ITV and Victrex

“The mining sector continues to be volatile with metal and coal producers reversing yesterday’s rally to drag down the FTSE 100 on Wednesday. The blue chip index was down 0.3% to 7,687 in early trading with weakness in banking stocks also weighing on the market,” says Russ Mould, Investment Director at AJ Bell.

ITV

“ITV’s new strategy to go beyond TV including data analysis capabilities and building a direct-to-consumer proposition effectively gives the business two choices.

“It can spend lots of money expanding its content business and go head-to-head with Amazon and Netflix in the world of streaming. A short cut would be to have another go at buying Peppa Pig majority brand owner Entertainment One which already has a rich library of content in TV, film and music.

“Or it can admit defeat and accept that it is better placed as part of a larger company. The obvious solution would be to accept a takeover bid from Virgin Media owner Liberty Global.

“Given that chief executive Carolyn McCall is still relatively new to the job at ITV, it is hard to see her going to down the second route. She will want to fight hard to adapt the group to fit in the modern media world.

“Creating a direct-to-consumer proposition is clearly McCall trying to make her mark on the business and a logical progression given how the business has already been focusing more on content in recent years.

“Reports even suggest that ITV could even launch a joint venture with the BBC and Channel 4, combining forces to have a strong streaming proposition.”

Victrex

“FTSE 250 chemicals group Victrex is one of those businesses which isn’t a household name or understood by many people, yet it keeps churning out the profits and generating lots of cash.

“The latest trading update has the odd spot of weakness but overall this is a business which remains at the top of its game.

“It makes PEEK resin which is a super-strong, heat resistant and lightweight plastic used as an alternative or replacement for metal in areas like transport, the industrial sector, electronics and medical devices.

“Victrex is able to charge a premium price as its materials and products often deliver higher performance and greater efficiency than the alternatives.

“The current chief executive Jakob Sigurdsson has been in the job for less than a year and has big shoes to fill, given his predecessor David Hummel had overseen significant growth in the 24 years he led the company.

“There have been no hints of any strategy change, much to shareholders’ relief. After all, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

These articles are for information purposes only and are not a personal recommendation or advice