Ofcom says BT merger with EE could harm other mobile firms July 19, 2015 Telecoms giant BT could be facing double trouble from the industry regulator, after Ofcom revealed concerns surrounding its proposed merger with mobile network EE. The planned £12.5bn takeover is being probed by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which issued an update regarding the scope of its investigation at the end of last week. Ofcom [...]
BAE Systems on hunt for exports and replacement for Ian King July 19, 2015 Defence company BAE Systems is on the lookout for a new leader, but is yet to launch a formal recruitment process. The group is considering its options to replace current chief executive Ian King. A spokesperson for the company said yesterday: “We have not launched a formal succession process; we are simply scanning [...]
Afren’s future hangs in balance after Luxembourg suspension July 19, 2015 Oil firm Afren is facing an uncertain future as shareholders prepare to vote on the proposed financial restructuring of the company. The group is due to meet next week in order to establish its next move, having suffered a series of setbacks over the past 12 months. Trading on the London Stock Exchange [...]
Anglo American lowers the bar for chief executive Mark Cutifani July 19, 2015 Mining group Anglo American has lowered the bar at which chief executive Mark Cutifani reaches his performance targets, a controversial move as shares in the company this month fell to a 12-year low. Cutifani, who was paid £3.7m last year, makes around half of his yearly take-home pay through a long-term incentive plan (LTIP) based [...]
Ladbrokes eyes up a quick move for Gala Coral July 19, 2015 Ladbrokes could strike a deal with online bingo company Gala Coral as early as this week, creating a high-street and internet gambling empire. Ladbrokes, valued at £1.2bn, is expected to issue new shares to buy Gala, which is owned by a collective of private equity investors including Apollo Global Management, Candover Investments and Cerberus [...]
Investec Comment: Managing your foreign exchange risk July 19, 2015 In the first three months of 2015, the value of the euro fell 10 per cent against sterling. Since a stronger pound makes UK exports relatively less competitive in other markets, for a company doing business in the Eurozone, such a sizeable move could have had a significant impact on their profitability. Plenty of firms [...]
Eurozone investor sentiment collapses as investors flock to “safe havens” of gold and UK government bonds July 19, 2015 Eurozone shares have had the largest annual decline in sentiment on record, dropping 19 percentage points in just a month. New figures from Lloyds show investors’ sentiment for Eurozone shares have crashed to -48 per cent, down 30 percentage points over the past year. Ashish Misra, head of portfolio specialists at Lloyds, said the drop [...]
Capita: UK dividend payments hit highest point since 2008 as Lloyds and HSBC return to financial health July 19, 2015 Dividends paid out by UK companies have soared to their highest level since 2008, buoyed by banks hiking their payouts and a lower pound. A total of £29.2bn was paid out during the second quarter, shows data collected by Capita Asset Services, the highest second quarter on record. “To say income investors had a bumper [...]
Royal Dutch Shell expects to save “billions” through BG Group deal July 19, 2015 Royal Dutch Shell has told investors that the massive £55bn takeover of BG Group will produce “billions” in savings. Projected savings from cost reductions verifiable under takeover rules, such as merging headquarters, come to about £1bn, but the company has said that savings are actually likely to be a “multiple” of this, because of “value [...]
Iceland boss Malcolm Walker: Which? supercomplaint over supermarket offers was “b*****ks” July 17, 2015 Iceland boss Malcolm Walker – the supermarket sector's answer to Michael O'Leary – has blasted the Which? supercomplaint over misleading deals as “bollocks”. The consumer group took a petition signed by more than 100,000 to the Competition and Markets Authority earlier this year, claiming it had found examples of “dodgy special offers” that led [...]