FTSE 100 hits six-month high on US and European results October 21, 2010 Britain’s leading shares surged to a six-month closing high yesterday, led by miners, as UK investors were buoyed by strong earnings in the US and Europe, but TUI Travel fell after reporting accounting errors. Europe’s largest travel firm TUI Travel slumped more than 11 per cent after it revealed its finance chief would quit and [...]
YouView gets green light from Ofcom October 19, 2010 OFCOM has effectively given the green light to a controversial video-on-demand service backed by the BBC after declining to launch a competition investigation. The YouView service – previously codenamed “Project Canvas” – is now due to launch by March next year. The platform will allow users to stream on demand content from a number of [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS October 19, 2010 LADBROKES Royal Bank of Scotland rates the betting group a “sell” with a target price of 90p. The broker says Ladbrokes is facing limited growth in betting shops as well as tighter European restrictions on internet gambling. RBS forecasts a 10 per cent growth in revenue over the next two years, but expects competition from [...]
ITEM: cuts won’t cause double-dip October 17, 2010 THE UK faces a slow economic recovery but fears of a double dip recession are overdone, one of the UK’s top forecasters will say today. The Ernst & Young Item Club – which uses the Treasury’s own economic model to make its predictions – also suggests that far from hurting the economy, Wednesday’s Comprehensive Spending [...]
Osborne gets boost from 35 top business leaders over spending cuts October 17, 2010 DOZENS of business leaders have backed George Osborne’s swingeing spending cuts, saying hesitation could cost £100bn in extra debt, more taxes and an increase in the rate of interest. A total of 35 captains of industry, including BT chief executive Ian Livingston and Asda chairman Andy Bond, penned a letter to the Daily Telegraph urging [...]
BT to hear pension fund ruling October 17, 2010 Telecoms giant BT will find out this week the size of the bill the taxpayer would have to shoulder for bailing out its pension fund if the company ever collapsed. The High Court is likely to give its ruling on the scope of the Crown guarantee covering BT’s pension fund and agreed when the company [...]
Cable under Sky pressure October 11, 2010 MEDIA giants yesterday united against Rupert Murdoch’s plans to buy BSkyB in an £8bn deal. DMGT’s Associated Newspapers, the Telegraph Media Group, Trinity Mirror and Guardian Media Group wrote a joint letter urging business secretary Vince Cable to intervene in the deal. The BBC, Channel 4 and BT also signed the letter. They argue the [...]
FTSE gains on hope of more banking stimulus measures October 11, 2010 Britain’s top shares rose yesterday as hopes that governments around the world would take steps to bolster economic recovery fuelled investor optimism. Meanwhile, bullish broker comment helped lift Petrofac and Weir Group, while Prudential, Autonomy and BP were hit by broker downgrades. The FTSE 100 closed up 14.79 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 5,672.40. [...]
BT must give access to its fibre network October 7, 2010 OFCOM yesterday said it will force BT to allow its rivals access to the former state phone firm’s superfast fibre broadband network. BT will also have to wholesale its infrastructure of telegraph poles and underground ducts in a bid to increase competition for superfast internet to rural areas. The decision supports government plans laid out [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 6, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES BUSINESS PLEADS FOR A STRATEGY Business leaders urged David Cameron to turn his pro-enterprise rhetoric into a detailed strategy that would deliver better infrastructure and remove obstacles to growth. David Frost, director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce said corporate Britain was strongly behind the government’s effort to shrink the budget deficit but [...]