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Liberum upbeat on ITV after press report

Last updated: 14:19 21 Sep 2015 BST, First published: 10:19 21 Sep 2015 BST

Liberum upbeat on ITV after press report
Liberum has repeated broadcasting giant ITV (LON:ITV) as a "top pick" on chatter of the introduction of what's called re-transmission revenues.
 
This is money gained from other broadcasters when another firm's material are broadcast on their channels.
 
Liberum says: "The Sunday Telegraph reports that the government will allow the main commercial broadcasters – including ITV – to charge Virgin Media for carriage of their key channels, including ITV1. 
 
The broker notes that, while Sky (LON:SKY) was not specifically mentioned, allowing ITV to charge Virgin Media fees would "significantly" increase the chances of an eventual agreement covering Sky, which is the "much bigger prize for ITV". 
 
"The introduction of retransmission revenues would not only be a double-digit boost to estimates but should also drive a significant re-rating, as happened with US broadcasting groups a number of years back."
 
Elsewhere, US broker Jefferies begins coverage on student housing group Empiric Student Property (LON:ESP),  which floated in London in June last year,  raising £85mln.
 
The broker notes the company has expanded rapidly and made progress on an ambitious 10,000 student bed IPO target and is "ideally placed" to take advantage of an attractive, rapidly growing student accommodation sector with fragmented ownership. 
 
It initiates with a 'buy' and 125p price target. The current price is 110.5p.
 
Elsewhere, banking giant Citi upgraded pharma group Shire (LON:SHP) today to 'overweight' from 'equalweight' and the target is £5,700p. The current price is 4,889p.

"The chief executive  Flemming Ornskov remains unperturbed in his desire to grow Shire inorganically and while Baxalta has temporarily stalled we believe the deal makes sense under $55/share," said the bank.

Numis rates fashion house French Connection (LON:FCCN) as 'hold' following half year results today, which showed losses widening in the first half. The pre-tax loss was £7.9mln, up from a loss of £3.9mln in the same period in 2014.
 
"As expected, following its trading update in April, French Connection has reported a tough H1 - reversing four consecutive halves of YOY profit improvement," said the City broker.
 
Two out of the three core elements of Caledonia Mining’s (LON:CMCL) plans to improve output at its flagship Blanket gold mine in Zimbabwe are now in place, it said today.
 
Broker Panmure Gordon repeated a 'buy' and its target price is 55p.
 
It said the market update would serve to "reassure" investors that the investment case behind the broker's positive view on Caledonia remained intact.
 
Elsewhere, the same broker looked at Cluff Natural Resources (LON:CLNR) underground coal gasification (UCG) plans, which have been boosted by an independent economic consultant, which highlighted potential long term economic benefits for the UK.
 
The broker reckons the report further highlights the potential benefits from the development of UCG in the UK and the firm's leading role in that process. 
 
"However, the company indicated at the 1H15 results stage that it needs more support from the Scottish government before committing fully to the expense of an environmental impact study for a pilot project at Kincardine," said analyst Colin Smith.
 
Panmure's rating is an unchanged 'buy', while the target is 10p.

 

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