Burt stamping his authority on ITV as top director quits

A SENIOR ITV director, who was at the centre of the row over a pay-off to former Carlton boss Michael Green, has handed in his resignation and there are suggestions more top figures will be leaving the company.

Non-executive board member Etienne de Villiers, a former head of Disney and a director of Formula One, has cited pressure of other work commitments as the reason for his decision.

His resignation comes less than six months after he was one of three non-executive directors to survive a sizeable protest vote, when investors showed their fury against a proposed 15 million payment.

While the departure is described as "amicable", observers recall that, when the protests were at their height in the aftermath of the Granada-Carlton merger, he declared he had no intention of resigning.

"I have no plans to resign from this board," he told The Scotsman in March. "You only resign when you have done something inappropriate. I have done nothing wrong."

Sir Brian Pitman, the former head of Lloyds TSB, who was chairman of Carlton’s remuneration committee, is also understood to have signalled his intention to move on. "He is now in his seventies and I believe he feels that the time is fast approaching for his retirement, although he is certainly under no pressure and may wait to see the calibre of any successor," one analyst commented.

The changes will be welcomed by investors, who will see it as a sign that the ITV chairman, Sir Peter Burt, is preparing to strengthen the board with more heavyweight, independent part-time directors.

In a separate development, ITV’s beleaguered chief executive, Charles Allen, is hoping to strengthen his position on Thursday, when he produces his first formal trading update since the merger in February. He is expected to point to a 10 per cent increase in underlying profits to around 114 million at the half-year stage, and to claim that the Emmerdale and Coronation Street franchise concern is on course to achieve 120 million cost-savings from the merger, about 20 per cent more than most predicted.

He will also stress that advertising revenue has grown by about 7 per cent since the flagging of a strong autumn schedule, including the launch of the drama Steel River Blues.

ITV has seen its shares drop by nearly one-third to around 104p since the merger and it drew criticism when its audience share fell below 20 per cent last month in competition with the BBC Olympics coverage, a good showing by Channel 4 and the continuing growth of digital and satellite competition.

But directors will stress that their own multi-channel operations are growing and that ITV2, launched in 1998, has finally turned a profit. They will also point out that their multi-media operations have helped in talks with Ofcom over a reduction in the near 475 million paid licensing agreements, as well as plans to reduce public service broadcasting costs by around 100 million.