Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: The Stock Movers Report, your roundup of companies making moves
Speaker 2: in the stock market, harnessing the power of Bloomberg Data.
Speaker 1: Now, let's take a look at some of the stocks
Speaker 1: on the move today in Europe. I'm Lidie Burden in
Speaker 1: London with Stephen Carroll in Brussels, when we're joined by
Speaker 1: Bloomberg's Teawa Ada Bio. Good morning teawear So you're here
Speaker 1: with the British theme today, starting off with BT.
Speaker 3: Yes, well, we received the news this morning that US
Speaker 3: firm Verizon Communications and of course the UK's BT have
Speaker 3: agreed to create this joint venture which is for their
Speaker 3: international businesses. It's set to have a combined yearly revenue
Speaker 3: of about four billion dollars, so quite a big deal.
Speaker 3: But as part of it, interestingly, Verizon has agreed to
Speaker 3: this equalization payment of six hundred and twenty five million
Speaker 3: dollars to BET. That's according to a statement from the
Speaker 3: companies today. It can firms an earlier Bloomberg report, and
Speaker 3: it says that the companies will continue to hold equal
Speaker 3: voting rights in the venture and it is subject to
Speaker 3: regulatory approval still but this balancing payment from Verizon does
Speaker 3: imply quite a generous sale multiple for BP. It's more
Speaker 3: than ten times ebit darts according to some research which
Speaker 3: has come out, one analyst saying that the deal looks
Speaker 3: like a neat and attractive exit for BT. It does
Speaker 3: come after BT has been looking for options for its
Speaker 3: international business for quite some time now that international business
Speaker 3: has been weighing on its growth for years. It does
Speaker 3: offer a service to multinational corporations in about one hundred
Speaker 3: and eighty countries. But in terms of investor reaction, positive
Speaker 3: reaction so far today in terms of BT up as
Speaker 3: much as two point three percent this morning on the news.
Speaker 3: Verizon also closed up just over one percent yesterday in
Speaker 3: the US. But BT has cut its sales guidance after
Speaker 3: announcing this deal, and it says that's because the international
Speaker 3: business and other divestments will be treated as non core assets.
Speaker 3: So a positive reaction for this deal for BT this morning.
Speaker 2: Okay, So next to British American tobacco and news of
Speaker 2: big job cuts.
Speaker 3: Yes, looking at British American Tobacco, it is reducing its
Speaker 3: workforce by about one fifth. That's part of a sweeping
Speaker 3: plan to bring down costs and also simplify operations. So
Speaker 3: we're looking at by the end of this year, BAT
Speaker 3: slashing five thousand over five thousand actually jobs and outsourcing
Speaker 3: a further three thousand, five hundred. That's according to an
Speaker 3: internal notice our Bloomberg has seen these numbers, and I
Speaker 3: can tell you they don't include Bat's US business that's
Speaker 3: operated through a subsidiary. But nevertheless, we're seeing shares falling
Speaker 3: on this news, down just under two percent. It's a
Speaker 3: bit of a change because we've seen bt B eighty
Speaker 3: rather do pretty well. It's up at nearly thirteen percent
Speaker 3: since the start of the year through Friday's close. But
Speaker 3: it is contending with this falling demand that we're seeing
Speaker 3: in the sector for traditional cigarettes, and this needs to
Speaker 3: invest in and develop more sustainable alternatives. We're seeing the
Speaker 3: likes of vapes, for example, soaring in popularity people looking
Speaker 3: to quit smoking. And we're also seeing this change or
Speaker 3: this shift from rivals like Philip Morris as well. Like BAT,
Speaker 3: they also want to generate more than half of their
Speaker 3: revenue from smoke free nicotine products. We've seen BAT partner
Speaker 3: with Accenture to outsource a number of their functions as
Speaker 3: they look to make this broader shift. That's including service centers,
Speaker 3: which typically employ quite a big proportion of the workforce.
Speaker 3: So it's likely we'll see further cuts before the end
Speaker 3: of the year there from B eight.
Speaker 1: Just finally, Tea worths I'm insight into the much talked
Speaker 1: about tech trade with moves for investor Process. So I
Speaker 1: was speaking to the CEO earlier.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so Process one of the biggest winners on the
Speaker 3: stock six hundred this morning. That's the global consumer and
Speaker 3: Internet investor. They've revealed today that profit has more than
Speaker 3: doubled in the last fiscal year. That's ahead of analyst estimates,
Speaker 3: and primarily this is due to an increase in the
Speaker 3: value of the state that it has in ten cent
Speaker 3: in China, so that's really boosted earnings adjusted ebit was
Speaker 3: over one billion in the twelve months through March. So
Speaker 3: investors are reacting well to this news. Shares up just
Speaker 3: under four percent, a positive move. This morning. We saw
Speaker 3: a new CEO come on board in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3: Is that you mentioned you spoke to him this morning.
Speaker 3: He's really working to drive up the company's growth rate.
Speaker 3: So he's made large investments in companies including just Eat
Speaker 3: and Just last week as well four hundred million euro
Speaker 3: investment in French health tech company Alan. So it's certainly
Speaker 3: one to watch, especially as we see the tech story
Speaker 3: continuing to make these twists and turns, specifically in Asia.
Speaker 3: Of course, the news this morning that South Korea is
Speaker 3: orchestrating those investments into chips and data centers as it
Speaker 3: tries to drive the digital infrastructure. So want to watch
Speaker 3: in the coming weeks and months.
Speaker 2: The Stockmovers Report from Bloomberg Radio. Check back with us
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