Supermarket and McDonald’s bosses to meet ministers over workers’ rights reforms September 2, 2024 Bosses from UK supermarkets and McDonald’s are set to meet government ministers to be updated on plans for new laws around workers rights. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and business secretary Jonathan Reynolds will join John Lewis CEO Nish Kankiwala; Sainsbury’s CEO Simon Roberts; Claire Costello, chief people and inclusion officer at the Co-Op; and [...]
‘It can be spaghetti out there’: can Cityfibre take on BT? August 22, 2024 The UK’s altnet industry is a tangled mess of “spaghetti” – at least, that’s how the boss of Cityfibre put it earlier this year. Altnets, or alternative networks, such as Cityfibre, Gigaclear and Community Fibre, have emerged as competitors to the UK’s broadband giants Virgin Media O2 and Openreach. Despite their smaller scale, they have [...]
Mark Kleinman: Britain’s fibre infrastructure proves hard to digest August 22, 2024 Mark Kleinman is Sky News’ City Editor and the man who gets the Square Mile talking in his weekly City A.M. column. Today, he looks at the UK’s altnet sector, a jilted housebuilder and Thames Water’s leaky boardroom. Britain’s fibre infrastructure proves hard to digest Time to hang up? That’s the way many investors feeling about [...]
BT drags down FTSE 100 after shares slump August 20, 2024 BT shares slumped five per cent in early deals this morning after it was revealed that Sky had struck a broadband deal with one of its biggest rivals. Shares in the FTSE 100 telecoms giant extended losses to trade as low as seven per cent by mid-day. The stock’s performance dragged down the wider FTSE [...]
Croydon is a brutalist playground and a photographer’s dream August 15, 2024 I stand killing time on the platform of one of Croydon’s many decrepit railway stations. Like me, it’s seen better days, and again like me, its makeover has been on the cards for years. I do a lot of waiting and thinking here, mostly enforced. Norwood Junction: even the name sounds like a line from [...]
What Paris should learn from London’s Olympic media legacy August 13, 2024 The 2024 Olympics are over and Parisians peeved at the general logistical chaos inflicted on them by the influx of tourists will be breathing an ‘ooh la la’ of relief. But, like the short-lived breakdancing event that has been axed for the 2028 Games, the actual sport is just a fleeting moment in the grand [...]
Bharti’s BT buy a ‘confidence boost’ for FTSE 100 telecom giant August 12, 2024 Bharti Global’s decision to buy a large stake in BT from debt-laden Altice UK has been hailed as “confidence boosting” for the British telecom giant, according to analysts. BT shares surged over six per cent in early FTSE 100 trading following reports that the Indian telecom firm will acquire a 24.5 per cent stake from [...]
FTSE 100: UK stocks erase losses from last week’s selloff ahead of economic data dump August 12, 2024 The FTSE 100 reversed its losses from last week's massive global selloff on Monday as investors hunt for bargains and look ahead to a slew of economic data in the coming days.
BT shares jump after Altice sells 24.5 per cent stake in FTSE 100 giant to Bharti August 12, 2024 BT shares jumped 6.4 per cent after the market opened this morning after it emerged that its largest shareholder, Altice, had agreed to sell its stake in the business. The FTSE 100 giant’s largest shareholder agreed to sell its 24.5 per cent stake in the telecoms company to Indian conglomerate Bharti. Altice, which has struggled [...]
Vodafone launches next stage of £3.4bn shareholder value return plan August 7, 2024 Vodafone has launched the next stage of its share repurchase programme worth up to €500m (£430m). In March, the firm said it would return €4bn (£3.4bn) to shareholders as part of a broader capital allocation review in an attempt to appease jittery shareholders following asset sales. It kicked off the return in May with an [...]