Revenue growth driven by double-digit increase in non-NAR
• Total external revenue up 3% to £3,064m (2015: £2,972m), including currency benefit
• Total non-NAR revenue up 11% to £1,855m (2015: £1,664m), now 53% of total revenues
• Total ITV Studios revenue up 13% to £1,395m (2015: £1,237m)
• Online, Pay & Interactive revenue up 23% to £231m (2015: £188m)
• Net Advertising revenue down 3% to £1,672m (2015: £1,719m), performing ahead of the TV ad market
Rebalanced business delivering adjusted profit growth
• Adjusted EBITA up 2% to £885m (2015: £865m), despite the decline in the ad market
• Studios adjusted EBITA up 18% to £243m (2015: £206m)
• Broadcast & Online adjusted EBITA down 3% to £642m (2015: £659m)
• Adjusted EPS up 3% to 17.0p (2015: £16.5p)
• Statutory EPS down 10% to 11.2p (2015: 12.4p) impacted by restructuring and earnout costs
Confident in the underlying strength of the business
• Broadcast business remains robust: Main channel SOV up 3%, online viewing up 42%
• ITV Studios has a healthy pipeline of new and returning programmes
• Building our digital business in Studios and Broadcast
Strong balance sheet, healthy liquidity
• Flexibility and capacity to continue to invest across the business and deliver sustainable returns to our shareholders
• Given our good performance the Board is proposing a final dividend of 4.8p, giving a full year dividend of 7.2p, up 20%, in line with our policy
• Reflecting ITV's strong cash generation and the Board's confidence in the business, the Board is proposing a special dividend of 5.0p per share, worth just over £200 million
• The Board is committed to a long term sustainable dividend policy. The ordinary dividend will grow broadly in line with earnings, targeting dividend cover of around 2x adjusted earnings per share over the medium term
Outlook for 2017 and beyond
• ITV Studios on track to deliver good organic revenue growth in 2017
• Online, Pay & Interactive will continue to perform strongly
• ITV Family NAR forecast to be down around 6% over the first 4 months, impacted by current economic uncertainty
• Over the full year ITV will outperform the TV ad market
• Will deliver £25m of incremental cost savings in 2017 as previously announced
• We have a strong balance sheet and continue to see clear opportunities to invest behind our strategy in the UK and internationally
Adam Crozier, ITV plc Chief Executive, said:
"ITV delivered a good performance in 2016 as we continue our strategy of rebalancing and strengthening the business creatively, commercially and financially. The continued growth in revenue and adjusted profit, despite a 3% decline in spot advertising revenues resulting from wider political and economic uncertainty, is clear evidence that our strategy is working and remains the right one for ITV.
