Proactive Investors -
- FTSE 100 falls 43 to 8373
- UK inflation softened to 2.3% last month
- M&S profits beat forecasts after rising to decade high
BT fined by Ofcom
BT Group (LON:BT) has been fined £2.8 million by regulator Ofcom after its EE and Plusnet businesses failed to provide clear contract information to over a million customers before they signed up.
This breach of consumer protection rules led to the fine, which Ofcom says reflects the seriousness of the violation.
Evidence gathered showed BT was aware from January 2022 that some sales wouldn't meet the June deadline, yet chose not to comply on time, Ofcom said.
The company must now find and reimburse customers wrongly charged exit fees, contact remaining customers to offer cancellation rights, and amend its sales processes to comply with regulations.
Shares in BT fell initially but are now up 1.6%.
M&S tops Footsie leaderboard
The FTSE 100 is continuing to sink lower in early trading, but doing its best to limit this is the retail sector, with Marks & Spencer top of the FTSE leaderboard after its profits beat analysts' forecasts.
M&S shares are up almost 8% to 295.5p, around a six-year high, while Ocado (LON:OCDO) is up 1.35%, B&M 1.2%, Sainsbury's 0.9% and Tesco (LON:TSCO) 0.7%.
Peel Hunt (LON:PEEL) analyst Jonathan Pritchard says it was a "small beat" at the pre-tax profit level for M&S though the results "showcased an exceptional year for the business, with significant strategic progress made".
The profit beat was primarily driven by a very strong food performance, he said, as like-for-like sales accelerated in the fourth quarter from 10% to 12%, and the margin performance "is pleasing, already ahead of the mid-term targets".
FTSE tumbles
The FTSE 100 has tumbled lower at the open, falling 47 points to 8369.
Commodities stocks are a big drag, with miners Antofagasta (LON:ANTO), Fresnillo (LON:FRES) and Anglo American (JO:AGLJ) all down more than 1%, along with oil heavyweights BP (LON:BP) and Shell (LON:SHEL) also in the red.
Biggest faller is RS Group, the former Electrocomponents (LON:RS1R), down 8% after reporting a fall in annual profits, blamed on weakness in global industrial production and the unwinding of unusual post-pandemic trading tailwinds.
Housebuilders Persimmon (LON:PSN) and Taylor Wimpey (LON:TW) are among the blue-chip fallers as the ONS inflation reading knocks back hopes for a rate cut and therefore mortgages too.