STOCKS NEWS UK-ITV boosted by Oct, Nov ad sales

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07:56GMT 13Oct2009-ITV boosted by Oct, Nov ad sales

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Shares in ITV (ITV.L) gain 5.4 percent as the free-to-air broadcaster says advertising in October and November is down 3 percent, comfortably beating analyst expectations.

The broadcaster, which is struggling to find a new chief executive and chairman, is also launching a convertible bond to bolster its balance sheet and scrapping the sale of its SDN unit.

Analysts at Numis view all of the developments positively. "ITV indicates that advertising in October and November, two of the biggest months in the advertising year, are down by just -3 percent," they say. "This is against a tough comparative, and is better than our estimate of -10 percent."

The broker says it expects to raise its 2009 pretax forecast by 20 million pounds to 65 million pounds to reflect the better than forecast Q4 advertising.

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07:26GMT 13Oct2009-FTSE small caps up 0.1 pct at the open

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The FTSE Small Cap Index .FTSC and the FTSE mid caps .FTMC rise 0.1 percent each early on, marginally outperforming London's blue chip market .FTSE which lags in opening trade, down 0.1 percent.