The ITV Board recognises the importance of the ordinary dividend for ITV shareholders. Given the current uncertainty, the Board will not declare an interim dividend in respect of the current year. However, assuming the economy continues to recover, the Board intends to propose a final dividend of 3.3p for the full year 2021, based on two-thirds of a notional full-year dividend of 5.0p. The Board intends to grow the ordinary dividend over time whilst balancing further investment behind their strategy and their commitment to investment grade metrics.
Other financial highlights include:
o Total external revenue was up 27% at £1,548 million (30 June 2020: £1,218 million)
- ITV Studios total revenue was up 26% at £798 million (30 June 2020: £632 million) with the substantial majority of programmes back in production and also benefitting from a number of programmes and licences being delivered earlier than expected. This was up 5% on 2019. ITV Studios external revenue was up 31% at £523 million
- Total Media & Entertainment (M&E) revenue was up 25% at £1,028 million (30 June 2020: £822 million), with total advertising revenue (TAR) up 29% within which video on demand advertising (AVOD) was up 55%. Total M&E revenue was up 4% on 20191
o Adjusted group EBITA was up 98% at £327 million (30 June 2020: £165 million). This was driven by: the strong recovery in the advertising market; resumption of productions; and tight cost control delivering £21 million of savings, of which £15 million are permanent
o Adjusted EPS was up 103% at 5.9p (30 June 2020: 2.9p). This compares to 6.2p in 2019
o Reported EBITA was £316 million (30 June 2020: £159 million). Statutory profit before tax was £133 million (30 June 2020: £15 million) and statutory EPS was 2.4p (30 June 2020: 0.5p)
