Analysts split on Premier League fallout for Sky February 5, 2015 WITH BIDS for the Premier League’s TV rights in, analysts were split this week over the potential damage or lack thereof that either winning the same package of games or losing games to BT could have on Sky. “The Premier League rights auction has been a major overhang on the Sky share price but potentially [...]
BT set for a year of scrutiny on £12.5bn EE deal February 5, 2015 BT has sealed its deal to buy mobile operator EE in a whopping £12.5bn transaction. The British telecoms giant said the deal will likely face a year of investigation by the UK’s merger and regulatory authorities completing sometime next year. The transaction will combine BT’s more than 10m retail customers and EE’s 24.5m mobile [...]
Even growth in Europe fails to help Vodafone February 5, 2015 EVEN Vodafone’s recovery in Europe couldn’t help the world’s second largest mobile operator stem a revenue decline in its third quarter. The global telecoms giant yesterday announced its main organic service revenue measurement, which strips out items like handset sales and currency movements, fell 0.4 per cent in the three months to the end of [...]
Consumer loan veterans plan sector shakeup February 5, 2015 A former boss of Provident Financial is joining with a series of other consumer loan veterans in a bid to shake up the sector, parts of which are struggling due to much tougher regulation. John van Kuffeler plans to raise £100m to launch Non-Standard Finance (NSF), a shell business which will buy a series of consumer loan [...]
AstraZeneca hit by generics as revenues drop February 5, 2015 ASTRAZENECA ended an interesting year in a downbeat manner as fourth quarter results revealed the company sustained a loss during the three months ending 31 December. Last year saw the UK’s second largest pharmaceutical company successfully fend off a £69bn takeover bid by US drugs giant Pfizer and get approval for a record six new [...]
Property firm Grainger achieves sales growth despite electioneering building February 5, 2015 PROPERTY management firm Grainger said despite the good start to the year, the company expects the months leading up to the election to result in a softer market on home sales as uncertainty weighs on market sentiment. The company saw sales in the four months to the end of January increase by four per cent [...]
Analyst Views: Astrazeneca shares have seen recent volatility; what will 2015 hold? February 5, 2015 BANK OF AMERICA | MERRILL LYNCH A buy, given AZN’s best-in class pipeline, which offers potential for it to deliver premium growth. The deal for US rights to Actavis’s respiratory products for $600m is in-line with expectations, given Actavis owned US rights to Almirall’s respiratory brands, which AZN recently acquired. Target: £52 ANDREW BAUM | [...]
Sajid Javid gets leadership bells ringing over EU February 5, 2015 SAJID Javid has long been talked of as a future Tory leader, and yesterday he become the latest senior party member to express doubts about Britain’s membership of the EU. The former treasury minister was speaking at a press gallery lunch in parliament, and was asked by one of the journalists if he would “shed [...]
The view for charitable thrillseekers February 5, 2015 Think you can beat the City window-washers? In the Outward Bound Trust City Three Peaks Challenge this September, 40 people will abseil down the Gherkin, Walkie Talkie and Cheesegrater for charity. Register to be one of them: Tweet @citythreepeaks or www.citythreepeaks.org
Competition authorities could weigh on Ball’s bid to buy out rival can firm Rexam February 5, 2015 The scale of the potential merger between can-making giants Rexam and Ball could lead to problems with competition regulators. US giant Ball is only slightly larger than FTSE 250 firm Rexam, and comprise the two largest businesses in the sector globally. The proposed £4.3bn buyout could make sense in extending Ball’s reach globally. [...]
