THE DAILY BRIEFING
■ 5G FURY A sale of 4G and 5G mobile networks announced by regulator Ofcom yesterday was branded a ‘kick in the teeth’ for consumers by Three, which said it was considering ‘all options’ in response. Three wants Ofcom to cap how much of the mobile spectrum any one firm can own and claims competitors EE and Vodafone are too dominant. Ofcom insisted it was acting in the interest of customers.
■ HIGH FLYING A record 6.8m passengers used Heathrow last month, up 2.3pc on the year before. Numbers travelling through the airport passed 77m in a year for the first time in its history. The airport hit a daily record of 259,917 travellers.
■ PRICE CUT Social media giant Facebook has cut the price of its virtual reality headset by a third to encourage sales. Since Monday, the Oculus Rift and its controllers have been on sale for £400, instead of £600, which is aimed at attracting customers who ‘may have been sitting on the sidelines due to price’.
■ SHARES SOLD Holiday firm Tui has sold the rest of its shares in German container shipping firm HapagLloyd for ¤244.4m. The funds will go into Tui’s hotel and cruise brands.
■ TUNNEL TRAFFIC Passenger traffic at Eurotunnel dropped 7pc in June as the firm faced tough comparisons from last year when Euro 2016 boosted numbers. The group saw net consolidated profit nearly triple to £171m last year, from £64m in 2015.
■ BOARD ROLE Financial advisory group Begbies Traynor has appointed property services veteran Mark Stupples, 55, to its board.
■ FLOAT BOSS Ken Hanna, the chairman of power generator supplier Aggreko, was named chair of
Arena Events Group, which supplies seats and temporary structures for the Wimbledon Championships, as it plans a £60m AIM float.
■ PROFIT BOOST Shares in Galliford Try bounced back yesterday, rising 8pc, as the firm said profits would be higher than estimates.
■ AIRLINE TONIC Premium tonic maker Fevertree has signed a deal with Virgin Atlantic to supply mixers across its fleet.
■ FUND CALL Tory MP John Penrose, who hopes to be chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, has called for an inquiry into whether the UK should set up a sovereign wealth fund.