Media sector gets downgrade from Stanley

Morgan Stanley added to the general gloom this week by issuing a pessimistic review of the industry that downgraded the entire media sector from "attractive" to "in-line".

The broker cut its earnings forecast for BSkyB and remains underweight on ITV. However, BSkyB closed up on the week at 527p but ITV slipped 2.28% to 55.8p.

One bright spark was Ten Alps, which was the highest riser in the Broadcast 20 this week, closing up 5.79% to 50.25p. The company reported a 15% rise in pre-tax profits to £3.15m in the year to the end of March, on revenues 18% higher than the previous year at £81.4m.

The group also intends to continue acquiring production companies and said that potential targets had already been identified.
Howard Davies, partner, Deloitte Research
This column provides a weekly commentary on the key movements among 20 listed media companies chosen by Broadcast. Source: Datastream