Sky’s European merger to start in coming days July 23, 2014 BSKYB is expected to announce a multi-billion pound deal tomorrow to take over its sister companies in Italy and Germany, creating a new pay-TV empire in Europe. The so-called Sky Europe deal will see BSkyB, Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia combined to create one of Europe’s largest pay-TV operators, with over 19m subscribers across the [...]
TalkTalk retains TV crown as its user base soars July 23, 2014 TALKTALK’S YouView TV offering continues to outpace the growth of both BT’s and Sky’s TV services, adding 185,000 subscribers in the first quarter and taking its TV customer base to more than 1.1m. The FTSE 250-listed firm reported its sixth consecutive quarter of year-on-year revenue growth during the three months to 30 June, with total [...]
Analyst Views: What did you make of TalkTalk’s interim management statement? July 23, 2014 MAURICE PATRICK | BARCLAYS TalkTalk continues to make progress towards its medium term goals, with another quarter of steady customer additions, upselling to the existing base driving revenues up three per cent and churn 0.1 percentage point lower to 1.4 per cent. Our estimates are broadly unchanged. CARL MURDOCK-SMITH | JP MORGAN CAZENOVE Churn reduction [...]
Peppa is the Pig with the golden touch for Entertainment One July 23, 2014 ENTERTAINMENT One, the FTSE 250-listed film and TV distributor, yesterday said it was on track to deliver full-year profits in line with expectations after reporting that revenues for the quarter to 30 June rose four per cent. The firm said the sales of Peppa Pig merchandise – in the US soft goods sector, including bedding, [...]
Apple eyes record sales despite a slide in iPads July 22, 2014 TECH titan Apple expects its next iPhone launch in September to propel the firm to unprecedented fourth quarter sales of $40bn (£23.4bn). Despite its record guidance, Apple’s third quarter sales missed analysts’ expectations last night reaching just $37.4bn, short of the expected $38bn. Unit sales in Apple’s iPad division fell nine per cent on last [...]
Arm Holdings stock soars despite smartphone slowdown July 22, 2014 British chip-maker Arm Holdings was boosted by a demand to licence its technology from manufacturers during the second quarter, which compensated for a slowdown in its royalties from the sale of smartphones. Arm’s shares led the FTSE 100 risers yesterday as investors poured into the tech stock sending its shares soaring 5.7 per cent to [...]
Analyst Views: What did you make of ARM holdings’ second quarter results? July 22, 2014 JULIAN YATES | INVESTEC The stock has been weak, but with a) no structural issues here (we see cyclical issues causing the royalty weakness), b) royalty growth is likely to pick up, plus c) licence strength suggesting strong medium-term royalties, we see current weakness as a buying opportunity. ADNAAN AHMAD | BERENBERG Our Buy thesis [...]
PayPal launching small business lending scheme Working Capital for British firms July 22, 2014 PayPal is set to start lending to small businesses this autumn with the launch of PayPal Working Capital, the payments firm will announce today. The scheme offers PayPal’s business customers the ability to take a cash advance against their future sales for a one-off fee, rather than a traditional business loan with interest. The UK [...]
Tobacco stocks fall after $23bn Reynolds ruling July 21, 2014 Big tobacco stocks stumbled yesterday as investors expressed caution in the aftermath of the $23.6bn (£13.8bn) damages award levelled against Reynolds American by a US judge on Saturday. The US’s second-biggest tobacco company was told that it must pay the sum to Cynthia Robinson from Florida for the death of her husband Michael Johnson, alongside [...]
Sky swoops for majority stake in Bake Off firm July 21, 2014 BROADCASTING group Sky has taken a 70 per cent stake in independent production company Love Productions, the firm behind shows such as The Great British Bake Off. Love was founded in 2004 by Richard McKerrow and Anna Beattie, and last year its Great British Bake Off became BBC Two’s most-watched programme in a decade, with [...]
