ITV profits slump

ITV announced a slide in profits today but said it had seen signs of recovery after the performance of its flagship ITV1 channel stabilised.

Chairman Michael Grade, who joined the group from the BBC in January, said the ratings decline slowed during the first half of the year, while the advertising environment had also shown some recovery signs.

But pre-tax profits continued to fall, dropping 39% from £173m (€254m) last year to £105m (€154m) in the six months to the end of June as the company took a hit from the loss of revenues from its ITV Play channel and a 5% fall in advertising revenues.