FTSE 100 sinks to five-week low while tech shares drive Wall Street higher May 13, 2021 London’s FTSE 100 dropped sharply this afternoon, giving up yesterday’s gains amid fears of a rise in inflation and weak performance from heavyweight stocks. London’s premier index was down by 0.7 per cent in afternoon trading, dropping to 6,953.60 points – its worst price for almost a month. The FTSE 250 of midcap companies was [...]
Balfour Beatty names broadcast boss Lord Allen as new chair May 13, 2021 Infrastructure firm Balfour Beatty this morning announced that businessman and broadcaster Lord Charles Allen would become its next chairman. The FTSE 250 firm said that Allen, a former chief executive of ITV and Granada, would take over as chair in July. A Labour peer, Allen has also been chairman of ISS and EMI Group, as [...]
BT: Investors unenthused by £2bn pension funding deal as shares drop 6.3 per cent May 13, 2021 BT today announced plans to bring full-fibre broadband to an extra 5m homes as the financial burden of its pension deficit eased. The telecoms firm struck a new deal for its pension, which is one of the biggest in the country at £7.98bn. Some £2bn of deficit will be met through an asset-backed funding arrangement [...]
BT ramps up broadband target as pre-tax profit drops 23 per cent May 13, 2021 BT today said it would extend its full-fibre broadband network to 25m premises by the end of 2026. The provider aims to fund the 5m additional homes and businesses through a joint venture with other parties. It is thought the move, which could cost up to £50bn, will lead to as many as 7,000 new [...]
BT results: Will the telecoms giant ring the changes after Covid? May 12, 2021 The City will turn its attention to BT tomorrow morning, when the blue-chip telecoms giant will announce its results for the full year. The former state monopoly has seen its share price recover in the last year, but it’s been a tough year as the pandemic took its toll on revenue and profit. Here’s what [...]
Steering clear of the cliff edge: Why it makes business sense for sport to put the human first May 11, 2021 We’ve seen a seismic shift in attitudes around athlete welfare but the sentiment ‘it’s only what happens on the pitch that counts’, albeit largely unspoken, is sadly still common in professional sport. With the global sports market expected to reach $600bn by 2025, there is no doubt about the pressure clubs are facing to deliver [...]
We must open up venture capital investment to pension funds to deliver for British savers May 11, 2021 Darktrace’s IPO was a relief to investors and founders considering a float on the London market, doing much to take away the bitter aftertaste left by Deliveroo’s lacklustre debut at the start of April. Yet even this very British success story, founded by expert mathematicians in Cambridge and invested in by some of the UK’s [...]
Andy Burnham’s re-election boosts his stature as ‘King in the North’ May 8, 2021 Andy Burnham’s re-election as the Mayor of Greater Manchester is a rare victory in Labour’s fast-crumbling “red wall” in the north. He won a second term as mayor with an increased share of the vote, on an increased turnout, from 2017. Burnham is now the most senior and successful elected Labour Party politician outside the [...]
Screenshot: Is Trump’s Facebook ban too hot to handle? May 7, 2021 This week **Media Moment of the Week: Brits love bent coppers **Is Trump’s Facebook ban too hot to handle? **ITV’s Summer of Love (Island) Media Moment of the Week: Brits love bent coppers Ok, so you might not have been the biggest fan of the Line of Duty season finale on Sunday. In fact, you [...]
Ericsson and Samsung ink deal to end global patent dispute May 7, 2021 Ericsson and Samsung have signed a multi-year agreement on global patent licences between the two companies, ending a legal battle that hit the Swedish firm’s first-quarter revenue. In a statement this morning Ericsson said the cross-licence agreement covers sale of network infrastructure and handsets from the beginning of this year. The two tech firms have [...]