Cobus Loots, CEO of Pan African Resources, on delivering sector-leading returns for shareholders. Watch the video here.

Less Ads, More Data, More Tools Register for FREE

Pin to quick picksBT Share News (BT.A)

Share Price Information for BT (BT.A)

London Stock Exchange
Share Price is delayed by 15 minutes
Get Live Data
Share Price: 127.30
Bid: 126.50
Ask: 126.55
Change: -1.85 (-1.43%)
Spread: 0.05 (0.04%)
Open: 128.60
High: 129.45
Low: 124.35
Prev. Close: 129.15
BT.A Live PriceLast checked at -

Watchlists are a member only feature

Login to your account

Alerts are a premium feature

Login to your account

LONDON MARKET COMMENT: Stocks Up As Coca-Cola HBC Hits 52-Week High

Fri, 15th May 2015 09:41

LONDON (Alliance News) - UK stocks are higher Friday mid-morning, with a focus on corporate news as FTSE 100 bottler Coca-Cola HBC sets a new 52-week high following a positive trading update.

The blue-chip index is back above 7,000 points, up 0.4% at 7,000.10. The FTSE 250 is up 0.5% at 18,025.07, and the AIM All-Share is up 0.2% at 761.06.

European indices also are higher, with the CAC 40 in Paris up 0.5%, and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt up 0.5%.

Coca-Cola HBC is up 1.9% at 1,443 pence, having touched a new 52-week high at 1,472.00p, after it said net sales revenue rose in the first quarter, with volumes higher due to extra selling days and an early Easter, though it faced a mixed effect from currency fluctuations across its operations.

The company, the second-largest bottler of products made by US drinks group The Coca-Cola Co, said its net sales revenue in the first quarter to the end of March was EUR1.35 billion, up from EUR1.33 billion a year earlier. The group's volume rose by 7.2% in the quarter, up to 439 million unit cases from 409.6 million a year earlier, though its net sales revenue per unit case fell to EUR3.08 against EUR3.25.

Coca-Cola HBC said volumes increased in all three of its segments, covering established, developing and emerging markets, in the quarter, largely due to four extra selling days and the timing of the Easter holiday, with good performances for the group in Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

ITV is up 2.1%, wiping out Thursday's 1.0% decline when a lower viewing share, a staff strike and a weaker second quarter outlook for net advertising had weighed on its share price. Analysts are mixed on the television stock, with house broker Panmure Gordon saying Buy, while Berengerg says Sell.

Brewer SABMiller is up 1.0%. It said it has struck a deal to buy Greenwich, London-based craft beer company Meantime Brewing Co for an undisclosed amount. Meantime was founded in 1999 and now offers a range of beers sold in pubs across the UK, including London Lager and Meantime Pale Ale. SABMiller said it intends to grow sales of Meantime beers nationally and explore export opportunities in the European market.

Intertek Group, up 1.0%, said it is trading in line with its expectations in 2015 so far, with good growth in the majority of regional operations and continued challenging conditions in its units exposed to the oil and gas and minerals markets.

The company, which provides testing, certification and inspection services, said revenue grew 3.3% in the four months to the end of April, pushed higher by sterling weakening against a number of currencies. At constant currencies, revenue grew 0.3%. Intertek said its operating margin in the period was broadly flat year-on-year.

UK media and communications regulator Ofcom said it has tabled proposals which would allow companies looking to provide high-speed telecoms lines for businesses to be granted access to BT Group's fibre networks using their own equipment, and said it has tabled new service requirements for BT's Openreach arm.

Under the plans, BT would have to give its competitors physical access to its fibre-optic cables, allowing those competitors to take direct control of the connections. BT is already required to offer wholesale leased-line products, which bundle the fibre-optic cable with its own network equipment, but Ofcom said the new proposals would go further, allowing operators to use the BT cables with their own equipment, rather than BT's.

BT Group shares are up 0.1%.

Miners Fresnillo, down 1.5%, Anglo American, down 1.0%, Randgold Resources, down 0.6% and Antofagasta, down 0.5% are amongst the worst performers in the blue-chip index.

In the FTSE 250, Bwin.party Digital Entertainment is the best performer, up 6.3%, amid renewed take-over speculation.

