Proactive Investors - 7.28am: Altice increases stake in BT to 24.5%
BT Group PLC (LON:BT)’s biggest shareholder Altice has increased its stake after swooping for a further 650mln shares.
Altice, owned by Billionaire Patrick Drahi, now holds around 24.5% of the UK telco but reiterated it does not intend to make a bid for the firm.
Drahi took an initial 12.1% stake in June 2021 citing the opportunity presented by the national rollout of next generation broadband, and then increased it to 18% later that year.
Shares in BT fell heavily last week after the company unveiled plans to cut between 40,000 and 55,000 jobs - up to 42% of its workforce - by the end of the decade as it looks to trim costs and become a “leaner business with a brighter future”.
The firm said the reductions, which include both employees and third-party contractors, would be completed between 2028 and 2030.
FTSE 100 seen flat
The FTSE 100 is expected to open flat on Tuesday after a mixed showing in the US after crunch talks in the US on the debt ceiling failed to produce a deal.
Spread betting companies are calling London’s lead index unchanged.
In the US, the Dow closed Monday down 140 points, 0.4%, at 33,267, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 63 points, 0.5%, to 12,721 and the S&P 500 ended flat at 4,193.
Talks on raising the US debt ceiling in time to prevent the country from defaulting concluded without a deal on Monday, but both Republican leader Kevin McCarthy and Preisident Joe Biden expressed optimism.
"I felt we had a productive discussion. We don't have an agreement yet, but I did feel the discussion was productive in areas (where) we have differences of opinion," House Speaker McCarthy said after the talks.
In Asia on Tuesday, the Nikkei 225 index was down 0.6%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was 1.0% lower, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong declined 0.7%.
Back in London and the early focus will results from RS Group (LON:RS1R) while a PMI readings is also due.