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Highlights
- Shares of BT Plc collapsed approximately 8% to a six-month low
- After partially recovering in late deals, the stock was trading 4% lower
Shares of BT Plc (LON: BT), the UK’s largest telecommunications company, collapsed approximately 8% on Monday, after a news report surfaced suggesting a potential deal between Sky and Virgin Media O2. The stock of BT started marginally lower, slipped to a fresh six-month low in the wee hours of trading.
According to a Reuters report, Sky is apparently in talks with Virgin Media O2 for a potential investment in latters plan of extending its network to 80% of the total serviceable locations. Virgin Media O2 has already unveiled its plan of upgrading its existing network to full fibre by the end of 2028, alongside extending the network to another 7 million premises in the upcoming years. With the apparent deal between Virgin Media O2 and Sky, the former will become a fierce competitor of BT.
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Following the development, the shares of BT Group cracked as much as 7.87% to an intraday bottom of GBX 146.35 from the previous closing price of GBX 158.85. This has been the lowest price in over six months. The stock of BT last touched a share price of GBX 145.65 on 26 March 2021.
BT shares (4 October 2021)
Source: REFINITIV
As the trading progressed, BT shares recovered partly but continued to oscillate in the negative region. At 15:05 BST, the stock was trading at GBX 152.90, down 3.75%.
The last 12 months have been quite remarkable for the shares of BT with the stock doubling its value and then again eroding a considerable portion of gains.
Even after recovering from the Covid-steered slump, shares of BT trade at a multi-year low given the uncertainty and competition in the broadband, mobile and fixed-line services market. The company is slated to announce the quarterly earnings soon in the upcoming weeks. The extent of benefit of the removal of social distancing guidelines and pandemic-related restrictions will be watched very closely by the investors.
BT Group plc ("BT") is pleased to announce that Adam Crozier will succeed Jan du Plessis as Chairman. Adam will join the Board as an independent non-executive director and Chairman Designate with effect from 1 November 2021 and will become Chairman with effect from 1 December 2021 when Jan will retire from the BT Board.
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Recently, in the July-September quarter itself, the corporation appointed Adam Crozier as the Chairman of BT, succeeding Jan du Plessis. As of now, Adam serves as the Chairman of Whitbread Plc ASOS Plc, Kantar Group Ltd, alongside as a non-executive director of Sony Corp. Previously, Adam had served as the CEO of Royal Mail Holdings plc and CEO of ITV Plc.
At BT, Adam is expected to begin the journey as Chairman Designate and a non-executive director from 1 November 2021. He will become the Chairman from 1 December 2021 following the departure of Jan.
