By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index inched higher
on Monday, with shares of Shire PLC among major advancers after an
acquisition, while British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC and ITV PLC
declined after rival BT Group won the rights to broadcast Champions
League soccer matches.
The benchmark index added 0.1% to 6,716.09, building on a 0.2%
gain from Friday.
Shares of Shire climbed 3.6% after the drug maker said it is
buying rare-disease company ViroPharma Inc. (VPHM) for $4.2
billion, or $50 a share.
Hammerson PLC gained 1.5% after the property-development and
investment firm said it is seeing ongoing signs of recovery in its
markets and it is "well-positioned to capitalize" on those
opportunities.
The broadcasting sector was also in the spotlight after BT Group
PLC bought the rights to broadcast live Champions League and Europa
League soccer matches for 897 million pounds ($1.4 billion). Shares
of BT Group inched 0.4% higher.
The rights are currently held by rivals British Sky Broadcasting
, whose shares skidded 10%, and ITV PLC , which fell 0.9%. Nomura
cut BSkyB to reduce from buy, while Citigroup said ITV is probably
the bigger casualty of BT's rights acquisition and lowered the
rating to neutral from buy.
"On BSkyB, while not welcome, we think this is handle-able and
would see significant weakness as an opportunity to buy the
shares," the Citi analysts said.
Shares of RSA Insurance Group PLC slid 9.6% after the company
late Friday issued a profit warning for the full year and said it
had suspended the chief executive and chief financial officer of
its Irish division, as it investigates issues that were identified
during a routine audit.
Credit Suisse cut the insurance firm to underperform from
neutral following the announcement of problems with the Irish
business.
Sage Group PLC added 1.3% after the software firm appointed
Steve Hare as its chief financial officer effective Jan. 3 to
replace Paul Harrison, who stepped down in August.
Outside the main index in London, shares of Lonmin PLC leapt
6.6% after the platinum miner said it swung to profit on the full
year as it recovered from the effects of a violent strike last
year.
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