Shares in ITV have increased as several investors are considering bids for the broadcaster.

The Guardian reported that shares increased by 9% to more than 70 pence per share as investors hoped for a bid battle between private equity companies and rival broadcasters.

According to Sky News, CVC Capital Partners and a European broadcaster, thought to be France’s Groupe TF1, are among those looking to make a potential offer.

All3Media and Mediawan, which is backed by the private equity group KKR, have also been named as "potential suitors for the ITV Studios production arm".

Despite the rumours, The Guardian has said that no formal approaches are thought to have been made.

The news comes as ITV announced it was looking to make £20m in net cost savings in 2024, after its revenue dropped by 8% year-on-year in the nine months to the end of September.

Investment director at AJ Bell, Russ Mould, concluded: "ITV has faced a difficult transition away from its reliance on linear TV advertising and its push into areas like streaming and TV production haven’t done enough, rightly or wrongly, to impress the market.

"Several names from private equity and within the industry have been suggested as potential suitors – although nothing has emerged yet which has reached the threshold required for ITV to make any disclosures. Whether ITV’s public service broadcasting remit might be an obstacle to any deal remains to be seen.

"There is further speculation that ITV might look to demerge the business on the basis that the individual parts might attract a better valuations as standalone entities – particularly its ITV Studios production arm.

"ITV has made progress with ITVX – which received a mixed reception at launch but has built a sizeable audience and meaningful digital advertising revenue in the interim."

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