Telecoms giant Three has paid out a record £2 billion dividend to the Hong Kong-listed conglomerate of billionaire Li Ka-shing, as it cashes in on the sale of mobile phone masts across Europe. Hutchison 3G, which trades as Three and has ten million customers and more than 4,500 employees in the UK, paid out the money months before increasing some of its contract prices by 14 per cent. The British company is owned by 95-year-old Li’s CK Hutchison Holdings, which has drawn scrutiny in the past for dividends taken from its other UK assets. The latest payout marks the first time that CK Hutchison has taken a dividend from Three, which it launched in the UK market 20 years ago. – The Sunday Times