Satellite broadcaster BSkyB has jumped 15.25p to 393.75p after it appeared to take pole position in the race to buy the UK assets of Italian broadband company Tiscali.
BSkyB is said to have bid around £450m for the business, which has also attracted interest from Carphone Warehouse and Virgin Media. Tiscali confirmed today it was in talks with BSkyB about the possible sale of the division.
Analyst James Crawshaw at Singer Capital Markets said: "The deal would enable BSkyB to leapfrog Carphone Warehouse (2.7m broadband subscribers) to become the UK's third largest ISP with 3.5m subscribers behind BT (4.5m) and Virgin (3.8m).
"Earlier in the year the press had reported that Carphone was close to buying Tiscali UK for under £450m. It may come as a disappointment to some [if] BSkyB is the acquirer (for a similar price) as Carphone's broadband market position is further weakened."
At the moment, however, Carphone shares have not been affected, rising 3.5p to 137.5p.
Meanwhile Vodafone has lost 5% to 112.9p on concerns about its trading, following BT's profit warning on Friday and signs of a slowdown in its key emerging markets. A sell note from Collins Stewart has not helped, nor have vague suggestions the company is guiding down some analysts' forecasts.
