ITV has released its half year results this morning, saying that it was on track to deliver its full year figures, with growth across its Studios and Media & Entertainment operations.
The announcement comes following the announcement that the broadcaster was planning to sell the M&E arm to Sky for around £1.6bn.
“The recently announced sale of M&E to Sky represents a substantial milestone for ITV,” said Carolyn McCall, ITV Chief Executive.
“This transaction will unlock significant value for shareholders, with a net cash return of around £950 million, excluding any contingent consideration, and continued ownership of an attractive, growing global content business in ITV Studios.
She added that within M&E, ITVx was continuing to perform strongly: “delivering double-digit growth in both viewing and digital advertising revenues during the period, while Total Advertising Revenue (TAR) grew strongly in the first half and into July, reflecting a very successful Men’s Football World Cup and continued strong demand from advertisers.”
Turning to ITV Studios, McCall continued:
“ITV Studios’ H1 performance reflects the year-on-year phasing of our production slate, with revenue, profit, and margin weighted as usual towards the second half of the year as previously guided. This reflects a significant volume of large deliveries and high-margin licensing deals in H2, over which we have good visibility.”
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“[…] Underpinned by its world class talent, global scale and unique IP library, ITV Studios is well positioned to deliver above-market profitable organic revenue growth at industry leading margins, strong cash generation, attractive returns to shareholders and an investment grade balance sheet.”
She added that “macro-economic headwinds” remained but that they were announcing an interim dividend to shareholders of 1.7p, around £60m in total.
ITV is also to undertake a £100m share buyback, this represents an early return of part of the previously announced £950 million net cash return expected on completion of the sale of M&E.
That transaction will be subject to regulatory approval, which has already begun. It’s expected that if approved, the sale of M&E to Sky will complete in the second half of 2027.
