A chip off the old block?

THE investment community have certainly been rolling out the red carpet for James Murdoch, BSkyB’s chief executive designate.

"We are disappointed," says Standard Life. "We are dismayed," says Morley Fund Management. "We have concerns," says Britain's National Association of Pension Funds. At just 30 years of age, James is set to become the youngest ever CEO of a FTSE 100 company and this is no ordinary FTSE company.

The satellite television company now has almost seven million subscribers and its revenues in the year to 30 June last broke through the stg£3bn barrier for the first time. BSkyB also recorded its first annual profit in five years.