ITV sells stake in Australian media company for £36m

LONDON – ITV has sold its 18% stake in Australian media company Village Roadshow in the open market for £36m (A$91m), as part of its strategy to dispose of non-core assets after the Carlton and Granada merger earlier this year.

ITV began selling its stake in August and sold the remaining shares this week, saying that it had got a good price for the company.

Charles Allen, chief executive of ITV, said: "We are delivering on our strategy to reduce our non-core assets and sold our investment in Village Roadshow at an average price of A$2.16 a share, compared with a recent low of A$1."

The stake in Village Roadshow was part of Granada's acquisition of the media assets of United Business Media in 2002 and was valued at £15m.

ITV began reducing its core assets in September 2004 when it disposed of Carlton Books for £3m. Later that month, the network sold its 5.5% stake in Thomson to Citigroup and UBS for £162m.

ITV is also considering selling Carlton Screen Advertising, its 10% shareholding in Liverpool football club and The Moving Picture Company, the firm behind digital special effects in blockbusters such as 'Troy' and the 'Harry Potter' films.

In total, ITV's non-core assets have been valued at £550m.

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