If Bt has bought back 2million 5 thousand shares to day. How come it shows on trades as a sell?

Lubbly jubbly except for .... "now expect fibre to be available to two-thirds of UK premises during spring 2014" ....



.... bet I'm one of third who it ain't available to.


My target now 280p next 6 months.

BT Group got a boost from interim results, and the price perked up 13.8p (6.5%) to 226.3p. Although revenues for the six months fell by 7% to £8.96 billion, pre-tax profit and adjusted earnings per share both climbed by 8%, and the interim dividend was lifted by 15% to 3p per share.

A similar rise in the final dividend should provide us with a full-year payout of around 4.3%, with the shares on a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of only 8.5.

Recommended cash offer for Tikit Group plc

Summary

· The boards of directors of British Telecommunications plc ("BT") and Tikit Group plc ("Tikit") are pleased to announce that they have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended cash offer by which the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Tikit will be acquired by BT (the "Offer"). It is intended that the Offer be effected by way of a Court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement under Part 26 of the Companies Act.

· Under the terms of the Offer, each Scheme Shareholder will be entitled to receive 416 pence in cash for each Tikit Share held at the Scheme Record Time.

· The Offer values the issued and to be issued share capital of Tikit at approximately £64.2 million.

· The price of 416 pence in cash for each Scheme Share represents a premium of approximately:

· 18 per cent. to the closing price of 354 pence per Tikit Share on 13 November 2012, the Business Day immediately prior to the Announcement Date;

· 26 per cent. to the average closing price of 330 pence per Tikit Share over the three month period ended 13 November 2012; and

· 29 per cent. to the average closing price of 323 pence per Tikit Share over the six month period ended 13 November 2012.

· The Offer enables BT to combine the strengths of Tikit's expertise, portfolio, relationships and deep understanding of the needs of the legal sector with BT's scale and breadth of products, creating a differentiated offering with the ability to supply, install, support and fix mission-critical IT applications and ICT infrastructure through a single point of contact.

BT Group PLC BT COMPLETES SALE OF REMAINING TECH MAHINDRA STAKE

BT announces that it has today completed the sale of its remaining 9.1% shareholding (11.6m shares) in Tech Mahindra Ltd. (Tech Mahindra) to institutional investors for total gross cash proceeds of INR 10,114 million (GBP115.7 million ) at INR 871.00 per share.

The financial impact of the disposal is expected to be treated as an income statement specific item in BT's next financial results.

Tech Mahindra remains a key supplier to BT.

BT @4+ year highs @441p

Is that wishful thinking skinny.
2517

You've caught me - ok 241p :-)

Link copied :- HAMMER RAISED FOR 4G AUCTION

THE largest-ever sale of mobile airwaves in the UK kicks off this month when the auction for 4G mobile spectrum begins.

The Government hopes the sale will net £3.5 billion for the Treasury, helping the Chancellor George Osborne to meet his deficit reduction targets. However, analysts say the spectrum will fetch anywhere between £2 billion and £4 billion, the former potentially giving Osborne a severe headache.

New high this morning 248.3.

Update due 1st Feb.

251.3 - highest since 2008.

JP Morgan Cazenove Overweight 250.35 248.70 250.00 280.00 Resumes

Bank of America Merrill Lynch Neutral 246.25 252.10 285.00 265.00 Downgrade

A couple more broker notes :-

Oriel Securities Buy 245.35 252.10 310.00 310.00 Reiterates

Societe Generale Hold 245.35 252.10 220.00 245.00 Reiterates

Update on Friday 1st.

3rd Quarter Results

Ian Livingston, Chief Executive, commenting on the results, said:

"Our fibre plans are helping to make the UK a broadband leader in Europe. More than 13 million premises can access our fibre broadband and we are passing around 100,000 additional premises every week. Take-up is growing strongly with around 1.25 million homes and businesses now enjoying the benefits of faster speeds. This gives us an excellent platform for our push into TV and Sport later this year. Our pre-season training is going well. We have secured attractive new content and world class production facilities at the Olympic Park and are building a strong team.

"Our engineers have worked tirelessly following some of the wettest weather on record. Not only did they complete a record number of field visits in the quarter, they also connected a further 281,000 homes and businesses to broadband and helped us grow the number of landlines. BT Global Services has also done well securing £1.9bn of new orders, up 17%.

"We have made progress in a number of areas and delivered solid financial results. These are in line with our expectations for the year, which remain unchanged."

Cost controls help BT to beat profit forecasts

LONDON | Fri Feb 1, 2013 7:07am GMT

(Reuters) - Strong demand for broadband and tight cost control helped Britain's BT to post a better-than-expected 7 percent rise in third-quarter profit, and to keep its outlook unchanged.

In a continuation of the strategy that has sent shares in the group to a near five-year high, BT said it had recorded profits in the three months to December 31 of 675 million pounds, compared with a forecast of 632 million pounds.

Group revenues, weighed down by regulation and recession, were down 6 percent and down 3 percent on an underlying basis excluding transit revenues.

The group was boosted by 122,000 new broadband customers after it employed more engineers in recent months, and the move by more than a million of its BT Retail customers to take its faster BT Fibre product.

A lone candle atm

I do believe we are due to receive the 3p interim dividend next week skinny.

Yep - Monday!