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Carlton is expected to report a profit before tax, exceptional items and goodwill of around £46.8m compared with £118m last time.

Granada is expected to report a downturn in pre-tax profits of around 30%. Analysts are forecasting that Granada will report profits before tax, exceptional items and goodwill of between £130m and £170m, compared with £201m last year.

It will be the first time the companies have released results since they announced their £2.6bn merger plans on October 10.

The companies are also expected to submit their arguments in favour of the merger to the Office of Fair Trading next week. While the advertising industry has been pushing for the two companies to retain separate sales houses after the merger, Granada and Carlton are set to propose a single ITV sales house in their submission.

In response to the news, bosses of the other commercial networks, Channel 4, Five and BSkyB, are reported to be looking at consolidating their sales operations. They are reported to be worried at being left behind if Granada and Carlton are allowed to combine their sales teams.

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