Investors have given Ten Network Holdings’s latest capital raising a thumbs-down amid doubts about the struggling broadcaster’s ability to reverse its flagging fortunes.
Ten shares shed about a quarter of their value when they emerged from a trading halt on Monday after it completed the first part of its $230 million capital raising to pay down debt.
The stock closed at 24.5 cents, eight cents lower than its last traded price of 32.5 cents.
However, when taking into account the dilutive effect of the capital raising, the stock was 2.4 cents weaker.
Bell Direct equities analyst Julia Lee said Ten’s share price performance suggested investors were wary of the broadcaster being able to turn around falling revenue and the loss of market share to rivals Seven and Nine.
“The market is a bit nervous about Ten’s strategy,” Ms Lee said.
“The fact that the business is still looking uncertain and we haven’t seen the company ruling out further capital raisings, probably contributes to some of the weakness that we have seen in the share price today.”
The company last Friday said the institutional component of the capital raising, where shareholders took up 93 per cent of their entitlements, had raised about $167 million.
All four of Ten’s major shareholders – billionaire miner Gina Rinehart, chairman Lachlan Murdoch, James Packer and television station owner Bruce Gordon – took up their entitlements to new shares.
The second component of Ten’s capital raising, for retail shareholders, will be conducted in January.
It was the second time in six months Ten had turned to its shareholders to raise funds, as it sought to overcome a weak advertising market and a poor ratings performance.
CBA Institutional Equities analysts Alice Bennett and Nathan Burley said the capital raising highlighted Ten’s struggles.
“While this second capital raising clearly removes our concerns over Ten’s balance sheet, we see continuing operational risks with Ten’s revenue share at record lows and no signs of recovery in the TV ad market,” the analysts said in a research note.
Mr Gordon, who owned about 14 per cent of Ten stock, said Ten had enough good programs in its line-up to win back viewers and a larger share of advertising dollars.
“They already have Modern Family, which is the No.1 comedy in America. You start with that, and you try to keep the audience the whole evening. That’s how you run TV stations,” Mr Gordon told The Australian on Monday.
However, former Ten co-owner Laurence Freedman was scathing of Ten’s strategy, saying Ten’s leaders had shown “no sign of programming management”.
“To me they seem to be directionless, they don’t seem to know what audience they are going to,” Mr Freedman told Sky News Business on Monday.
