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Western Mail

By HUGO DUNCAN AND GRAEME EVANS

Itv will feature in a drama of its own this week as shareholders prepare for the resignation of chief executive Charles Allen and more grim trading figures.

The City is expecting ITV chief executive Charles Allen to end weeks of speculation by announcing his departure from the troubled broadcaster on Wednesday - the day of the company's interim results.

Mr Allen, 49, was credited with creating ITV through the merger of Granada and Carlton in 2004, but has since come under pressure from low viewing figures and tumbling advertising revenues - which are forecast to be down again in the first half after the World Cup failed to provide a much needed boost.

In March, Mr Allen fended off takeover interest from a consortium of private-equity firms which planned to replace him as chief executive with former BBC director-general Greg Dyke.

His departure will trigger a race for one of the most high- profile jobs in UK media but the move is unlikely to deter bidders for the firm.

The recent speculation has seen shares in ITV rally although the City is not expecting much positive news from the first half results.

ITV has already said it expects to report a 4.6% slide in advertising revenues on Wednesday as its flagship ITV1 channel suffers from competition from digital television.

It is thought to have struggled to win viewers and revenues during the football World Cup and analysts are forecasting first- half operating profits to have fallen from pounds 200m last year to between pounds 175m and pounds 192m.

Stockbroker Teather & Greenwood has slashed its forecast for full- year pre-tax profits from pounds 415m to pounds 355m compared with the pounds 424.5m ITV banked last year. It expects revenues at ITV1 to fall 10.5%.

Increased awareness of the need to save for later in life is likely to be reflected in half-year figures from Norwich Union owner Aviva on Wednesday.

Legal & General, Standard Life and Prudential have set the tone in the past week by reporting encouraging signs on UK sales, as well as identifying significant opportunities for growth in the savings and investment markets.

For Legal & General, individual new business rose by 46% and life and pensions sales lifted 16%.

The optimism regarding the UK will be tempered by strong competition, although Aviva is less dependent as 54% of its profits are generated overseas.

Aviva is the world's sixth largest insurance group based on worldwide premiums and market value.

Analysts expect it to post half-year operating profits of between pounds 1.65bn and pounds 1.71bn, compared with pounds 1.3bn a year earlier.

The performance and future ownership of Thames Water will be back in the spotlight next week as German owner RWE posts its results for the first half of the year on Thursday.

Thames has rarely been out of the headlines in recent weeks, amid anger over leakage rates and following the start of a disposal process by RWE. The water company has 13 million customers in London and the south-east of England and could fetch as much as pounds 7bn in any sale.

RWE favours a stock market listing in London for Thames but also remains open to the possibility of a sale to a third party.

First-round bids for Thames are thought to be due on August 15 with the government of Qatar the latest suitor to be linked to the firm.

The other area of interest in RWE's first-half results on Thursday will be electricity supplier Npower.

Analysts will gain a further insight into the Bank of England's surprise decision to raise interest rates when it publishes its quarterly inflation report on Wednesday.

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