ITN chief executive John Hardie is to step down at the end of the year after nine years in charge of the news production company.

Hardie, whose remit covers ITV News, Channel 4 News and Channel 5 News, said now was “absolutely the right time” for someone else to take the reins.

Since 2009, Hardie has overseen what ITN described as a “highly-successful turnaround”, returning it to profitability and diversifying the business to achieve record revenues and profits.