BT’s High Court action against DEA to close March 24, 2011 BT and TalkTalk’s High Court action against the Digital Economy Act (DEA) will end today, with a judge expected to rule on whether it is unfair in six weeks time. The firms are arguing that the legislation is unfair and was rushed through parliament. A judge has been hearing submissions from relevant parties over the [...]
T-Mobile USA owner sees shares spike March 21, 2011 Deutsche Telekom’s shares soared as much as 16 per cent yesterday after news it will sell its beleaguered T-Mobile US venture to AT&T for $39bn (£24bn). The German telecoms giant will instead focus on its European operations. It says it plans to grow organically and will use the cash to pay down debt and return [...]
Upbeat engineers and banks drive FTSE 100 to 1.2pc gain March 21, 2011 MINERS, banks and engineers drove gains in Britain’s top share index by the close yesterday as hope grew that the nuclear crisis in Japan is easing, while heavyweight Vodafone was boosted by M&A activity. The FTSE 100 closed up 67.96 points, or 1.2 per cent, at 5,786.09, its third straight session of gains. The index [...]
FTSE rebounds as investor confidence returns March 21, 2011 Stocks regained considerable ground today, consolidating their gains this afternoon, as reassuring action in Japan and Libya gave investors confidence. The morning’s announcement of telecoms giant AT&T’s $39bn (£24bn) takeover of Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile USA also lifted both the UK and US markets. The FTSE 100 closed up 1.2 per cent at 5,786.09. “Equity markets [...]
Nuclear risk threatens supply chain March 20, 2011 With nuclear uncertainty hanging over Japan, supply chains reliant upon technological components made there have been severely disrupted. Japanese exporters have suffered, while companies reliant upon the country are weighing up their exposure and searching out alternative suppliers. These are uncertain times for technology companies across the world. Sony, Hitachi, Fujitsu, and many other Japanese [...]
Former Lloyds chief Eric Daniels tipped as next Aviva chairman March 17, 2011 ERIC Daniels, the former Lloyds Banking Group chief executive, is a candidate to become the next chairman at insurer Aviva, City A.M. learned yesterday. Daniels, who stepped down as Lloyds’ chief executive at the start of March, is one of about five candidates approached by Aviva about taking a non-executive board position. The new director [...]
Topaz eyes a London listing to raise £311m March 16, 2011 DUBAI-based oilfield services firm Topaz Energy and Marine plans to raise $500m (£311m) in a London listing. The firm, which is part of Oman’s Renaissance Services, is likely to power into the FTSE 250 if the listing is successful, with a market capitalisation of $1.7bn. Topaz has set a price range of 170p per share [...]
Openreach hires new chief exec March 15, 2011 BT’s local access network business, Openreach, has promoted Olivia Garfield to chief executive, taking over from Steve Robertson who has led Openreach since it was founded in 2005. Garfield has been a director for the group covering strategy and regulation since 2005. In her new role as Openreach CEO, she will be in charge of [...]
Jeremy Hunt defends role in clearing News Corp bid March 13, 2011 JEREMY Hunt, the culture secretary, was yesterday forced to defend his role in News Corp’s bid for BSkyB, after an alliance of media companies accused him of acting in an “unprecedented manner”. The alliance, which is made up of BSkyB and News Corp rivals like BT and the Telegraph Media Group, said the culture secretary was wrong [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 10, 2011 City Asset Management Independent discretionary investment manager City Asset Management has appointed Chris Green, formerly of Optimal Wealth Management, to its financial services team as a financial wealth planner. The appointment is part of City Asset Management’s ongoing expansion. Green brings more than 20 years’ experience as a pension and investment specialist to the role. [...]