ITV plc Interim Results for the half year ended 0 June 04

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ITV on track to deliver another year of growth

ITV plc Interim Results for the half year ended 30 June 2014

Revenue growth delivered by all parts of the business

- Total external revenues up 7% to £1,225m

- ITV Family NAR up 7% ahead of the market, as expected

- Online, Pay & Interactive up 20% to £67m

- Total ITV Studios revenues up 2% to £402m

Another period of double digit profit growth

- EBITA before exceptional items up 11% at £322m

- Broadcast & Online EBITA up 10% to £250m

- ITV Studios EBITA up 14% to £72m

- Adjusted PBT up 16% at £312m

- Adjusted EPS up 15% at 6.1p

Further investment in content ITV Studios and on-screen

- Completed acquisition of 80% of Leftfield Entertainment

- Acquisitions coming through as expected

- Investing in organic growth of our international scripted business

- Successful launch of ITV Encore - ITVBe on track to launch later this year

- ITV SOV down 3% in H1, improved from Q1

- Further strong growth in long form video requests, up 20%

Positive outlook for full year and next phase of our strategy

- Total cost savings of around £15m for the full year - £5m ahead of original target

- ITV Family NAR expected to be up 4% to 5% in Q3 and up around 6% in the nine months to 30 September. We will significantly outperform the market over the full year

- Online, Pay & Interactive will deliver strong revenue growth, at least in line with H1

- Our acquisitions will ensure continued good growth in ITV Studios this year and into next year, and we will see a

return to good organic growth in 2015 helped by investment in scripted

- Looking ahead we are committed to our original vision for ITV

- We see clear opportunities for investing in growth across the business in content, online, pay and advertising

- As our strategy evolves we will continue to rebalance the business and grow new revenue streams and there will be an increasing emphasis on international content creation and distribution

Delivering increased shareholder returns

- The Board has declared an interim dividend of 1.4p which will be roughly a third of the full year dividend

- The Board has committed to at least 20% annual growth in the ordinary dividend over the next three years

Adam Crozier, ITV Chief Executive, said:

We have made further good progress with our strategy of growing and strengthening all parts of ITV. In the first six months of the year we again delivered double digit profit growth in every area of the business and increased revenues by 7%. ITV Family NAR was up 7%, ahead of the TV advertising market and Online, Pay & Interactive performed strongly, up 20%. Share of viewing improved during Q2, helped by the FIFA World Cup, and we're confident of our strong Autumn schedule with both new and returning drama and entertainment. Online, Pay & Interactive is on track to deliver strong growth for the year as a whole, at least in line with the first half. The economic recovery is leading to an improved advertising market, with good growth across all key categories and ITV is well placed to take market share. We expect ITV Family NAR to be up around 6% in the nine months to the end of September and we will significantly outperform the market over the full year.

For the first half total Studios revenues were up 2% with the acquisitions coming through as expected while organic growth was impacted by the phasing in the delivery of some programmes and the proportion of ITV's programme budget allocated to the FIFA World Cup. We continue to invest in growing internationally and, following the acquisition of Leftfield Entertainment, ITV is now the biggest unscripted independent production company in the US.

Looking forward we expect good growth in ITV Studios in 2014, driven by our acquisitions. In 2015 we will see further growth from these acquisitions and we will return to good organic growth helped by our investment in global scripted content, such as Texas Rangers and Aquarius in the US and Jekyll & Hyde, Jambusters and Thunderbirds Are Go in the UK.

We enter the next phase of ITV's growth strategy as a demonstrably better business than when we launched the Transformation Plan in 2010. The plan we embarked on four years ago of rebalancing and strengthening ITV creatively and financially, both in the UK and internationally, is clearly the right one for the Company and our vision remains unchanged.

We will continue to rebalance the business and grow new revenue streams, both organically and through acquisition. We see clear opportunities for growth across the business - in content, online, pay and advertising and there will be an increasing emphasis on international content creation and distribution.

The market environment in which we operate is constantly changing, characterised by converging media and the increasing influence of technology, which brings both challenges and opportunities. ITV's financial strength and its strategic advantages including the scale of our UK channels, our share of the advertising market, and our growing global network in the development, production and distribution of content, put us in a strong position to be able to meet these challenges and exploit opportunities for growth.

As ITV enters the next phase of the plan the Board believes it is important that we maintain capital discipline and the flexibility to invest in the business at the same time as delivering a normal payout ratio for shareholders. Reflecting the Board's confidence in the ongoing growth and cash generation of the business the Board is committed to the full year ordinary dividend growing by at least 20% per annum over the next three years starting this year.

Read the full Interim Results

LINK:	http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/itv-plc-interim-results-...
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