BT’s share price rises after it reports adjusted pre-tax profits rise 15 per cent for the first half of the year as new customers are added October 29, 2015 BT added a record number of television customers in the second quarter, reporting a 15 per cent rise in adjusted pre-tax profits for the first half. BT's share price rose 0.8 per cent in early trading on the news. The figures BT reported adjusted profit before tax of £642m for the three months to the end [...]
FTSE 100 Index: Gold glitters and BT gets a good call to lift – London Report October 29, 2015 Gains in gold mining stocks and at BT helped to lift the FTSE 100 back towards the two-month highs it reached towards the end of last week. Pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline also climbed 3.88 per cent after it posted better-than-expected earnings. Randgold and Fresnillo were the best-performing stocks on the blue-chip index, which climbed 1.1 per [...]
BT share price rises after EE merger “provisional” thumbs up from Competition and Markets Authority October 28, 2015 BT shares opened six per cent higher this morning, after the telecoms giant was given a provisional thumbs up from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on its £12.5bn bid to buy EE. The regulator said the deal is "not expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition in any market in the UK". CMA's inquiry chair John Wotton [...]
Banks come to fore as sector to report results – London Report October 25, 2015 BANKING results season is upon us, with three of the big four reporting this week. And on the economic front, third-quarter GDP figures are expected to show that the economy is slowing down due to weaker construction and manufacturing output. Corporates Royal Dutch Shell and BG Group also report in with updates, as does sector [...]
Access to faster broadband is crucial for the City to remain competitive globally October 25, 2015 The word “wayleave” might not necessarily mean very much to most readers. But this legal agreement permits the installation of broadband – an essential for any company – so that it can reach the offices and businesses that need it. As things stand, each connection requires a new agreement, and SME tenants, of which [...]
FTSE 100 underperforms European counterparts, including German Dax and French Cac October 22, 2015 Basic resources were sharply higher on Thursday, with Glencore and BHP Billiton among the risers, helping the FTSE 100 end the session slightly higher. However, the UKs main index lagged behind its European counterparts. While the FTSE 100 slipped during the day to a low of 6,321 points, it closed 0.44 per cent higher at 6,376 points. [...]
Virgin Media hits out at BT and Sky over Premier League football TV rights deal October 21, 2015 Virgin Media has fired the latest shot in the battle of the broadcasters over the way TV rights for football games are sold. Research commissioned by Virgin showed that just six per cent of football fans said they were able to watch every match they wanted to on TV at home. Media watchdog Ofcom launched an [...]
EE’s Olaf Swantee: The BT merger is “good for Britain” October 21, 2015 EE is “very confident” that the £12.5bn deal with BT will be approved, as a competition watchdog’s decision on the takeover draws near. Olaf Swantee, the telecoms company’s chief executive, said to City A.M. that the merger would be “good for Britain”, following the company’s third quarter results posted on Wednesday: We’re excited about creating [...]
Sky shakes off competition with profit rise despite Champions League loss October 21, 2015 Sky has shaken off rivals with a 10 per cent rise in profits while a 77 per cent surge in broadband subscribers was its biggest quarterly growth in four years. Operating profit across Sky Europe of £375m was slightly ahead of expectations for the three months to the end of September on revenue of £2.8bn, [...]
Santander, BT and Odeon go barmy for Bond ahead of the Spectre premiere October 19, 2015 Is it just us, or did London’s businesses bulk-buy thousands of tickets to the new Bond film next week and call it a “corporate event”? Private screenings are being held all over London by companies to celebrate the release of Spectre, with some firms jostling for space in the capital on the same night. Monday will be [...]