TVN share buyback

TVN Group, owner of the largest private TV conglomerate in Poland, had a net profit of zł.230.6 million in H1 2008. That was 52.7 percent better than in H1 2007 and significantly above forecasts. The company, whose portfolio includes TVN, TVN Biznes and TVN Discovery Historia, earned zł.840.8 million in revenues, marking 27.8-percent growth y/y.

"We have had a fantastic second quarter," said Piotr Walter, president of TVN.

The positive results have encouraged TVN Group to carry out a buyback of its own shares, and this plan has been accepted by ITI Group, the main shareholder of TVN Group. The company plans to spend zł.500 million on the buyback. The process will start in Q4 2008 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2009.

"Taking into consideration the current share price, it is reasonable to carry out the buyback with [a possibility to remove all shares from the floor]," claimed Karen Burgess, the vice president of the group. As WBJ went to press, TVN Group's share prices stood at zł.18.01, while its one-year high and low were zł.26.42 and zł.14.50, respectively.

The company earned some zł.741.3 million on advertisements, and TVN, the highest-viewed channel in Poland, had the largest share of revenues. TVN Group as a whole increased its market share to 35.1 percent, an improvement of 2.7 percentage points over 2007.

"The company's fundamentals are constantly good and the results for the year will also be good," Sebastian Buczek, the president of investment fund Quercus, told TVN CNBC Biznes.