LIVE: BT fined for 999 failures; Entain appoints chief executive; UK dividends hit record

Rentokil shares will be in the spotlight when the stock market opens today amid reports it has emerged as the City’s latest takeover target.

The FTSE 100 pest controller is at the centre of a £15bn raid by the former BT boss.

Philip Jansen, who left earlier this year, is seeking private equity funding for a deal that would make him chief executive.

Richard Hunter, director of markets at Interactive Investor:

‘This week… will mark the serious start to the corporate reporting season, with a raft of updates expected from the likes of BT, Vodafone, Unilever, AstraZeneca and ITV.

‘Also of particular interest will be half-yearly numbers from Lloyds Banking and NatWest, where investors will be looking to the usual metrics of net interest income, net interest margin, capital buffer levels and cost/income ratios for clues as to the current state of operations.

‘At the same time, shareholder returns will also be in focus, with the possibility of further share buybacks, in addition to the generous dividend yields currently being handed out by banks.

‘In addition, any increase in the level of customer defaults will also receive attention, although both banks have so far taken a risk-intelligent approach.’

Gambling giant Entain has appointed Gavin Isaacs, former head of US lottery and betting firm Scientific Games Corp, as its new chief executive, effective September 2.

Entain said Isaacs has more than 25 years of experience in the global sports betting, gaming and lottery industries, having held roles at companies including DraftKings Inc, SB Tech, Bally Technologies Inc and Aristocrat Technologies.

Issacs was a former board member of sports betting firm DraftKings, which in 2021 abandoned its $22 billion takeover bid for Entain to focus on its core market, the United States.

Amid a challenging past year marked by sanctions settlements over alleged bribery at its former Turkish operations and the sudden departure of Nygaard-Andersen, the company has now made a new appointment.

The company announced in April that its chairman, Barry Gibson, could potentially leave the company before September, ending his tenure of more than four years, if a chief executive was appointed earlier, leaving interim CEO Stella David in his place.

Former Entain CEO Jette Nygaard-Andersen resigned in December 2023, following reports that certain shareholders were unhappy with her leadership.

In April, the group reported a smaller-than-expected drop in online gaming revenue for the first quarter as a rise in active customers helped it offset tough competition and regulatory pressures in its core markets.

Gambling companies, which benefited from the surge in online betting during the pandemic, are grappling with tighter regulations and a cost-of-living crisis.

One-off special payments boosted dividends paid by UK-listed companies to a new record, but the mining sector dragged down regular payouts.

Headline figures show dividends rose 11.2 per cent to £36.7bn in the second quarter, according to Computershare’s Dividend Monitor.

Underlying growth was significantly slower, with regular dividends up just 1 percent thanks to a big cut in mining payouts, but still hitting a record £32.5 billion during the quarter.

Britain’s communications watchdog has fined BT Group £17.5m after the telecoms firm suffered a network outage affecting 14,000 emergency calls in June last year.

Ofcom said: “We found that BT did not have sufficient warning systems in place for when this type of incident occurs, nor did it have adequate procedures in place to quickly assess the severity, impact and likely cause of any such incident or to identify mitigating actions.”