Round one to Sky in battle with BT August 1, 2013 Communications regulator Ofcom dealt a blow to BT yesterday, ruling that it is not ready to force Sky to allow its sports channels to be shown on BT’s new TV service. The decision came on the day that BT launched its new TV sports channel, BT Sport, with presenter Jake Humphrey leading the way last night. [...]
Renshaw joins Cavendish team August 1, 2013 CYCLING: Britain’s Mark Cavendish has been reunited with former HTC lead-out man Mark Renshaw after the Australian joined Omega Pharma-Quickstep. The Belgian team have also signed Colombian climber Rigoberto Uran, who won silver in last summer’s Olympic road race and was second at this year’s Giro d’Italia, from Team Sky.
New RBS chief executive to be paid significantly less than predecessor August 1, 2013 Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is on the verge of agreeing a pay deal for its new chief executive that will be significantly lower than that of the ousted Stephen Hester, Sky News have reported. UK Financial Investments, the agency managing the taxpayer stake in RBS, is reportedly on the verge of agreeing a base [...]
RBS hopes to name new chief executive on Friday July 31, 2013 The Royal Bank of Scotland is hoping to name its new chief executive alongside its results on Friday, according to Sky sources. Sky Sources: RBS hopes to name new chief executive to replace Stephen Hester along with results on Friday — Sky News Newsdesk (@SkyNewsBreak) July 31, 2013 However, there is no formal deadline for [...]
BT splits retail division into consumer and business July 30, 2013 BT yesterday said it would split its retail division into two separate companies amid an increasingly bitter broadband war with rivals. BT Retail, which posted quarterly revenues of £1.8bn last week and represents roughly 40 per cent of the groups income, will split into two entities called BT Consumer and BT Business. John Petter will [...]
Pace rides US media boom July 30, 2013 PACE, the Yorkshire-based provider of set-top TV boxes, yesterday said its first-half profits had tripled thanks to huge sales growth in the North American market. A massive increase in demand in the US for media servers – devices that transmit TV and internet feeds to the screens of laptops, tablet and smartphones – means the [...]
Banks’ PPI bill set to increase July 28, 2013 BARCLAYS is expected to set aside more money tomorrow to pay compensation to customers who were missold payment protection insurance and interest rate swaps. The bank will set aside at least another £150m to repay small firms who were missold swaps, taking the total compensation bill for those products to more than £1bn, according to [...]
Vimto owner encouraged to bid for Ribena and Lucozade July 26, 2013 Nichols, the company behind the Vimto soft drink brand, is reportedly being encouraged by GlaxoSmithKline to launch a joint bid with private equity firms for Lucozade and Ribena, which would make it one of the UK’s biggest beverage groups. In a statement to Sky News, Nichols said: We are monitoring the sale of GSK’s drinks [...]
BSkyB revenues rise ahead of BT battle July 26, 2013 BRITISH Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) today posted a seven per cent increase in full-year revenues to £7.2bn, as it gears up for a battle with an increasingly aggressive BT. The satellite broadcaster’s earnings rose eight per cent to £1.7bn and operating profit rose nine per cent to £1.3bn over the period. With mere weeks to go [...]
Sky announces £500m share buyback as dividend sees ninth consecutive rise July 26, 2013 British Sky Broadcasting has announced a £500m capital return to shareholders via share buy-back, as it releases results for the year ended 30 June (release). The firm saw profit before tax rise to £1,257m from £1,189m in the same period last year and has seen 150,000 customers sign up for its new Sky Go Extra [...]