BT Group Ordered to Separate Network Unit; IG Design, SSP Profit Surge

Sarla Buch
29 Nov, 2016
New York City

U.K. regulatory agency said BT Group to split its network subsidiary Openreach. Countryside Properties profit and revenues jumped on 20% increase in home prices. Crawshaw said sales in November improved. IG Design net soared 63%. SSP Group net surged 35%.

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – U.K. regulatory agency said BT Group to split its network subsidiary Openreach. Countryside Properties profit and revenues jumped on 20% increase in home prices. Crawshaw said sales in November improved. IG Design net soared 63%. SSP Group net surged 35%.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index slumped 46.16 or 0.7% to 6,754.08 and in Frankfurt the DAX index slid 10.67 to 10,574.38.

In Paris, CAC 40 index increased 20.12 or 0.5% to 4,530.51.

BT Group Plc rose 1.7% to 356.20 pence after the U.K. regulatory agency Ofcom ordered the communications services provider to separate its network subsidiary Openreach.

However, today BT said that Mike McTighe will be chairman of Openreach board that will be formed in early 2017.

Countryside Properties Plc gained 0.6% to 231.40 pence after the U.K.-based home builder reported net revenues in the year ending in September jumped 22.6% to £671.3 million.

Net profit in the year jumped three-fold from a year ago to £59.6 million compared to the £20.1 million and diluted earnings per share rose to 13.6 pence from 4.4 pence.

Countryside said profit increase was driven by home price gain of 20% from a year ago.

Crawshaw Group Plc jumped 5.3% to 23.69 pence after the U.K.-based meat-focused operator said sales declined improved to -8.1% in the 4-weeks ending on November 27 from -15.8% in the first 7-weeks of second-half.

The food producer said higher sales in the period were driven by 13% improvement in customer count across the same time period.

IG Design Group Plc, formerly International Greetings Plc advanced 3.7% to 286.75 pence after the U.K.-based gift and greetings products maker said sales in the first-half ending in September surged 21.5% to £145.5 million.

Net profit in the year soared 63.2% from a year ago to £6.2 million compared to the £3.8 million and diluted earnings per share increased to 9.5 pence from 6 pence.

The greetings products maker said as of September 30, net debt decreased by £1.7 million to £76.4 million and gross margin jumped 40.8% to £30.8 million from the same period a year ago.

SSP Group Plc soared 8.6% to 371.20 pence after the U.K.-based food and beverage supplier reported net revenues in the year ending in September jumped 5% to £2 billion.

Net profit in the year surged 34.8% from a year ago to £72 million compared to the £53.4 million and diluted earnings per share advanced to 15 pence from 11.2 pence.

SSP said pre-tax profit increased 31.1% to £105.6 million.