Profit Gains at ITV

LONDON: Boosted in part by its content production and distribution business, ITV reported a 9-percent gain in profit before tax to £425 million ($558 million) for the first six months of the year.

Revenues were up by 11 percent to £1.5 billion ($2 billion). Non-advertising revenues were up by 26 percent to £874 million ($1.15 billion), while net advertising revenues were flat at £838 million ($1.1 billion). ITV Studios contributed revenues of £651 million ($855 million), a 31-percent gain. Double-digit gains were also seen in online, pay and interactive revenues, which rose 26 percent to £107 million ($140 million).

“Our strategy of rebalancing and strengthening ITV and building a global production business of scale continues to deliver with double-digit revenue and adjusted EBITA growth in the first half of the year,” said Chief Executive Adam Crozier. “On screen we’ve performed strongly with Share of Viewing on our main channel up 7 percent while at the same time long-form video consumption increased by 50 percent.”

Crozier noted that the company is targeting a £25 million ($33 million) reduction in overheads in 2017 as a result of Brexit. “Against a backdrop of wider economic uncertainty following the EU referendum we have put in place a robust plan to allow us to meet the opportunities and challenges ahead,” he said. “Looking forward to the full year, we expect to deliver double-digit revenue and EBITA growth in ITV Studios as the acquisitions continue to deliver and double-digit revenue growth in online, pay and interactive. We anticipate NAR to be down around 1 percent in the first nine months of the year and we again expect to outperform the U.K. television market over 2016 as a whole. Our strategy of strengthening and rebalancing the business is clearly working and remains the right one for ITV. We have a strong balance sheet and the capacity to continue to invest behind our strategy, while at the same time delivering returns to our shareholders.”