Sapan Gai, CCO at Sovereign Metals, discusses their superior graphite test results. Watch the video here.
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" If they pay down the debt as it matures, without refinancing, they could reduce their Bond debt significantly over the next two years."
Fleccy
I suspect they may back some early .....their aim is for a net debt/net EBITDA ratio of 1.8 from the remaining assets
So worth around €1.5b extra taking into account there may be a reduction. I don't think its been mentioned before today
" Not sure why this has not been included in the original announcement "
jestah
it is in the RNS announcement
''Not sure why this has not been included in the original announcement''
It has been reported - I knew about it early this morning.
350 million to Vodafone for first year but may reduce after.
Interesting addendum on Italy sale with the annual maintenance charge of €350m for 5 years (minimum). Not sure why this has not been included in the original announcement - I can see this run and run as mergers at this level are incredibly long winded.
I was just thinking that.
I've decided the US opening will propel the SP beyond 70p.
Just have to sit back and watch now.
"Debt levels are very manageable at relatively low rates, and the option to reduce the debt levels as they have been doing already is there to do if a benefit."
They've got a fair amount of Bond debt maturing, or Hybrid Bonds with Next Call dates, due over the next couple of years.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRA1ndHTf_Bz7O_moDxmcbWnEtcusZucUu6lEJvm3O4mGooeH4ErFjRqot3RQHBaVXCgoUED1k2CUVK/pubchart?oid=17624073&format=interactive
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRA1ndHTf_Bz7O_moDxmcbWnEtcusZucUu6lEJvm3O4mGooeH4ErFjRqot3RQHBaVXCgoUED1k2CUVK/pubchart?oid=1681133451&format=interactive
If they pay down the debt as it matures, without refinancing, they could reduce their Bond debt significantly over the next two years.
Is America going to do the usual on the share price - i hope not
Selling non performing assets is a plus.
simplifying the business, with concentration on profit making areas is a plus.
Merger with 'three' is a plus.
Buybacks are a plus.
Halving the dividend is a plus.
Debt levels are very manageable at relatively low rates, and the option to reduce the debt levels as they have been doing already is there to do if a benefit.
?
speculation
Knot much moaning todaye I is finking
I don't have a short, I sold my position at 71.5. You can scroll down and see me say this at the time. I would not short it as there is a small perpetual chance of takeover.
I have no regrets about selling - if it goes back to 80s or 90s I have stock options I haven't exercised. if share price end up at £1 or £2 we are both winners.
My problem is the skill of current management. I maintain that success in Spain or Italy requires the same mindset as success in Germany or UK. They are selling core business as they don't know how to turn it around, so why should the market trust them?
Feel free to disagree if you think that MDV and the board are capable - everyone is entitled to opinion.
Flec
''I thought they said the Capital Allocation review would take place in May? ''
Yes - they were so excited, that they have slipped it out early - saves specialisation for a couple of months - the split in allocation is what I was anticipating. I am guessing that buybacks would continue beyond the 4 Billion already announced if that was still the best option at the time, re pricing
Share price rising by the amount of the confirmed final dividend ..pricing it in ...
Beo1
div cut of 50% also because they tend to save cash to invest in the business rather than hand it to shareholders ..investing part of earnings as CAPEX rather than borrowing I suspect
so..really looks like the debt drunk is finally putting down the debt bottle , and deciding to get healthy !!!
£2.00
They had to cut dividend, even though Italy and Spain are below the cost of capital they were paying some of the dividend, as the cost of capital includes cost of equity. A cut if 50% was disappointing though as those 2 countries were definitely less than 50% of the cost of equity proportion
Jetesh, losing your shiirt on that short are you
I can understand if you have been in this sometime you could be really wary here after being battle scarred. As a newbie here I take todays news as clarity (I hope) at last re the divi and intentions going forwards. Good luck all.
"Half the posts here are seeing this as good news and looking forward to the SP growing in the next few months/years with mention of it breaking the 100p and half the posts here are doom and gloom and the SP will be droping, even mention of 35p! Looking at the SP today and the buy vs sells the market is similarly confused too!"
The share price going up to 100p would certainly make the share buybacks less impactful. Divi cuts/buybacks just seem to put a ceiling on the price rather than a floor.
At least if the divi going forward is based on any growth, it should be perceived as being sustainable which it clearly wasn't until now.
At this price buybacks make more fiscal sense then dividend and I am sure part of the reason the dividend has been cut is the buybacks but also because it's a good reason to have more cash to put on reinvesting or paying down debt later on which seems a wise move.
For me it's good news about the sale, sensible decision on buybacks as it gives impression the company thinks the shares are cheap, sensible cut of the dividend meaning there is more money to put where the board feels is best ( whether that's to pay debt, invest more in company, pay extra dividend or something else).
Let's see if the can do as good a job restructuring and simplifying the business as Aviva seem to be doing.
Half the posts here are seeing this as good news and looking forward to the SP growing in the next few months/years with mention of it breaking the 100p and half the posts here are doom and gloom and the SP will be droping, even mention of 35p! Looking at the SP today and the buy vs sells the market is similarly confused too!
Overall, I do not see much to be positive about following this.
Vodafone DE - negative. CEO leaving indicates negative expectations for that market - i.e. they are acting now so they can announce "late turnaround" in May ("we may have missed the targets but next year...."
Restructuring - neutral, necessary by the sale of major business units.
Buybacks - negative. Exactly the same strategy that Nick Read started in 2022. It wasn't a success then so I doubt it will be success now. At least we know now whose idea it was.
Dividend cut - negative. Its a signal that current share price is not a blip but the new base.
Growth - negative. They are cutting their losses as they do not know how to grow core assets. There is no excuse for this. Please keep in mind - these are core assets - Vodafone is a telecoms operator who does not know how to run a profitable business in Italy and Spain (prosperous European countries which haven't had any major disasters in decades). No excuse for this whatsoever.
Doesn’t buying 20% raise the stake of their top investor to 17.5% is t that take over territory?
Would have been better to pay some debt down. But had to please those pesky investors. (I am one too) ha
Jockos - Thank you that makes sense now
" What does it means share buyback with leverage of 2.25 to 2.75 X? "
leverage of 2.25 to 2.75 X means the debt is 2.25-2.75 larger than the annual EBITDA
debt/EBITDA = say 2.5
a measure of how well the debt is being used to create earnings ...obviously you aim for a low amount of debt creating a lot of earnings , in an ideal situation
They really need to get the ratio below 2 mid term