driven by increasing content costs and the increasing competition from content distributors, including Netflix Inc.
Meanwhile, the stable outlook reflects Moody's expectations that the FTSE 100-listed company will continue to outperform the challenging UK TV advertising market in 2019.
ITV shares closed 1.6% lower on Friday at 130.05 pence each.
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