Housebuilder Bovis Homes is up 1.1% after it said it is on track to meet its targets for the year, with a robust forward sales position for the year, which the company expects to be more second-half weighted than in 2014. Bovis said it has made solid progress in 2015 to date, with total forward sales for 2015 delivery at 3,049 homes at May 8, up 8% year-on-year.

International Personal Finance is down 1.7% after JP Morgan downgraded the company to Underweight from Neutral.

Stock markets got some relief as US Treasuries yields dropped Thursday, meaning Treasury prices rose, on the back of an unexpected decline in US producer prices in April.

"With US Treasury yields calming down their recent rise yesterday...equities markets were able to regain some upside initiative once more," says Hantec Markets analyst Richard Perry. "This seems to now be the theme of trading, that if the bond markets are settled then equities can take heart and find support."

US futures point to a higher opening, with the DJIA and the S&P 500 seen up 0.2% and the Nasdaq 100 pointed up 0.3%. The S&P hit a new closing high Thursday at 2,121.10 points.

Still in the economic calendar, in the US, industrial production is due at 1415 BST, while the Reuters/Michigan consumer sentiment index is at 1500 BST.

By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.

More News
31 Jul 2023 12:06

LONDON MARKET MIDDAY: Europe rises but FTSE 100 underperforms

(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London were lower at midday on Monday, though European peers were on the rise, following favourable eurozone economic data.

Read more
31 Jul 2023 10:59

UK's BT appoints Telia boss Kirkby as new CEO

BT board member Kirkby will take over by early 2024

*

Read more
31 Jul 2023 08:56

LONDON MARKET OPEN: Stocks down; BT appoints Allison Kirkby as boss

(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened lower on Monday, as investors eye some key data from the eurozone due out this morning.

Read more
31 Jul 2023 08:36

TOP NEWS: BT appoints Telia CEO Allison Kirkby to lead company

(Alliance News) - BT Group PLC on Monday named Allison Kirkby as its new chief executive officer, about three weeks after the company officially started its search for a new CEO.

Read more
31 Jul 2023 07:48

LONDON BRIEFING: BT names Kirkby as new CEO; Pearson profit up

(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are called to start the week on the back foot, after new data showed that the Chinese manufacturing sector continued to slump in July.

Read more
31 Jul 2023 07:45

BT Group appoints Allison Kirkby as CEO

(Sharecast News) - BT Group said on Monday that it has appointed Allison Kirkby as chief executive, succeeding Philip Jansen around the end of January 2024 at the latest.

