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

1st Quarter Results

Key points for the first quarter:

· Underlying revenue excluding transit up 0.5%
· Cost transformation running at a similar pace to last financial year; underlying operating costs4 excluding transit and BT Sport down 3%

· EBITDA1 flat and earnings per share1 up 10%
· BT Global Services and BT Business both grew EBITDA despite lower revenue
· Our outlook remains unchanged

Berenberg Buy 380.10 381.80 460.00 475.00 Retains

Espirito Santo Execution Noble Buy 380.10 381.80 455.00 480.00 Reiterates

Left a buy limit on spreads @ 392.23

ISABEL HUDSON TO JOIN BT BOARD

Isabel Hudson, non-executive Chair of the National House Building Council (NHBC) is to join the BT Board as a non-executive director and a member of the BT Pensions Committee. Her appointment takes effect from 1 November 2014.

Isabel has had an extensive career in financial services in the life, non-life and pensions industries in a number of senior roles, including in M&A and as finance director. She has worked both in the UK and in continental Europe.

Long on the spreads @ 388.91

Stop to 398.91 to lock in + 10

Half Yearly Report

Key points for the second quarter:

· Underlying revenue2 excluding transit up 0.2%
· Underlying operating costs4 excluding transit down 1%
· EBITDA1 up 1% and earnings per share1 up 15%
· 344,000 Openreach fibre broadband net connections, up 9%
· Interim dividend up 15% to 3.9p
· Outlook reaffirmed

Just gone long @364.20p

Joined you skinny Dec contract on spreads @ 366.01

All yours for now skinny, out for a butty if it can't bounce on a day like today, will check out next week.

I'll hold for now Chris as its in the money - I had a largish punt on LLOY at the same time, which I've closed for +2.5p - I'm quite happy with that!

Well held skinny, looks like I was premature. Good luck.

BT rules out sale of outsourcing arm
The telecoms company will disappoint investors who wanted the group to offload the Global Services business

By Christopher Williams, Ashley Armstrong and Ben Marlow8:30PM GMT 15 Nov 2014Comments2 Comments
BT has ruled out a spin-off or sale of its giant Global Services outsourcing arm in the face of pressure from several major shareholders to offload the business.
It is understood that BT recently held internal discussions about a sell-off that could raise around £10bn – fuelling speculation about the future of the once troubled business. But this weekend BT sought to put an end to the sell-off talk with a rare public commitment to keep Global Services.
A BT spokesman said: “BT has no plans to sell its Global Services division. It is a much improved part of the business and we are pleased with the continued progress it is making.”
The announcement will disappoint several top shareholders who told The Telegraph they would support an exit from the IT outsourcing market.
Global Services is now widely seen as a non-core asset that weighs on BT and its main, growing business selling services on Britain’s telecoms network.

One major shareholder said “We’ve been wondering about the future of it for a while. We’d be supportive of a demerger because we think the stock market would value Global Services at a much higher multiple and we tell management every time we see them that we’d like to see them do it,”
Another leading investor said: “We’ve had concerns about this for a long time and we think it would be a very good idea.”
Global Services delivers major IT projects and services for governments and corporations in more than 170 countries, but has long been a problem child for the group. It was founded 20 years ago through a merger of BT divisions and then built up in an acquisition spree in the 2000s under former group chief executive Ben Verwaayen. The rapid expansion proved disastrous and led to two profit warnings that in 2009 sent BT shares to their lowest level since privatisation.
In the following five years BT has stripped costs from Global Services and reorganised the operation to be more efficient. In the most recent quarter it reported a 5pc decline in sales to £1.65bn, mostly driven by the end of contracts with the British government, but a 2pc rise in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, to £226m.
Nevertheless it remains BT’s lowest-margin division. However, some shareholders noted that disposing of the business could prove fraught as there are significant crossovers with other parts of BT, particularly in the domestic market.
At BT’s recent interim results, Gavin Patterson, its chief executive, said the company needed to do a better job communicating to shareholders why Global Services is a valuable part of the group.

