Britain’s ITV said it expected to outperform the television advertising market in 2016 after reporting a 20 per cent jump in 2015 earnings per share and returning £400 million to shareholders with a special dividend.

The broadcaster of soap opera Coronation Street and crime drama Vera said net advertising revenue would be flat in the first quarter, marginally behind the market, before picking up for the European Football Championship in the second quarter.

For the full year, it said it again expected to outperform its estimate of the TV ad market.

ITV, which has expanded it production arm in recent years, said it uniquely delivered the mass audiences demanded by advertisers.

But the share of viewing achieved by its main ITV channel fell 4 per cent in 2015, which it put down to the launch of new digital channels, some shows not performing as well as it had expected and a relatively strong performance from the BBC.

Britain’s biggest commercial free-to-air broadcaster reported adjusted earnings per share of 16.5 pence, compared with a forecast of 16.1 pence. Core earnings rose 18 per cent to £865 million (€1.1 billion)on revenue up 15 per cent to £2.97 billion.

The company said on Wednesday it would pay a special dividend of 10 pence a share in addition to a final dividend of 4.1 pence, which was ahead of previous guidance.

Reuters