The results for 2004, to be unveiled later this week, will see turnover virtually flat at £2.08bn.
ITV, formed by the merger of Carlton Communications and Granada last year in the biggest media deal of the decade, is also expected to announce cost savings of £120m brought about by the £4.5bn merger and sale of non-core assets including Carlton Books for £3m and its stake in Village Roadshow for £36m.
The network's digital channels, ITV2 and ITV3, have performed well recently although its main channel ITV1 has lost a sizeable amount of its audience share, which will effect advertising income throughout the year.
ITV has been seen as a bid target since last year's merger. Rumours of a possible takeover bid for the company emerged when outgoing United Business Media chief executive Lord Hollick took on the managing director role at US private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts to target UK media.
Greg Dyke, the former director-general of the BBC, recently joined Apax Partners, the private equity group that specialises in media deals, fuelling rumours it may also be interested in a takeover of ITV.
Dyke, who resigned from the BBC after the Hutton Report, has been jobless until now.
He has been linked with ITV since April when he had a meeting with chairman Sir Peter Burt. It was believed that Dyke may have been preparing to take over Charles Allen's position as chief executive, which Sir Peter was forced to play down after the meeting.
Dyke, a former managing director of LWT, has expressed an interest in targeting ITV for some time now and has been contacting potential investors.
If a bid is successful, Charles Allen is likely to pocket an estimated £13m for the sale, which could well prove to be a motivation for agreeing to a takeover.
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