BT rules out sale of outsourcing arm
The telecoms company will disappoint investors who wanted the group to offload the Global Services business

By Christopher Williams, Ashley Armstrong and Ben Marlow8:30PM GMT 15 Nov 2014Comments2 Comments
BT has ruled out a spin-off or sale of its giant Global Services outsourcing arm in the face of pressure from several major shareholders to offload the business.
It is understood that BT recently held internal discussions about a sell-off that could raise around £10bn – fuelling speculation about the future of the once troubled business. But this weekend BT sought to put an end to the sell-off talk with a rare public commitment to keep Global Services.
A BT spokesman said: “BT has no plans to sell its Global Services division. It is a much improved part of the business and we are pleased with the continued progress it is making.”
The announcement will disappoint several top shareholders who told The Telegraph they would support an exit from the IT outsourcing market.
Global Services is now widely seen as a non-core asset that weighs on BT and its main, growing business selling services on Britain’s telecoms network.

One major shareholder said “We’ve been wondering about the future of it for a while. We’d be supportive of a demerger because we think the stock market would value Global Services at a much higher multiple and we tell management every time we see them that we’d like to see them do it,”
Another leading investor said: “We’ve had concerns about this for a long time and we think it would be a very good idea.”
Global Services delivers major IT projects and services for governments and corporations in more than 170 countries, but has long been a problem child for the group. It was founded 20 years ago through a merger of BT divisions and then built up in an acquisition spree in the 2000s under former group chief executive Ben Verwaayen. The rapid expansion proved disastrous and led to two profit warnings that in 2009 sent BT shares to their lowest level since privatisation.
In the following five years BT has stripped costs from Global Services and reorganised the operation to be more efficient. In the most recent quarter it reported a 5pc decline in sales to £1.65bn, mostly driven by the end of contracts with the British government, but a 2pc rise in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, to £226m.
Nevertheless it remains BT’s lowest-margin division. However, some shareholders noted that disposing of the business could prove fraught as there are significant crossovers with other parts of BT, particularly in the domestic market.
At BT’s recent interim results, Gavin Patterson, its chief executive, said the company needed to do a better job communicating to shareholders why Global Services is a valuable part of the group.

More Premier League games could be shown live and at a lower cost as Ofcom examines rights sales
Ofcom will ask probe whether subscribers to Sky Sports and BT Sport are being charged too much - and whether fans want 3pm kick-offs on Saturdays televised

By Ben Rumsby10:37AM GMT 18 Nov 2014 Comments2 Comments
More Premier League games could be shown live on television - including matches kicking off at 3pm on Saturday - at a cheaper price in future after Ofcom opened an investigation into the way they are sold in the UK.
The media watchdog announced on Tuesday it would examine whether subscribers to Sky Sports and BT Sport are being ripped off by selling arrangements which witnessed a 70 per cent increase in broadcast revenues at the most recent TV rights auction. Ofcom will consult fans over whether they would like more matches to be televised, and whether matches played at 3pm on a Saturday should be shown live in this country, which could be a disincentive to supporters attending lower league matches at that time.
Ofcom's decision, which followed a formal complaint from Virgin Media in September, could delay the next rights auction, which had been due to begin early next year.
The investigation will be carried out under the Competition Act and will consider "whether there is a breach of the UK and/or EU competition law prohibition on agreements and decisions which restrict or distort competition".
Ofcom said in a statement: "This case is at an early stage and Ofcom has not reached a view as to whether there is sufficient evidence of an infringement of competition law for it to issue a statement of objections."

Outlining the objection of Virgin Media, which predicted a 60 per cent increase on the current £3 billion contract and ruled out bidding for that reason, the watchdog added: "Virgin Media's complaint alleges that the arrangements for the 'collective' selling of live UK television rights by the Premier League for matches played by its member clubs is in breach of competition law.
"In particular, the complaint raises concerns about the number of Premier League matches for which live broadcasting rights are made available.
"Virgin Media argues that the proportion of matches made available for live television broadcast under the current Premier League rights deals - at 41 per cent - is lower than some other leading European leagues, where more matches are available for live television broadcast.
"The complaint alleges that this contributes to higher prices for consumers of pay-TV packages that include premium sport channels and for the pay-TV retailers of premium sports channels."
Ofcom said it was "mindful of the likely timing of the next auction of live UK audio-visual media rights, and is open to discussion with the Premier League about its plans".
It also revealed it would consider the views of supporters' groups, many of whom would object to more games being switched from 3pm on Saturdays.
Under current rules designed to protect lower-league attendances, that would be the only way for more live matches being shown on television.
Ofcom said: "Ofcom understands that the scheduling of football games is important to many football fans, in particular attending 3pm kick-offs on Saturdays.
"The investigation will take this into account and Ofcom plans to approach the Football Supporters' Federation and certain other supporters' groups to understand their views."

