Charles Jillings, CEO of Utilico, energized by strong economic momentum across Latin America. Watch the video here.
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No idea what this means, Sp up 137 (up 3.6% to 3944) before opening, but 1.9M sold for 3800. It was my intention to move some float here, but don't know whats going on. Anyone any ideas? BoL
Something going down
shocking IMO that directors take advantage of stock price uplift directly due to tax payer bail out of system. Such schemes should be taxed at 90%. Separately I think the assets of big landlords who also benefited from bail out could be taxed like this First 500sqm exempt Remainder subject to 25% special sales tax Remainder holdings not permitted to be used as collateral or be mortgaged, Further 'Remainder' portfolio could only be sold to fully funded buyers (mortgage free)
Not alot happening on this board, large director sells recently they'll be happy with their proceeds
£36.74 as I type versus a close yesterday of £36.86 on here, £36.81 on Google - so the ex-div drop almost wiped out in a morning - think the company will be issuing a buy back RNS tomorrow? As a side note, when I tracked the last quarter's buy back, I couldn't work out what had happened to the dividend from shares that were bought back cum-div (23-28/2) - I reckoned £188k roughly of dividend that the company saved but didn't seem to add to the latest dividend distribution - anyone else look at this and find an answer?
A post of ADVFN says announcement tomorrow, but I can't confirm that on the investor relations section of the website. That does say that the record date for the dividend will be 25th August (on the Financial Diary Tab), so ex-div 24/8 and announcement tomorrow would seem to fit that timetable. HTH
Today's RNS puts the dividend down at 55.1p ... looks to me like the board are aiming to spend half the dividend on the buy back. So my pessimistic estimate of a 50% buy back policy seems to being coming true. That's costing us poor people 3.1% per year not just this year but for every subsequent year, ie you pay 3.1% this year, and next year and so on ... *even if they stop* buying the things back! That's the power of compounding -- losses up front add up to mega losses over the years. Mike
Thanks for the update on the dates for the dividend announcement. I think you hit the nail on the head when you said "I'm sure the gain isn't solely down to the buy backs" ... that's the real question, how much of the gain _is_ due to the buy back? and how much is due to Mr. Market, Brexit and the election etc.? There's no real answer to that one, but there is a real answer to the following question "How much does the share price have to grow to compensate for a 50% buy back policy?" It's possible to analyze that precisely in a spreadsheet. Two simple scenarios ... no buy-back, £2 dividend per year completely reinvested ... vs ... dividend of £1 reinvested plus annual growth generated by the £1 buy-back. So what growth rate do you need to compensate for the buy-back? The answer is 3.1% ... you need a relentless 3.1% growth in the share price to compensate for the buy-back. Put another way, the buy-back takes 3.1% straight off the top of whatever you get and on a level share price that's a real loss of 3.1% when compared to the level dividend. I'm not so sure that BKG can guarantee outperforming the market by 3.1% every year for the next 'n' years. Mike
The change in dates was announced in the half-year report 2/12/16 when they announced that the £10 per share would be split between dividends and buy backs: "In February and August each year, the Company will announce the dividend to be paid at the end of March and September, respectively. This will be calculated as the absolute value amount to be delivered in the six months (£138.8 million based on the current shares in issue), less the cost of any share buy-backs undertaken in the relevant period. Going forward each subsequent relevant period begins on the date of announcement of the dividend for the previous relevant period." Just for reference, the SP was £27.60 at the end of 2/12/16 when they announced the buy back and about £35.50 today - a gain of roughly £8.00 a share versus a loss to date of roughly £0.55/ share in dividends (and a gain of about £0.02/ share for each of the future dividends if there were no more buy backs). I'm sure the gain isn't solely down to the buy backs, but overall I can't say I'm unhappy with the performance.
