
UK court refuses permission to appeal in BT 'overcharging' lawsuit
The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) ruled in favour of BT in December on a case which accused the former telecoms monopoly of excessively increasing prices.
Justin Le Patourel, who led the lawsuit on behalf of around 3.7 million BT customers, asked the Court of Appeal to grant permission to challenge that decision but his application was dismissed.
($1 = 0.7598 pounds)

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Times
21 minutes ago
- Times
Is this a good time to buy shares in Diageo?
The latest annual results from Diageo give every impression of papering over the cracks, reporting flat sales and lower profits, having lost a chief executive. Nik Jhangiani, the interim chief executive, produced as much positive spin as he could, even on the supercharged $625 million cost-saving programme, but could not disguise a 'challenging' environment led by rapidly changing tastes that, in the US at least, extends to competition from cannabis drinks. Operating profits fell 27.8 per cent to $4.3 billion, but before $1.4 billion of exceptional items the reduction was trimmed to 0.7 per cent, giving a healthy 21.4 per cent profit margin. The main exceptional was the sale of the US-based Ciroc subsidiary. Net profit was 39.1 per cent lower at $2.5 billion, translated into a similar-sized drop in earnings per share to 105.9 cents. That has just about let Jhangiani pay a 62.98 cents final dividend to maintain the annual payout at 103.48 cents. The stock market's reaction was to mark the shares up 89p to £19.04, suggesting investors were expecting worse. We will not have a clear picture of where the group is heading until the board confirms Jhangiani in the top job or hands it to someone else, probably in October. Whoever it is will have to do something drastic to halt Diageo shares' steady three-year decline. As Jhangiani said: 'We have a lot to do.' The stop-gap plan is to cut costs even more, promote the group's current winning brands — Guinness stout, Don Julio tequila, Johnnie Walker scotch and the blackberry-infused Canadian whisky Crown Royal — and move as quickly as possible to catch the surprisingly rapid transition to low-alcohol drinks. While no one brand can on its own put a rocket under annual sales of $20.2 billion, Jhangiani dropped hints yesterday that his researchers are stretching every sinew to come up with an alcohol- and calorie-light successor to longstanding hits such as Baileys Irish Cream. They have taken 40 per cent of the calories out of that with Baileys Deliciously Light, but so far have been unable to do without the alcohol. Meanwhile, Jhangiani is desperately trying to get his head around the unpredictable leisure habits of Gen Z, who are influenced by health considerations, other claims on their wallets and less compulsion to hit the bars on a night out. 'We need to make sure our offerings are tailored to social occasions,' he said. A lot of that boils down to moderation, the catch-all management term for no and low alcohol. While Guinness 0.0 has become a banker brand, the picture is fuzzy elsewhere. Price resistance is turning into shrinkflation with smaller spirits bottles in Asian supermarkets. And that is also influencing the alcohol content of ready-made cocktails. Overhanging the price question is President Trump's tariff campaign, which is due to add 10 per cent to UK exports to the US and 15 per cent on dispatches from Europe. Diageo reckons this could cost it $200 million a year at the operating profit level, mainly affecting the group's lucrative spirits brands. However, Jhangiani hopes to be able to offset as much as half of that with clever pricing. The Scotch Whisky Association buttonholed Trump on his recent Scottish visit to point out that if production were moved to the US, the product would no longer qualify as scotch. While gin, vodka and other spirits are a different matter, it will take years and plenty of capital to build distilleries in the US. However, Diageo has made a start with a factory in Alabama. Demand in the US and China is expected to be weaker for some time, and Europe is fragmenting. The group's former southern Europe sales force is being broken up into separate Spanish, French and Italian units to cater for different tastes. That adds to the costs that Jhangiani is trying to squeeze, while protesting that this need not mean job cuts. 'We want more feet on the street,' he said. Despite Monday's positive stock market response, in the face of strong headwinds for the next few years the company does not yet have a workable recipe to take the shares back up to anywhere near their 2022 level. Maybe it will have to turn into a full-blown soft drinks company. Advice AvoidWhy Future unclear until the CEO issue is sorted out


