Shares in television broadcaster ITV (LON:ITV) continued their ascendency and raced to the top of Footsie on Friday as its largest shareholder Liberty Global increased its stake in the company.
ITV shares are up 2.36% on the day - to 278p each - but are up around 35% in the calendar year to date.
Liberty, which owns Virgin Media, has purchased 138.7mln shares in the firm, taking its total holding to 398.5m shares, or around 9.9%.
Liberty's chief executive Mike Fries said in a regulatory statement: "ITV is a well-run company with attractive growth potential, and we are pleased to increase our position as their largest shareholder."
The announcement has sparked speculation over whether Liberty may make a bid to fully buy ITV.
Last summer, the US cable group giant, which is chaired by John Malone, paid £481mln for an initial 6.4% stake.
The amendment of an existing hedging transaction, meant Liberty required no further investment to increase the stake to 9.9%, due to the firm's strong recent share rise.
Fried added: "This investment remains an opportunistic one for us in our largest market."
Earlier this week, ITV reported a 5% rise in net advertising revenue to £838mln and an 11% gain in the group's total revenue to £1.36bn in its latest half year.
The company's ITV Studios programme production arm lifted revenue by 23% to £496mln, with organic growth of 8%.
Distribution business Global Entertainment increased revenue by 18% to £71 mln underpinned by a strong drama, including new titles like period piece Poldark.
But in the traditional UK broadcasting business, ITV Family's share of viewing was down 4%, with the decline in the main channel partly offset by a 2% improvement across digital channels.
Peel Hunt rates the shares a ‘buy’ and has recently pushed the target price to 330p from 300p.
It says it is bullish on the stock due to, among other factors, a strong content arm and a unique mass market platform for advertisers.
“Clearly if we were to factor in a reasonable bid premium, our 330p target price would look puny,” it added.