The sun has been shining on the Apennine town of L’Aquila as Silvio Berlusconi hosts the Group of Eight summit, but for Mediaset, cornerstone of the Italian prime minister’s media empire, the forecast looks cloudy. Mediaset’s investors – including Fininvest, his family holding company, with 38 per cent – have had a mild time of the recession. Shares of the group, which owns three of Italy’s most popular free-to-air channels, have bucked double-digit ad sales falls that saw profits halve in the first quarter. Including dividends, Mediaset has returned 3.3 per cent over the past 12 months – compared with hefty negative returns at the likes of UK’s ITV and Luxembourg’s RTL. In the year to date, its shares have beaten the FTSE Italia All-Share index by 8 per cent.