Nine Entertainment shares soar as Seven forecasts TV bookings growth
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The news: Nine Entertainment shares surged more than 10% in morning trade despite the no announcements being made by the company.
However, the rally followed the media group's broadcasting rival Seven West Media forecast growth in TV bookings for the current quarter.
The numbers: Nine shares were up 10.7% to $1.42, making it the best performing ASX 200 stock by midday AEDT. Seven shares rose 3% to 17 cents.
The context: Seven surprised investors this morning by guiding TV bookings growth of "low-single digits" in Q3 compared to consensus estimates of a 2% retraction in the second half of the year.
Seven also saw its total TV audiences rise 1.5% year on year, with 43% audience growth on 7plus offsetting a 1.8% decline in linear audiences.
Despite this, Seven's managing director CEO Jeff Howard said the company's first-half results reflected the "ongoing soft total TV advertising market."
Nine is set to release its half-year results on 25 February.