Read more
27 Jul 2023 15:44

UK dividends calendar - next 7 days

Friday 28 July 
3i Group PLCdividend payment date
abrdn Private Equity Opportunities Trust PLCdividend payment date
abrdn Smaller Companies Income Trust PLCdividend payment date
Barings Emerging EMEA Opportunities PLCdividend payment date
Big Yellow Group PLCdividend payment date
British Land Co PLCdividend payment date
Edinburgh Investment Trust PLCdividend payment date
Gooch & Housego PLCdividend payment date
Helical PLCdividend payment date
Henderson High Income Trust PLCdividend payment date
Hipgnosis Songs Fund Ltddividend payment date
JPMorgan Global Emerging Markets Income Trust PLCdividend payment date
Martin Currie Global Portfolio Trust PLCdividend payment date
Paragon Banking Group PLCdividend payment date
Personal Assets Trust PLCspecial dividend payment date
Personal Assets Trust PLCdividend payment date
Polar Capital Holdings PLCdividend payment date
Premier Foods PLCdividend payment date
Real Estate Credit Investments Ltddividend payment date
Schroder Income Growth Fund PLCdividend payment date
Shires Income PLCdividend payment date
Troy Income & Growth Trust PLCdividend payment date
Vertu Motors PLCdividend payment date
Monday 31 July 
CT Private Equity Trust PLCdividend payment date
European Assets Trust PLCdividend payment date
Lowland Investment Co PLCdividend payment date
Tuesday 1 August 
discoverIE Group PLCdividend payment date
F&C Investment Trust PLCdividend payment date
Johnson Matthey PLCdividend payment date
Mercantile Investment Trust PLCdividend payment date
Next PLCdividend payment date
TR Property Investment Trust PLCdividend payment date
United Utilities Group PLCdividend payment date
Wednesday 2 August 
Tate & Lyle PLCdividend payment date
Thursday 3 August 
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust PLCex-dividend payment date
Aptitude Software Group PLCex-dividend payment date
Atrato Onsite Energy PLCex-dividend payment date
Axiom European Financial Debt Fund Ltdex-dividend payment date
Brunner Investment Trust PLCex-dividend payment date
BT Group PLCex-dividend payment date
Caledonia Investments PLCdividend payment date
CML Microsystems PLCex-dividend payment date
Dunedin Income Growth Investment Trust PLCex-dividend payment date
Foxtons Group PLCex-dividend payment date
Games Workshop Group PLCex-dividend payment date
GB Group PLCdividend payment date
Inchcape PLCex-dividend payment date
Invesco Perpetual UK Smaller Companies Investment Trust PLCex-dividend payment date
JPMorgan Global Core Real Assets Ltdex-dividend payment date
Jupiter Fund Management PLCex-dividend payment date
Jupiter Fund Management PLCspecial ex-dividend payment date
Lloyds Banking Group PLCex-dividend payment date
M&G Credit Income Investment Trust PLCex-dividend payment date
Mobico Group PLCex-dividend payment date
Moneysupermarket.com Group PLCex-dividend payment date
Nichols PLCex-dividend payment date
Oxford Instruments PLCex-dividend payment date
Picton Property Income Ltdex-dividend payment date
Polar Capital Global Financials Trust PLCex-dividend payment date
Polar Capital Global Healthcare Trust PLCex-dividend payment date
Reckitt Benckiser Group PLCex-dividend payment date
Rentokil Initial PLCex-dividend payment date
Schroder Real Estate Investment Trust Ltdex-dividend payment date
Starwood European Real Estate Finance Ltdex-dividend payment date
Tyman PLCex-dividend payment date
Unilever PLCex-dividend payment date
Vesuvius PLCex-dividend payment date
WH Smith PLCdividend payment date
  
Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Read more
27 Jul 2023 10:11

TOP NEWS: BT reaffirms full year guidance, posts quarterly profit rise

(Alliance News) - BT Group PLC on Thursday reaffirmed its full year guidance reporting a rise in revenue and profit in its first quarter.

Read more
27 Jul 2023 07:41

BT Group backs full-year guidance as Q1 core earnings rise

(Sharecast News) - BT Group backed its guidance for 2024 on Thursday as it posted a rise in first-quarter core earnings.

Read more
24 Jul 2023 16:59

LONDON MARKET CLOSE: FTSE 100 shakes off weak PMI readings

(Alliance News) - Blue-chip European equities took confidence from a decent open in New York, despite some less-than-stellar PMI data darkening the mood earlier on Monday.

Read more
24 Jul 2023 12:04

LONDON MARKET MIDDAY: China stimulus impatience keeps lid on sentiment

(Alliance News) - Equity prices in Europe were mixed heading into Monday afternoon, with a warning of the challenges facing the Chinese economy hurting investor sentiment at the start of a busy week of central banking action.

Read more
13 Jul 2023 17:16

Fresh M&A blow for telcos as Three/O2 debate reopened

BRUSSELS, July 13 (Reuters) - European telecoms companies faced fresh regulatory uncertainty on Thursday after the EU's top court scrapped a lower tribunal's decision to life a veto on Three UK's 13-billion-pound ($16.9 billion) bid for O2 seven years ago, citing legal errors.

Read more
11 Jul 2023 16:00

Teen hacked Uber, Revolut and Grand Theft Auto maker, London court hears

LONDON, July 11 (Reuters) - A teenage member of the Lapsus$ hacking group hacked Uber and fintech firm Revolut then blackmailed the developers of best-selling videogame Grand Theft Auto, prosecutors have told a London court.

Read more
10 Jul 2023 17:30

UK's FTSE 100 gains on energy boost; real estate stocks slip

Water utility firms rise on Thames Water news

*

Read more
10 Jul 2023 17:02

LONDON MARKET CLOSE: FTSE 100 rises despite tame Chinese data

(Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 in London inched higher on Monday, as investors shook off some soft Chinese data and looked ahead to a US inflation reading due on Wednesday.

Read more

Login to your account

Don't have an account? Click here to register.

Quickpicks are a member only feature

Login to your account

Don't have an account? Click here to register.