More Premier League games could be shown live and at a lower cost as Ofcom examines rights sales
Ofcom will ask probe whether subscribers to Sky Sports and BT Sport are being charged too much - and whether fans want 3pm kick-offs on Saturdays televised

By Ben Rumsby10:37AM GMT 18 Nov 2014 Comments2 Comments
More Premier League games could be shown live on television - including matches kicking off at 3pm on Saturday - at a cheaper price in future after Ofcom opened an investigation into the way they are sold in the UK.
The media watchdog announced on Tuesday it would examine whether subscribers to Sky Sports and BT Sport are being ripped off by selling arrangements which witnessed a 70 per cent increase in broadcast revenues at the most recent TV rights auction. Ofcom will consult fans over whether they would like more matches to be televised, and whether matches played at 3pm on a Saturday should be shown live in this country, which could be a disincentive to supporters attending lower league matches at that time.
Ofcom's decision, which followed a formal complaint from Virgin Media in September, could delay the next rights auction, which had been due to begin early next year.
The investigation will be carried out under the Competition Act and will consider "whether there is a breach of the UK and/or EU competition law prohibition on agreements and decisions which restrict or distort competition".
Ofcom said in a statement: "This case is at an early stage and Ofcom has not reached a view as to whether there is sufficient evidence of an infringement of competition law for it to issue a statement of objections."

Outlining the objection of Virgin Media, which predicted a 60 per cent increase on the current £3 billion contract and ruled out bidding for that reason, the watchdog added: "Virgin Media's complaint alleges that the arrangements for the 'collective' selling of live UK television rights by the Premier League for matches played by its member clubs is in breach of competition law.
"In particular, the complaint raises concerns about the number of Premier League matches for which live broadcasting rights are made available.
"Virgin Media argues that the proportion of matches made available for live television broadcast under the current Premier League rights deals - at 41 per cent - is lower than some other leading European leagues, where more matches are available for live television broadcast.
"The complaint alleges that this contributes to higher prices for consumers of pay-TV packages that include premium sport channels and for the pay-TV retailers of premium sports channels."
Ofcom said it was "mindful of the likely timing of the next auction of live UK audio-visual media rights, and is open to discussion with the Premier League about its plans".
It also revealed it would consider the views of supporters' groups, many of whom would object to more games being switched from 3pm on Saturdays.
Under current rules designed to protect lower-league attendances, that would be the only way for more live matches being shown on television.
Ofcom said: "Ofcom understands that the scheduling of football games is important to many football fans, in particular attending 3pm kick-offs on Saturdays.
"The investigation will take this into account and Ofcom plans to approach the Football Supporters' Federation and certain other supporters' groups to understand their views."

RESPONSE TO RECENT PRESS SPECULATION

BT Group plc (BT) notes the recent press speculation relating to a potential transaction involving Telefónica UK (O2) in the UK.

We continue to develop our own plans for providing enhanced mobile services to business and consumer customers, in line with our previous announcements. We remain confident of delivering on these plans and have also been exploring ways of accelerating them, including assessing the merits of an acquisition of a mobile network operator in the UK.

We have received expressions of interest from shareholders in two UK mobile network operators, of which one is O2, about a possible transaction in which BT would acquire their UK mobile business. All discussions are at a highly preliminary stage and there can be no certainty that any transaction will occur.

A further announcement will be made if and when appropriate.



-Ends-

of which one is O2,

Any idea who the other is ?

Talk Talk?

Most lunchtime flyers seem to think the 'other' option is EE.