ITV, Britain's top commercial television broadcaster, said its full-year normalised pretax profit rose 36% to £452m sterling, as advertising declined at its flagship ITV1 channel. Revenues for the year to December 31 climbed 6% to £2.18 billion.
ITV1 ad revenues fell 3.3% to £1.46 billion, but growth at ITV2 and ITV3 along with the consolidation of GMTV pushed total advertising revenues up 2.7%.
The company, home to 'Coronation Street' and 'The X Factor', warned that total ad revenues were expected to decline about 10% in the first quarter. 'In 2006 both Easter and the Football World Cup (competition in Germany) fall in the second quarter and will move money into that period,' it said in a statement.
However, consumer products group Unilever, Britain's top advertiser, has signed a deal to spend more than £200m in advertising over four years on ITV channels, the companies said.
The company also announced plans to repurchase £300m worth of shares, and raised its final dividend 38% to 1.8 pence.
Finance Director Henry Staunton plans to step down on March 31 and will be replaced by Chief Operating Officer John Cresswell.
