ITV Plc: 41st bid potentially materialising soon?

Research evidence excerpt

ITV Plc: 41st bid potentially materialising soon?

Equity Research

European Media

14 May 2026

ITV Plc

41st bid potentially materialising

soon?

1Q26A revenues slightly ahead, ad trends holding up but with ITV.L/ITV LN EQUAL WEIGHT

clouds forming, viewing trends continuing to decline. We Unchanged

downgrade headline EPS by c.2%. On fundamentals, we see European Media UnchangedNEUTRAL

ITV as at best fairly valued, but a Sky bid could happen soon. Price Target GBp 80

Equal Weight with lower 80p target. lowered -6% from GBp 85

Price (13-May-26) GBp 78

Potential Upside/Downside +3.0%

1Q26A revenues were slightly ahead, and ad trends are holding on, but media buyers are Source: Bloomberg, Barclays Research

talking about a market starting to weaken owing to concerns about the impact of the

current Middle East conflict on the UK economy. Structural viewing trends continue to be Market Cap (GBP mn) 2947

poor and we downgrade EPS by c. 2%. Taking into account current trends and ITV premium Shares Outstanding (mn) 3793.19

to peers (15-20%), we would argue that ITV shares should not trade where they are but Free Float (%) 97.42

lower. ITV News, however, recently reported Sky may buy ITV's Media & Entertainment in 52 Wk Avg Daily Volume (mn) 7.0

coming weeks. The reasons why we would be surprised if a deal were to actually Dividend Yield (%) 6.43

materialise are (1) implied valuation, (2) a potential regulatory issue and (3) Comcast Return on Equity TTM (%) 12.20

likely having other priorities. Not to mention the fact that The Guardian first reported a Current BVPS (GBp) 47

potential bid for ITV in June 2004 and there have been about two press-speculated Source: Bloomberg

interested parties every since (ie 41 in total). But ITV's official statement went from