Belfast Briefing: ITV in the picture as UTV’s most likely buyer

Anyone in the North with a spare £100 million (€136m) to spend this week might want to take a close look at Northern Ireland’s only home-grown television channel according to one local political leader who appears to be moonlighting as a possible investment advisor.

The Belfast-headquartered UTV Media group, which holds the Channel 3 public service broadcast licence for Northern Ireland, confirmed yesterday that it is in discussions with a view to a potential sale of its television assets.

It is one of only three listed companies in the North and currently the oldest public company – Ulster Television first listed on the Belfast Stock Exchange in 1961 and subsequently the London Stock Exchange.

UTV Media has not officially said who it is talking to but the most likely suitor according to market speculation is the broadcaster ITV which operates one of the largest commercial groups of television channels in the UK.

But the Ulster Unionist party leader Michael Nesbitt – a man not normally known for dispensing financial advice in the North – believes it would be a much better idea if local investors could rally around and organise a Northern Ireland-based buy-out of UTV's TV channel which first started broadcasting back in 1959 as Ulster Television.

“I would encourage anyone with the necessary access to finance to look carefully at the possibility of a local buy-out to retain UTV’s unique brand,” he said.

The current television staff in Belfast and for that matter Dublin are more than a little anxious about what UTV Media is up to, particularly if ITV is ahead of the pack when it comes to potential buyers.

ITV was established in 2003 when independent UK channels, Carlton and Granada, agreed a £2.6 billion merger. Since then ITV has acquired the breakfast company, GMTV and Channel Television based in Jersey which leaves only the Scottish media group STV and UTV outside its stable of terrestrial TV companies.

So it would not be completely unexpected that ITV – whose total external revenue for the six months to June grew by 11 per cent to £1.356 million – would be in the picture when it comes to a possible purchase of UTV’s television assets.

In the past UTV’s management has always passionately defended its independent stance from ITV.

So why would it now want to sit down and have a chat with the group about selling off its television assets which Nesbitt has charmingly claimed has the “whiff of surrender” about it.

He like many have pointed the finger at UTV Media’s decision to launch a dedicated Irish TV channel which has been on air since January as the key reason behind the Belfast group’s decision to look at off-loading certain assets.

UTV Media has always been very upfront about the projected losses associated with its Irish start-up in its early days. But in June it was forced to admit in a trading update that losses at UTV Ireland in its first full year of operation would likely spiral to an unexpected £11.2 million.

This led respected analysts like Alex DeGroote from the stockbroking and advisory house Peel Hunt, to warn that the station might not survive more than a year in its current guise.

He believes the Belfast group’s television assets could be worth up to £125 million if they were sold off which considerably ease UTV Media group’s current Irish symptoms and make its shareholders much happier.

But if UTV Media does divest all of its television assets then what does that mean for its future?

Television is just one component of the group's overall business portfolio which also includes UTV Radio GB, UTV Radio Ireland, Tibus, a specialist digital services business and Simply Zesty, a full service digital agency.

In total the group employs in the region of 900 people across the UK and Ireland.