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Investors switched off ITV today after the broadcaster abandoned talks with Tony Ball about taking the helm.
A deepening leadership crisis sent ITV's shares down a penny to 45½p, as it said it had terminated discussions with the former Sky boss over the chief executive role and that executive chairman Michael Grade will leave the company.
ITV blamed “substantial differences” over Ball's pay package and the future chairmanship of the company for the breakdown of talks.
The news left shareholders fretting over who will take over the day-to-day running of the business, given the miserable outlook for the group.
The Coronation Street broadcaster is facing a quadruple-whammy of woes: a downturn in the advertising market because of the recession, a massive pensions deficit, large debts and its lack of a pay-TV strategy. ITV fell out of the FTSE 100 index last year.
Shares in London clawed back some of yesterday's losses thanks to a decent showing from the heavyweight commodity stocks. The FTSE rose 22.15 points to 5101.42.
In New York, shares fell for a third day, with the Dow slipping 5.82 points to 9701.62.
Investors on the Street of Dreams were disappointed by figures showing new orders for durable goods dropped unexpectedly last month.
Fears of empty shelves at Currys and PC World this Christmas sent shares in their owner DSG International plunging.
Morgan Stanley said the electricals group is underperforming its main rivals, and reckoned that poor product availability in its shops was to blame.
One of its analysts had been left empty-handed after two trips to DSG's stores, so the City big-hitter asked its research group AlphaWise to do a stock check on the company's websites and found that they were lacking some of the biggest-selling electrical goods.
Analyst Geoff Ruddell warned this could make for a Christmas seriously lacking in festive cheer for DSG: “There is a possibility that poor availability may be evidence that DSG is struggling to source enough inventory from some of its suppliers.
“If that is the case then we think it unlikely that availability levels will improve much this side of Christmas. Indeed, in this scenario it could get significantly worse.”
But the retailer rushed out a statement to answer its critics. “We are trading slightly ahead of our expectations,” DSG said. “Our availability is better than it has been for a number of years. We are very comfortable with our stock levels across the group going into the key Christmas trading period.”
Cazenove also leapt to its defence. The Queen's stockbroker said that Morgan Stanley's theory seemed “wide of the mark” and that availability was satisfactory in DSG's stores.
But investors didn't seem completely convinced, sending its shares down 1¼p to 26¾p.
The spotlight was on oil as two City big guns said it was time for investors to get picky. Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch have taken a good look at the sector and reckon there are still buys to be had, despite yesterday's slump in the price of crude.
Goldman's top picks are Royal Dutch Shell, 11p stronger at 1804p, and BG Group, 25p better at 1091p, but it also likes the look of Soco International. Shares in the oil explorer shot up 36p to 1409p as Goldman said it is a prime candidate for a takeover thanks to its assets in Vietnam. Although buyers may not start circling until additional drilling has taken place in the area, Goldman reckons the shares will rise before then.
Tullow, meanwhile, took first place on the Footsie winners board, 36p stronger at 1175p, as Goldman upped its price target from 1160p to 1396p.
But Goldman is no longer a fan of Petrofac, downgrading it to neutral after its recent strong rise. The oil services group was the biggest faller among top stocks, diving 22½p to 952½p after Merrill Lynch also turned negative, saying that the rally had left it “priced for perfection”.
Merrill has cut its rating on the shares to underperform, with a 930p price target.
However, Merrill is fond of Wellstream, 6½p higher at 662p, because of its strength in Brazil.
A thumping profits warning sent nightclubs operator Luminar crashing by almost a third, down 42¾p to 86½p. The owner of the Oceana and Liquid venues has been hit by rising unemployment among the young.
Brokers lined up to advise dumping the shares, with Charles Stanley, Astaire Partners and KBC Peel hunt giving a sell rating.
