The decision to re-examine the sale of the cinema advertising sales house is part of full-business review undertaken by John Cresswell, financial director at ITV, since January, and is understood to be part of move to return more money to shareholders and plug an estimated drop in revenues of £125m during 2006.
The disposal of ITV's non-core assets will include: Screenvision, mainland Europe's leading cinema advertising sales house; the company's stake in Manchester United's digital television channel MUTV; and its stake in football clubs Arsenal and Liverpool. ITV is also considering offloading its 45% stake in Irish broadcaster TV3.
Carlton Screen Advertising has previously been mooted as a target for a sell-off, but it now looks increasingly likely that it will be up for sale as part of a move to plug the deficit.
Speaking at a media presentation at the broadcaster's London Television Centre site today, Cresswell said: "As part of the review of the business I started in January, I am reviewing whether Carlton Screen Advertising should be part of the business moving forward."
ITV has made a raft of disposals since the merger of Granada and Carlton, including selling The Moving Picture Company, which creates special effects for films such as 'Troy' and 'Harry Potter', to Technicolour, part of the French technology company Thomson, for £52.7m.
It has also disposed of Carlton Books for £3m and its 5.5% stake in Thomson to Citigroup and UBS for £162m. In addition, it sold its 18% stake in Australian media company Village Roadshow for £36m, and its prop hire business Superhire for £8.2m to privately owned company Space Holdings, along with its 18% stake in Australian media company Village Roadshow in the open market for £36m.
Carlton Screen Advertising survived the merger of Carlton and Granada in January 2003, but has been seen as one of the most high-profile non-core assets slated for disposal.
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