Daily Mail
38 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
The countries where you can earn more than the UK
Many Brits put in dozens of hours at work each week, while their wages barely grow. The average worker in the UK works for 1,524 hours a year, earning a median of £45,688, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Research by Remitly has revealed there are places abroad where Brits could bank the same while putting in hundreds of hours less. Eight out of the top ten countries are in Europe too, so British workers wouldn't need to travel far. Luxembourg ranked the highest, with an estimated hourly rate of £48.69 it's a big leap from the UK's average of £29.98. Workers in the Western European country only need to be at their desks for 125 days to bank the average UK salary. That's a huge 78 days difference in the number of working days needed in Britain. The average Luxembourger could work 480 hours less a year and still match the UK median wage, according to the analysis. However, it's important to note the cost of living in Luxembourg is 14% higher than in the UK. Iceland followed closely in second place, with employees banking £47.87 on average. Workers will only have to put in 127 days to match the British salary, meaning 76 days less. However, the cost of living is a whopping 41.5% higher compared to Britain. Norway came third, with an estimated hourly pay of £40.25, meaning employees could work 151 days and match the UK average salary. It may not stretch as far though, with the cost of living being 21% more in Norway. Denmark, Austria and Sweden were all similar, with 153, 155, 155, and 157 days needed to match Brits and their pay. In Germany, the cost of living is around 1% less than the UK and the hourly rate averages at £38.81. This means workers could put in 46 fewer days a year and still match the median British salary. America ranked eighth, followed by Australia and Sweden that have average hourly rates of £35.31, £32.23 and £32 respectively. Meanwhile, workers in Mexico would have to put in 6,211 hours to match the UK's salary. That's the same as more than 8.5 months of working every day, according to the study.


Auto Blog
39 minutes ago
- Auto Blog
Brabus-tuned Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet turns up for sale
Only 250 were ever made, and this one has hardly been used. View post: Walmart Is Selling a 'Spacious' $680 Storage Shed for $369, and Shoppers Say It's 'Very Sturdy and Weatherproof' No, It's Not A Mercedes German tuner Brabus is primarily known for its modified Mercedes-Benz luxury cars (and the occasional real-estate deal), but the company occasionally dabbles in other brands, as evidenced by this modified 2024 Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet that's currently up for sale on Bring a Trailer. The current bid is $330,000, and there are 6 days left before the auction ends. This 992 Turbo S has the Brabus 820 package, encompassing carbon fiber bodywork, mechanical upgrades courtesy of the Brabus PowerXtra P38S-820 performance package, and a new interior. The seller claims these represent about $200,000 in upgrades, contributing to an original sale price of $499,998. With six days to go in the auction, the high bid for this 1,600-mile car hadn't gotten quite that high, though. Even More Power The performance package includes a Brabus-specific exhaust system, ECU, and blow-off valves, taking output to 820 horsepower and 700 pound-feet of torque, increases of 180 hp and 130 lb-ft over the stock output of the Turbo S' twin-turbocharged 3.7-liter flat-six. Brabus claims this upgrade drops the zero to 60 mph time from 2.7 seconds to 2.5 seconds, and increases the top speed from 205 mph to 211 mph. Brabus retained the eight-speed PDK dual-clutch transaxle, all-wheel drive system, and Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control suspension with front-end lift. The hood, front bumper trim, side skirts, engine cover, front and rear spoilers, and rear diffuser are all carbon fiber under Jet Black Metallic paint. The car also wears center-locking Brabus wheels, sized 21 inches in front and 22 inches in the back, with Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires. Inside, the Brabus Masterpiece Leather Conversion package (a $66,000 option when new, according to the seller) is perfect for fans of black and red. There's plenty of carbon-fiber trim in here as well, including on the Brabus-branded steering wheel. The conversion maintains the Porsche Communication Management (PCM) infotainment system as well. 911 Evolution This low-mileage tuner car represents the current generation of 911 Turbo, but that's not going to be the case for long. Porsche unveiled a refreshed 911—dubbed 992.2—for the 2025 model year with hybrid powertrains, but the automaker kept the 911 Turbo and Turbo S as-is for that model year. During Porsche's half-year earnings call, CEO Oliver Blume confirmed that a refreshed 911 Turbo with a hybrid powertrain is on the way. It will be unveiled later this year, meaning it will likely be considered a 2026 model when it reaches the United States. We can't wait to see what Brabus does with it. About the Author Stephen Edelstein View Profile