BT’s share price rises as profits jump but sales dip | City A.M. July 27, 2018 BT Group’s share price climbed 3.7 per cent this morning as the telecoms giant revealed pre-tax profit soared, despite revenue dipping in the first quarter. The figures Sales at the telecoms giant dropped to £5.7bn, down from £5.8bn, for the first quarter to 30 June. However pre-tax profit jumped to £704m from £418m. Its monthly [...]
Virtual world games development platform Improbable valuation tops $2bn after securing investment from Chinese giant NetEase | City A.M. July 27, 2018 Chinese tech giant NetEase has ploughed $50m into tech startup Improbable, pushing the value of the London-based virtual world firm to $2bn. The investment took the form of new shares, existing shares and a “small stake” in the company, and will strengthen Improbable’s competitiveness as it supplies game development technology to game-makers in Asia. Improbable, [...]
BP share price slips as firm buys US shale sites from BHP in major oil expansion bid | City A.M. July 27, 2018 BP has bought US shale assets for $10.5bn (£8bn) in a move that will expand Britain’s international oil footprint in onshore basins. In its largest deal in almost two decades, BP has agreed to acquire a swathe of southern US shale oil and gas assets from global miner BHP. The firm said it plans to [...]
Imagine a parallel universe in which Brexit decisions made sense | City A.M. July 27, 2018 Stop banging on about Europe. That was David Cameron’s plea in 2006, in those halcyon days before the term “Brexit” had even been coined. Today, 12 years later, it is difficult to bang on about anything else. Brexit has infiltrated every strand of political discourse. Read more: Brexit secretary admits food will need to be [...]
Amazon (AMZN) doubles down on profits, but misses estimates on revenue | City A.M. July 26, 2018 Amazon doubled consensus estimates on profits in its second quarter, as results released tonight revealed a staggering 1,157.5 per cent increase year-on-year in earnings per share. The company reported shareholder earnings for the quarter at $5.07 (£3.86), outperforming estimates collated by S&P Global Market Intelligence which predicted $2.54. In the same quarter in 2017, Amazon [...]
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium: Why don’t Spurs have a naming rights deal? | City A.M. July 26, 2018 Back in October 2008, when Tottenham’s new stadium project was still in its infancy, chairman Daniel Levy addressed the opportunity to sell the naming rights to their proposed new ground. “It’s a necessary and critical component of financing a modern football stadium,” he said. Yet six weeks out from the £850m venue’s official opening, Spurs [...]
Tour de France 2018: Team Sky’s image presents problem for Geraint Thomas as finishes nears | City A.M. July 26, 2018 Team Sky are nearing their sixth Tour de France win in the last seven years and their fourth successive Grand Tour title. With three stages left of cycling’s biggest and most prestigious race, Geraint Thomas sits one minute and 59 seconds ahead of his nearest rival, Tom Dumoulin. Tomorrow’s stage is the final one in [...]
Playr review: Can tech make you a better player? We trial the wearable gadget that promises to improve your football skills | City A.M. July 26, 2018 So you watched England bossing it at the World Cup and thought: I could do that. After all, Jamie Vardy was still playing non-league football in his mid-twenties, you tell yourself. You just need a bit of help from the pros to up your game. Well, that help is now at hand. Playr is a [...]
Saudi Arabia tanker attack edges up oil prices despite dip in the dollar | City A.M. July 26, 2018 Crude prices edged up earlier today following an attack on Saudi Arabian tankers in the Red Sea. A strategic shipping lane was temporarily halted after Iranian-backed Houthi rebels attacked two large oil tankers, closing off one of Saudi Arabia’s major export channels. Read more: Premier Oil approves key project as output slows Brent crude oil [...]
Facebook’s (FB) share price plunges as markets open, losing more than $120bn off its market value | City A.M. July 26, 2018 Facebook has opened in US markets at a loss of almost 20 per cent, wiping roughly $123bn (£93.8bn) off its market valuation. As a comparison, Facebook’s loss is more than seven times the valuation of Snap ($17bn), and almost four times the valuation of Twitter ($33bn). It is roughly equivalent to the total GDP of [...]