With today's RNS the dividend is down to 60.9p ... that's very nearly a 40% cut on the 100p that they promised it would be when they talked about returning £10 per share to holders. Does anyone know why this year the dividend is being announced on 17 August when it was 15 June last year ... two months later? Mike
Yep, with a pay cheque of over £500,000 a week they are using the dividend that they promised us to artificially increase the EPS so that they can be sure of getting their bonus. At the last time of reckoning the dividend had been cut to 61.5p from the 100p that it should have been. So when you get your dividend, remember that it should have been more than 50% bigger. And don't forget that what you've lost isn't being used to pay the bonus, it's being spent on insurance to help guarantee it ... the bonus comes out of other company funds -- double whammy. Mike Mike
If my diary is correct then we should be having an announcement this week about the upcoming dividend etc. By my calculations the 100p will have been reduced to 62.47p assuming that there are no further buy backs between now and the announcement. That's a hell of a reduction in income stream to 4% from the headline 6% that I was promised when I bought my shares. We shall see what the board have to say about their intentions ... but from my perspective they don't look good. Mike
There we go ... another 3p (3%) off the dividend ... now down to 63.5p from the 100p that the accounts allocated to us. When will it stop, who knows, the board haven't declared their position on that one, but looks to me that it's not going to be any time soon. Certainly, if I had the money in my pocket, and I would have if they paid the full dividend, I'd be cautious about investing at this price and in this climate. At least I would have a choice ... here I have no choice, and no choice about that bonus that they are probably securing along the way either. Mike
Seems like the board are becoming more and more desperate to secure their bonuses with the buy back ... buying bigger chunks of shares at higher and higher prices. Each of these huge purchases is costing us 3p off the dividend ... now reduced from 100 to 66.5p ... more than 33% down. I for one am not a happy bunny with this policy ... Mike
Don't know if anyone else has been keeping track of the buy back ... but my spreadsheet (which was penny perfect last time around) says we're now down to 69.4p from the 100p that we should be getting. I was very disappointed to see that they'd resumed buying beyond what they did last time and at share prices very considerably in excess of the price when the program started -- personally losing 30% of the dividend isn't acceptable. And yes I know I could sell some shares for the difference ... and lose £2 a year from now to eternity for everyone that I do sell. Bum deal all round, unless that is you've got an executive bonus that's linked to EPS etc. Mike
Good luck to you, but I would very strongly suggest that buildings aren't going to be demolished, only refurbished to replace cladding and fire stop the compartments. The market seems to think the government will be looking to demolish and rebuild with BKG in for the work. It won't. Still, solid balance sheet and dividend but I anticipate reduced margins in the medium term when new regulations come out.
Great move by Pidgeley and a feather in the gov't. capvWin Win Win Certainly raises the profile of developers upwards from pantomine villains Demonstrates quite clearly that devleopers can work with the Govt to provide homes across all sectors
bbc co uk/news/uk-40357280 "Survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire are to be rehomed in a luxury housing development in the heart of Kensington, the government has said. Sixty-eight one and two-bedroom flats have been acquired at the Kensington Row development, it added. The apartments are "newly-built social housing" in a complex where the price of private homes starts at £1.5m. At least 79 people died and many more were left homeless after fire engulfed the west London tower block a week ago. The complex includes a 24-hour concierge service and a private cinema, the website of developer St Edward's says. The Department for Communities and Local Government said extra public money had been found so the flats could be fitted out more quickly. It said the "expectation is that these new properties will be offered as one of the options to permanently rehouse residents from Grenfell Tower"." This is one of Berkey's recent developments - berkeleygroup co uk/property-developers/st-edward/our-developments
Badadvice Good post but surely the likely outcome of Grenfell is that some of the worst examples off the 60s and 70s blocks will be systematically torn down and replaced with new build. The Gov't are going to be increasingly reliant on reputable developers like Berkeley as enablers and to provide product. Any changes in legislation reducing net floor areas available for residential accomodation and any raise in build and monitoring costs will be reflected in the price paid for land not loss of margin Since London devlopers effectively dont landbank each project is a work in progress Cant think of any newbuild which aren't sprinklered and you can rest assured that corners aren't cut by Berkeley Furthermore any tightening ofthe regulatory system will raise the barrier of entry for competition The appetite for high rise wont diminsh just like after the WTC the public are just going to want to be better informed about the risks Class is permanant .form is temporary
From an emotionless point of view the Grenfell tower fire is one of the worst things that could happen commercially for BKG and similar developers building high rise. There will be a change in building regulations that single stair buildings are much much more difficult to get approved (I.e number of flats per floor is reduced) and on top of this it may be that projects in development are required to retrofit expensive sprinkler systems, or the reintroduction of section 20 legislation but now for residential too. Potentially having to change cladding too. I've sold as the upcoming regulatory changes are unquantifiable to the current and future prosperity of central London developers. Good luck.
Sterling weaker so London becomes more attractive to overseas, government likely to pursue a soft brexit, conservatives still likely to run the ship, solid dividend.
still think i will get my £40 being bumpy ....held since £27
Has broken out of its 3368 resistance and is still bullish. 3368 was a key level and next stop should be 3787, the all time high. However, I'd expect a pullback before ultimately getting there. PS: Since the Brexit vote, the house-builders have offered a brilliant trading opportunity.
Thanks Sid.
Housing Minister hinting at tightening-up that local council free-for-all re "exceptional circumstances" and building on the Green Belt. Localism [passing the buck to local councils] currently seems to encourage Green Belt erosion but I think the Tories assurances have been rumbled and a re-think will be needed.