BSkyB, 21st Century Fox Talk Deals; Carphone, Dixon to Merge

Nigel Thomas
12 May, 2014
New York City

Alstom secured a

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – Alstom secured a €150 million contract from Azerbaijan. BSkyB is in talk to acquire 57% stake in Sky Deutschland AG and Sky Italia for €3.2 billion. Carphone Warehouse plans to merge with Dixons in a deal valued £3.6 billion.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index gained 0.4% or 30.09 to 6,844.66 and in Frankfurt the DAX index jumped 1.1% or 104.47 to 9,686.92.

In Paris, CAC 40 index rose 0.2% or 10.08 to 4,487.36.

Alstom SA jumped 2.9% to €60.27 after the France-based transport and energy infrastructure provider secured a contract worth €150 million or $207 million to supply freight locomotives to Azerbaijan.

Anite Plc surged 9.1% to 90.55 pence after the U.K.-based hardware and software solution provider said its handset-testing business had a ""strong"" final quarter of the year, and the group expects to report full year revenue and adjusted operating profit in line with expectations.

Anite will report its full-year results on July 2 for the financial year ended in April.

The company said it is still investigating the potential sale of its travel reservation software business.

British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc dropped 2.4% to 868.45 pence after the U.K.-based pay television service provider confirmed it is in talk to acquire 57% stake in Sky Deutschland AG and Sky Italia from 21st Century Fox worth around €3.2 billion or $4.4 billion.

Carphone Warehouse Group Plc gained 1.3% to 324.20 pence after the U.K.-based computer and electronics retailer plans to merge with Dixons Retail in a deal valued £3.6 billion. The retailers likely to confirm their “merger of equals” following two months of talks.

Lonmin Plc slipped 1.7% to 277.80 pence after the U.K.-based mining and refining company said revenue in the first-half ending in March declined 21.4% to $578 million from $735 million a year ago.

Net for the period swung to a loss $211 million compared to a profit of $88 million and earnings per share swung to a loss of 35.5 cents from profit of 13.3 cents a year earlier.