EE to launch its TV set-top box October 7, 2014 Britain’s biggest mobile operator EE is set to launch a TV set-top box this morning, in a bid to compete with YouView, BT and TalkTalk in the battle for the living room. EE’s set-top box is understood to offer all the Freeview channels, a range of on-demand and catch-up services, as well as the ability [...]
Business telecoms group Gamma valued at £165m ahead of float October 7, 2014 GAMMA Communications, a UK-based provider of business telecoms services, is due to float with a £165.2m market valuation on Friday after listing its shares with an opening price of 187p. The sale – which is understood to be priced towards the upper limit of what the company had hoped for – of around 44m shares [...]
Samsung’s profit expected to fall as smartphone demand wanes October 7, 2014 SAMSUNG Electronics is heading for its first annual fall in profits since 2011, after it revealed yesterday its profits between July and September would be the lowest in more than three years due to dwindling demand for its high-end Galaxy smartphones. Samsung said its profit for the third quarter would likely fall 59.7 per cent [...]
Walt Disney in €1bn debt deal with Euro Disney October 6, 2014 EURO Disney, owner of Disneyland Paris, yesterday announced a €1bn (£785m) recapitalisation plan to help it recover amid a souring European economy. The plan is backed by parent company Walt Disney, which owns almost 40 per cent of Euro Disney and had to bail it out in 2012 by taking over Euro Disney’s loans from [...]
Hewlett-Packard Enterprise and HP Inc: PC-maker to break up into two new firms October 6, 2014 Hewlett-Packard (HP) will split into two publicly listed companies, the PC-maker said yesterday, separating its computer and printer units from its corporate hardware and services arms. Investors in the struggling tech giant celebrated the move as shares rose 4.7 per cent on news of the plan, to close up at $36.87 in New York. [...]
London’s tech firms raise record $1bn of venture capital investment October 5, 2014 London tech firms attracted a record $1bn (£626m) of venture capital investment in just the first nine months of 2014. The mammoth figure is more than 10 times what tech groups raised from venture capital firms (VCs) in the whole of 2010. Fundraising in London’s tech sector is currently up over 30 per cent on [...]
Uber taxi app: Founder Travis Kalanick’s plan to rid London of a million cars October 5, 2014 London will be less congested and less polluted, app founder tells Oliver Smith Travis Kalanick outlined what might be his most ambitious goal yet on Friday. Speaking to more than 2,000 business delegates at the Institute of Directors annual convention in the Royal Albert Hall, Kalanick said his four-year-old startup would aim to take a [...]
UK supermarkets vs German discounters: Morrisons gets tough as Buffett attacks Tesco October 2, 2014 Britain’s embattled supermarkets have finally begun their fight back against German discounters Aldi and Lidl who have been eating their lunch in recent months with double-digit growth in the sector. Morrison, the UK’s fourth biggest supermarket, will launch its first customer loyalty card today, along with a price-matching scheme that its chief executive has labelled [...]
Prezzo share price reacts as bidders offer £316m for a slice of Italian food chain October 2, 2014 Italian high street restaurant chain Prezzo yesterday confirmed that it had received preliminary proposals for a potential takeover offer. Although Prezzo cautioned that any deal was unlikely to be at a premium to its closing price on Wednesday of 135p per share, or around £316m. Shares in Prezzo yesterday jumped as much as 11 per [...]
Ofcom chief Ed Richards will leave this year October 2, 2014 Broadcasting regulator Ofcom announced yesterday that its long-serving chief executive Ed Richards will step down at the end of this year. Richards, who previously moved to leave Ofcom in 2012 when he applied to become director-general of the BBC but was passed over for George Entwistle, said he would not consider his next move until [...]
