£1bn wiped off BT’s value after Sky broadband deal
ALMOST £1bn was wiped off the value of BT after a rival struck a major broadband deal.
Shares in the telecoms giant fell more than 6pc on the news that network provider CityFibre will partner with Sky next year.
The deal will see Sky rollout its broadband to those on CityFibre’s network, which serves nearly 4m homes.
The platform – which was founded in 2011 – wants to reach up to 8m homes and businesses in the coming years.
BT provides ultra-fast full-fibre broadband across the UK through its Openreach business, whose biggest external partner is Sky.
Matt Britzman, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, insisted Sky’s deal with CityFibre is unlikely to strain relations with BT. He said CityFibre is ‘more focused on rural areas where the likes of Openreach aren’t building out fibre networks – so there’s likely limited cannibalisation of Openreach’s existing business with Sky’. Shares in BT tumbled 6.4pc, or 9.3p, to 136.3p, reducing its value by £926m.
The sell-off comes just a week after Sunil Bharti Mittal’s conglomerate Bharti Enterprises agreed to buy the 24.5pc of the telecoms giant that is owned by embattled French tycoon Patrick Drahi. On the wider market, the FTSE 100 fell 1pc, or 83.62 points, to 8273.32 and the FTSE 250 lost 0.8pc, or 171.32 points, to 20986.15.
Shares in a North Sea oil and gas minnow jumped after it backed a £174m takeover.
Zoo Digital Group laid bare the impact of last year’s Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes.
The group, which provides dubbing and subtitling for film and TV distributors, saw revenues slump 55pc to £31m in the year to the end of March as new productions ground to a halt.
The company also swung to a loss of £15.7m, having made a £6.1m profit the year before. Shares tumbled 15.2pc, or 9.6p, to 53.4p.
Education software provider Tribal Group revealed a dip in sales following last year’s takeover interest. The group paused discussions over new contracts while it was in an offer period in October last year after a £159m offer from its US peer Ellucian, which ultimately decided to walk away. This, alongside continuing concerns among universities on a potential fall in international student numbers, impacted the group’s revenues in the first half of 2024. Shares retreated 3.5pc, or 2p, to 56p.
Machining firm Castings warned its annual results will be worse than hoped as demand among its commercial vehicle customers remained subdued. Shares slumped 9.4pc, or 32p, to 308p.
Sosandar is opening its third store in October as it gears up for the key festive season.
The women’s fashion retailer said its latest site will be in the Metrocentre shopping centre just outside Newcastle.
Sosandar is already preparing to open its first two stores in Chelmsford in Essex and Marlow in Buckinghamshire next month.
Shares yesterday rose 5.7pc, or 0.5p, to 9.25p.