ITV is set to celebrate its highest advertising revenue in history thanks to the Euros and post-pandemic recovery.

Revenue for the first nine months of the year is up 30% to £1.3bn. The group said total advertising revenue for the full year is expected to jump 24% to reach an all time high.

Carolyn McCall, the chief executive of ITV, said: “By any standards ITV has had an outstanding nine months. Both our Studios and Media & Entertainment (M&E) businesses have performed very strongly. Revenue from each business over the nine months is up both on last year and on 2019. This drove total external revenue up 28% compared to 2020 and 8% higher than 2019.

“We are becoming an increasingly scaled digital business. Our online viewing was up 39% in the nine months which, together with the roll out of Planet V, helped our video on demand advertising (AVOD) revenue to climb 54%. Our monthly active users now stand at 9.6 million, a 22% increase year on year.”

“With the combination of Broadcast and ITV Hub’s mass simultaneous reach, our brand safe addressable advertising product and the strong economy, 2021 looks set to have the highest advertising revenue in ITV’s history, despite the lockdown in Q1.”

AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould commented: “There was always going to be plenty of growth for ITV in 2021 given the comparison with a pandemic disrupted 2020 but for the business to be on course for the highest advertising revenue in its history is an impressive achievement.”

“It underlines the continued relevance of television as a medium to advertisers given its reach and its arguably greater degree of safety compared with digital advertising.”

The PITCH competition, powered by Siemens, took place at this year’s Web Summit with 650 startups taking part over the three days of the conference based in Lisbon.

The winner of this year’s competition was an environmental startup, Smartex, which is an AI-based solution that reduces defective production of knitted fabrics to close to 0%.

Starting in Lisbon, the company has now expanded to San Francisco and Shenzhen and tackles waste in the fashion industry.

António Rocha, co-founder of Smartex, commented: “Our mission is to provide excellent products with cutting-edge tech to traditional industries and, through continuous innovation, improve the operations of these industries and, most importantly, contribute to a more sustainable and transparent industry.”

“It feels good to get recognition for the work the team at Smartex has been doing. Everyone has been doing
an extraordinary job, with no exceptions, and these kinds of events are good for the team’s morale.”

This year at the Lisbon Web Summit, over 200 Impact startups were present. A core part of these businesses model is the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Watches of Switzerland has posted strong UK performance as revenue increased.

The group has raised full-year revenue guidance from £1.05-£1.10bn to £1.15-£1.20bn. Revenue jumped by 44.6% to £586.2m for the period.

 “We are very pleased with our first half performance,” said chief executive, Brian Duffy. “Over the last two years, we have demonstrated the versatility of our multi-channel model with a more than doubling of sales to domestic clients and within this half year, a significant change in brand mix.”

The group is expanding in the US and has purchased five new stores across in Texas, Colorado, Connecticut, and Minnesota.

Persimmons announced “healthy” demand over the last quarter thanks to strong sales amid the stamp duty holiday.

Forward sales jumped from £0.95bn in 2019 to £1.15bn, whilst sales of private new homes were up by 16%.

Dean Finch, chief executive, commented on the results: “Persimmon continued to perform well through the period against a backdrop of healthy demand, with private sales reservation rates per site remaining well ahead of 2019, as sales followed a more normal seasonal pattern as expected when compared to 2020.”

“While the industry continues to face challenges in the UK planning system, we are successfully bringing new land into construction and growing our already strong UK wide outlet network.”

In a statement, the housebuilder said it had a positive outlook for the year ahead. It said: “As we approach the quieter trading weeks of December and the Christmas holiday period, we are looking forward to being able to take advantage of the traditionally strong spring selling season in the new year.”

“Goldilocks Territory”

Persimmon have seemingly shook off the negative impact of supply chain issues and now sit in a favourable position going into the end of 2021.

“This is a broadly reassuring statement, but it does not really move the dial one way or the other, compared to what investors were already expecting to hear from Persimmon,”said Steve Clayton, HL Select fund manager.

“The group are in Goldilocks territory, with enough stuff going in their direction, house prices in particular, to offset challenges like wage inflation and materials shortages, to leave Persimmon in a very comfortable financial position.”

“Consumers want to buy, and the group has a £1.15bn forward sales position, well ahead of the level a year ago. Historic quality issues look to be behind the group, which is now getting five star scores for customer satisfaction. Persimmon’s geographic balance, selling in the towns and the shires, but not inner London, has left it largely immune to the cladding issues currently dogging the industry.”

“Even with reduced levels of Government support for homebuyers, reservation rates are running 16% ahead, although this strong sales rate is obliging the group to up the level of land buying.”

“Overall, it’s a positive picture that Persimmon is painting. Cash generation should be strong in these market conditions, which bodes well for dividends.  Like all home builders, Persimmon will be hoping that whatever course of action the Bank of England takes with interest rates, it does nothing to knock the housing market off balance. But with no news of any significant changes in Persimmon’s own story, it’s unsurprising to see the stock edging a few pence lower in early trading”.