Member Info for WimbledonTom

I am not so certain this is the start of another pump and dump cycle. It has been relatively calm here for months. Just the usual lack of activity from ITV board sees people move elsewhere. 7% dividend barely keeps track with inflation.

The general outlook has improved for the FTSE today. Sterling down which means increased reason for foreign investors to load up. Hedge funds are reportedly still bullish. FTSE 100 is .3% up. Just ITV that has still seen people selling.

We are 16 days away from ex dividend date. 1.7p paid on a 68p investment. On top of that the Schofield inquiry may shake things up and force the current lacklustre leadership to rethink their position.

My best guess is the BoD have the preliminary findings on the toxic culture at ITV in their inboxes. They are sitting down and analysing their response and the possible reputational damage to ITV. Will the select committee and Ofcom be placated with half measures or will they get called back to Parliament to face possible threats of government intervention unless heads roll.

ITV investor relations sticking their heads up again? Pretend there is nothing wrong when the facts speak for themself. £2 to under 70p in the 6 years since Crozier resigned.

Not good enough. Any half decent CEO would restore confidence which would see the share price return to its pre covid level of 150

Forget the spin. Measure a CEO by the Share Price.

McCall seems genuinely out of her depth. The ordinary investor cannot see that. Much of the ITV board will not be able to tell. The problem is though that good financial analysts, private equity and hedge funds are very good at sniffing out ballshifters. They get job applications all the time from your average "Apprentice candidate" and weed them out in minutes.

The smart financial analysts caught the whiff of chancer around McCall years ago. 5 years ago they knew ITV had been sold a dud and they all backed away from investing in ITV knowing that a McCall led ITV would only stagnate.

Still anything is possible. Liz Truss can still get 60 MPs behind her despite crashing the UK economy. Carolyn will go back before Caroline and the select committee and try to dupe them again with spin, false confidence and lies.

It is following the FTSE down only as ever the share price falls more than the average.....

This is when you need leadership. People who know how to win the markets over. Lets hope the new appointee to the Board, Dawn Allen who has been a CFO elsewhere, comes with some knowledge and experience and knows how to steer the SP back up. No more McCall cronies from Easyjet please who have been a waste of space.

So I am back in after a 3 month absence. No real change over the summer. Briefly down to 65. High of 75. Neither Jed's prediction of 80 or my prediction of 60 came to pass.

So lets all say where we see this at the end of October. Jed will go with 80.

I am positive now. Looking at last year it all turned in October. This was in part due to the Dame feeding the markets false hope of a partial sale of the studios. I am going to go with the month finishing at 75-76.

Sensible posts only please people. Good to see someone tidied up after yesterdays shameful display

The Dame has written to Broadcast news to say that the review will not be released this month. That the KC needs more time to investigate. Broadcast news article sits behind a paywall but the Metro has most of the detail

https://metro.co.uk/2023/09/26/phillip-schofield-itv-review-delayed-19561645/

So maybe not as clear cut as Lygo and Mccall told Parliament it was. Maybe mistakes were made

She already has her government crony role. 28th of April 2023 she was appointed to the Governments Levelling up Advisory Council. It is unpaid but you get to decide where billions in tax payers money goes.....

Just always keep your mind focussed on the fact that this business was over £2 before the Dame arrived. £1.50 before covid. £1.30 before her bungled announcement.

If she goes then there is no real reason why those Share prices are unobtainable. Anyone buying at 70p could be laughing once the Dame is packed off to her levelling up government role.

Jed be realistic. Best case scenario is that sometimes it climbs by the dividend amount and maybe an extra percentage before the ex divi date. Maybe 75p considering this was 73p only last week.

Real change is the internal inquiry and if any movement happens at the top. If we saw a noticeable change of key personnel over the next 2-3 months then this could really fly. Needs some new younger people from within media and maybe even ITV staff to step up to leadership.

That is bad timing. I truly believe this will pick up between now and FYR in February. Ex divi date is coming up and it is a good interim dividend payment of 2% or more.

I took a 3 month break from ITV over the summer and urged others to follow my lead. Bought Shell at 23.50 and sold at 25.90. Collected a dividend of 1% along the way and made several buys and sells on dips netting another 12%.

Buying back here now below my 71.50 exit point. Looking forward to a climb back up but this all depends on news out of China.

Interesting movements in the last 30 minutes here but struggling to find a live feed that can keep up. Had to login to my trading platform to get live prices. Down to 70.6

Janus I distinctly remember the Dame making reference to analystics being used behind ITV. ITV even purchased a tech firm or engine that is state of the art for analysing viewers habits, demographics etc and then applying the correct ads to them through the platform. So in many ways they are moving towards becoming the advertising platform of choice. They just need to transfer those 10-18 million viewers on to ITVX and then they will have a database on consumers which will rival supermarket loyalty cards.

Maybe the Dame is too cautious. She needs better premium content on ITVX which will drive more viewers over. I keep on saying reciprocal deals with other broadcasters where they get ITV content for their region in return for ITV being the exclusive platform within the UK. A Star Alliance of broadcasters who carry each others content in their region.

Https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12546295/ITV-Kevin-Lygo-Channel-4-Russell-Brand.html

Kevin "no mistakes" Lygo looks to have overseen Russell Brand in his early career and possibly some of his worst behaviour.

Starting to see a pattern where Lygo has chosen not to rein in toxic behaviour of big named presenters under his watch.

Kind of easy to see where the axe needs to fall once the report comes out but McCall's judgement is also in question as she had 5 years to see that Lygo allows Stars with predatory behaviour to go unchecked.

Oh and I think the same deal is done with charities, where they are given the empty ad slots for free and in return the ITV accountants get to write off tax against "lost revenue"

Jed, ITV cannot sell the advertising space. So the simple solution is for the sales team to phone around promising early stage businesses who need marketing but cannot afford the capital outlay and offer them advertising slots in return for part ownership.

It is all one big gamble but better than just shortening the ad breaks

1 billion price tag and 700 million in debt? If ITV bid anywhere near the asking price then Parliament need to intervene as it will eventually destroy ITV as a viable company and lead to Liberty etc then buying out ITV with All3media included with that 1 billion.

McCall needs to be axed if she pays anything over £1.

The most recent story on All3media is saying that the joint owners have given up on the sale to competitors and are looking for private equity firms to buy it out.

Reuters source "Shareholders Liberty Global PLC and Warner Bros have shared information with prospective buyers.....this week"

All3media has a net debt of £760m. An increase of 20% on the previous year

Shauny try not to set the old guy off. He is paranoid enough as it is that anyone who posts anything critical here is going to wipe 1-2% off the price.

Interesting movements. 2.5% lost only to regain it in minutes. I do not believe for a minute that anyone or any group of investors is intentionally moving this. I am not a big believer in conspiracy theories.

I am in Beyoglu this week with the young Russian girlfriend. Nice serviced apartment with a private terrace overlooking the Bosphorus. Short walk to Taksim and all the bars and restaurants. Doing a lot of walking in early morning up and down hills to keep in shape.