FTSE 100 index falls as the price of oil slides again January 25, 2016 The FTSE 100 index fell on Monday as the price of oil slid once again. The UK's blue-chip index closed 0.39 per cent down at 5,877 points, led lower by banks, BT and Kingfisher “The FTSE started up about 17 points at 5917, but as soon as oil came off its better levels of $32.60 down to [...]
EU referendum: New YouGov poll finds big companies and startups want to stay in the EU while small businesses more divided January 25, 2016 The majority of bosses at Britain's biggest businesses want the UK to remain in the EU, even if their companies have not publicly stated a view on the issue, according to new research out today from YouGov. YouGov polled leading figures from 11 FTSE 100 organisations, three FTSE 250 firms, and two larger private companies. The executives surveyed included senior management [...]
Cross-party report says BT should be forced to sell Openreach January 23, 2016 A report backed by 121 cross-party MPs says that BT should be forced to sell Openreach due to poor performance. The report, published by the cross-party British Infrastructure Group (BIG), said that Openreach, the country's leading broadband provider, had only partially extended superfast broadband, despite £1.7bn of government money. Read more: BT Openreach boss Joe Garner steps down [...]
BT boss Gavin Patterson warns cyberattacks have soared 1,000 per cent in 18 months January 21, 2016 BT’s networks are having to deal with “hundreds of thousands” of cyber-attacks every single day, chief exec Gavin Patterson told delegates at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Attacks have skyrocketed by 1,000 per cent in the past 18 months alone, according to Patterson – and they aren’t just becoming more frequent, but also more [...]
FTSE 250-listed NCC Group share price soars on rising profits and sales boosted by cybercrime fears January 21, 2016 Cybersecurity firm NCC Group has reported soaring sales and profits as growing cybercrime fears drive its results skyhigh. The figures The FTSE 250-listed cybersecurity firm reported revenue up by 50 per cent to £93.5m in its half-year results to 30 November 2015. Adjusted operating profit was up 26 per cent to £15.7m, from £12.4m during [...]
Big businesses made a fuss over Bond, but go quiet on The Big Short January 20, 2016 Financiers are famed for their love of hard facts and logical outlook, but would London’s business folk rather daydream about being spies than take a history lesson? That seems to be the case as far as film tastes are concerned. Last year firms could barely contain themselves ahead of the release of latest Bond film [...]
TalkTalk hack: Customers flee telco firm after high-profile cyber attack January 20, 2016 Customers are fleeing TalkTalk, with the embattled telco firm’s market share dropping sharply since the high-profile data hack exposing personal data. TalkTalk has lost 4.4 percentage points of its home telecoms services market share, with its slice of the pie down to a mere nine per cent, according to market researchers Kantar Worldpanel. Over 150,000 [...]
BT creating 1,000 new UK jobs in bid to move criticised customer services back to the UK January 18, 2016 BT announced today it would be creating 1,000 new jobs in the UK, as the telco giant works to move its criticised customer services back to the country. BT’s goal is that at least 80 per cent of customer calls are answered from within the UK by the end of the year, and to that [...]
Davos 2016: Who’s who at the World Economic Forum (and who’s notably absent) – from Leonardo DiCaprio to Travis Kalanick and George Osborne January 17, 2016 If it seems like Davos reads like a who’s who of the world elite, you wouldn’t be wrong. On the Swiss slopes, the annual gathering of the World Economic Forum which kicks off this Wednesday, brings together the world’s biggest politicians, business leaders and a sprinkling of celebrities to liven things up too Leonardo DiCaprio is the [...]
Reactions to BT-EE merger: Telco rivals TalkTalk and Vodafone lash out after Competition and Markets Authority waves through £12.5bn merger deal January 15, 2016 Telco rivals have lashed out furiously, after the UK’s competition watchdog waved through BT and EE’s £12.5bn merger, which was given the final green light early this morning. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the takeover was unlikely to cause “significant harm to competition or the interests of consumers” as the UK mobile market is so [...]