Sharewatch: BSkyB Could Face Shareholder Unrest

BSkyB was seen in focus with reports that shareholders are preparing to register a protest vote against Lord St John of Fawsley at the satellite broadcaster’s forthcoming annual meeting over his role as the company’s senior non-executive director. The stock was up by 1.26% yesterday.

Meanwhile, WPP remained in the spotlight up by 2.32% after reporting that quarterly revenues had broken through the £1 billion mark for the first time in the three months to September 2003 (see WPP Enjoys Healthy Third Quarter).

Reuters saw shares remain stable yesterday after recently announcing that revenues continued to fall in the third quarter of 2003. However, the company says it is delivering ‘according to plan’, despite unfavourable market conditions.

Broader market sentiment was dented yesterday as London blue chips edged lower for the first time this week as fears over potential liabilities at gases group BOC weighed on dealer’s minds. The FTSE 100 closed 0.2% lower at 4.265.7.

The closing prices of media company shares on Wednesday were: