Latest purchases take value of deals to leave capital’s stock market this year past $100bn

Three more London-listed companies are set to be taken over as the value of deals removing firms from the capital’s under-pressure stock market so far this year passes $100bn (£74bn).

On Tuesday, Bodycote, the FTSE 250 industrials group that has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 1972, agreed a £1.84bn takeover by the US private equity group Veritas.

Telecoms company to benefit from soaring prices for recycled metal recovered from full-fibre broadband rollout

BT is on track for an estimated £2bn-plus windfall over the next decade from selling off old copper cabling, as it cashes in on soaring prices amid the AI market frenzy and switches the UK’s network to full-fibre broadband.

Copper is one of the main beneficiaries of the “electrification of everything”, essential for the rapid growth of AI datacentres, electronics and the fast-growing renewable energy industry.

Planning delays and slow 5G upgrades could leave the UK unable to cope with a surge in AI-related traffic

The UK risks becoming a laggard in the global AI race as crucial telecoms upgrades to harness the technology fall behind rival nations, according to senior industry executives.

The infrastructure AI race has centred on the need to build datacentres, and to ensure they have access to the huge water and energy supplies required to cool and supply the computational power to train and run AI models.