Shareholder showdown for Grade at troubled ITV

By RUPERT STEINER FOR THE DAILY MAIL
Updated:

ITV supremo Michael Grade gave a dire assessment of prospects for the struggling broadcaster at a fractious annual meeting where investors staged a mini rebellion. 

A 14 per cent drop in revenues is set to spark a fresh round of bloodletting with the chairman pledging to strip out another £40million of costs - which are likely to herald more job losses.

During what was at times a tense meeting, Grade was forced to leap to the defence of one of the company's senior directors.

Monstered: Successful prime-time shows such as Primeval face the axe as the network struggles to cut costs

Monstered: Successful prime-time shows such as Primeval face the axe as the network struggles to cut costs

At the same time, a total of 16.4 per cent of shareholders withheld their backing for a resolution that would allow the company to raise as much as £400million without having to hold an investor meeting.

Analysts still fear ITV could be forced into a humiliating rights issue if business continues to slump. It is struggling to service a £730million debt pile.

The firm said that revenues for the first three months of the year fell to £425million from £492million while advertising revenues dropped 15 per cent. This was better than the 17 per cent expected and ahead of a 16 per cent fall across the broader market.

But conditions are set to deteriorate with revenues expected to fall 16 per cent this month and drop to 18 per cent in June. The shares fell 1½p to 31p.

Grade will become non-executive chairman at the end of the year after recruiting a new chief executive.

He said: 'The television advertising market remains weak. In March we gave details of ITV's plans for responding to the difficult market conditions we face.

'We are making good progress in implementing these plans, although we currently expect the phasing of profits across the year to reflect the weighting of cost savings to the second half.'

He was put on the defensive by one investor who questioned why he has taken his bonus despite the dire performance. 

Another called on him to resign. 'I suggest you leave the chairmanship when the new team comes in and give them a free hand,' the investor added.

Grade was also forced to jump to the defence of former Halifax Bank of Scotland chief Sir James Crosby, ITV's most senior independent director.

An extremely irate ITV shareholder referring to Crosby's stint at HBOS, said: 'You have on the board someone who bankrupted a company recently. And you are paying him £100,000. For what? To bankrupt this company?'

But Grade said the comment was 'unfair', saying Crosby's contribution to ITV was 'hugely welcomed'.

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