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Sounds expensive and desperate. Just make what you have more efficient, lower those costs and steal market share. Let you weakened competition flounder.
Cheers for that Compound, i have a few shares i would like to top up but not in any rush will hold back for the right price to lower my average as much as possible
Strange, it's normally an O2/Virgin media story on BT results day
Funny how this story breaks on BT Results day.
The UK telecommunications group Vodafone is reportedly in talks to combine its UK operations with domestic rival Three UK, the mobile operator owned by Hong Kong infrastructure conglomerate CK Hutchison, people with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The deal, if concluded, would herald the latest attempt to consolidate the British mobile market as Vodafone faces pressure from Europe’s largest activist investor, Cevian Capital, to simplify its business, pursue deals in national markets and improve returns.
A combination of Vodafone UK and Three UK would bring together the third and fourth largest mobile network operators in Britain, though any deal to reduce the number of leading brands from four to three would trigger scrutiny from competition authorities.
Industry executives are hopeful that regulators’ increased awareness of the need to invest in network infrastructure has made them more amenable to mergers than they were in 2016, when the European Commission blocked a proposed merger between O2 and Three.
European telecoms groups have struggled over the past decade, with strong competition and consumer-friendly regulation weighing on earnings. Although Vodafone’s share price has rallied by 3 per cent since the start of the year, the company has shed 44 per cent of its value over the past five years.
Three, meanwhile, has struggled to gain scale over the past few years, despite ambitions to double its size. Though the company has enjoyed an increase in net new customers since mid-2020, it has not managed to translate those gains into significant revenue growth. Last week, the company reported flat quarter-on-quarter revenues of £582mn.
Over the past year, Vodafone chief executive Nick Read has been vocal about his desire to pursue deals in countries he believes suffer from an excess of market competition, including Spain, Italy and the UK.
The exact structure being discussed between Vodafone and CK Hutchison could not be learnt, though Read has said on many occasions that he is focused on pursuing combinations more than outright purchases, given his ambitions to reduce the group’s debt.
Earlier this year, analysts at Enders Analysis noted that Vodafone’s “lack of funding capacity” suggested that in the UK it could look to “form a joint venture with the potential to contribute additional debt or receive cash equalisation payments to assist with leverage reduction”.
Analysts had previously speculated that Vodafone could seek to buy Three but noted that it would need to meet CK Hutchison’s hefty price expectations for the privilege of consolidating the UK mobile market.
I hate to break it to you Robleo, but it looks like the FTSE is going to give up all of yesterday's gains and possibly more. The down days have been very emphatic since last Thursday, and the rallies rather unconvincing. I still don't think monumental stagflation and recession have been reflected in the price of the FTSE. With US markets tanking and crypto going into meltdown, the FTSE may outperform in relative terms, but the direction still looks like it's going to be down.
If the cycle of raising interest rates to induce a recession to crash commodity prices and demand to curb inflation really does unfold, then the FTSE could have a lot further to fall. It may not be as dramatic as tech/growth stocks, as initially oil/mining companies will prop up the FTSE, but once a recession starts and commodity prices start coming down then the decline in the FTSE will accelerate.
VOD ADR finished 2% down yesterday near the lows of the day and near Nov 21 lows. This really is starting to shape up into a perfect storm for markets generally and VOD. Results are due next week, and if they aren't great then this could drop from already low levels, plus there's the ex dividend drop a few weeks later. If there's any hint of the dividend being cut then this could get very messy, very quickly.
I obviously don't have a crystal ball to know what the results are going to be like, or if there are going to be any pleasant surprises in the macro economic picture that could turn sentiment, but right now there are some serious risks out there. If they pan out then share prices will fall well below fair value, as bear market corrections always overshoot, although the extent and timing of the fall will be impossible to predict. I know a few people have mentioned and I've talked about spreadbetting, but be very, very careful using any kind of leverage at the moment as you could end up losing the lot.
I'm sorry to be such a harbinger of doom, but whatever your situation and strategy is then make sure you've considered these risks and how you are going to deal with them.
Vodafone in talks to combine UK arm with CK Hutchison’s Three
Latest effort to consolidate British mobile telecoms comes as activist investor exerts pressure
https://www.ft.com/content/c4f9aac3-94f0-4d4b-ae9b-5b9e97fbc2d1
Nice to see the ftse up the last cple of days. Re: funds and shares, a mixture of both has been good for me, have bought and sold a lot of funds since 2014 sold some off so now left with the 7 that have been the best performers for me over the years, some of the profit i built up has been reducing over the last few months, but hopefully that will reverse at some point, but pretty much the same with the shares, the good ones pay a good dividend and give a little gain on the capital, but also there's shares where you lose more on the capital than you gain on dividends, so maybe a bit of a mixture could be best, unless your very good at picking all winning shares
The lord of the vodafone boards - as in you daniel - as in god help anybody who posts anything negative . Most people just ignore posts that they consider talk rubbish - you - no you have to have a go at them - only one person with a massive granite rock on their shoulder not a chip and thats you .
Mikey. Just try & come up with something at least slightly intelligent? What is the Lord of the Vodafone Boards supposed to mean? Come on Mikey, just try & come with something intelligent for a change, otherwise why bother? You clearly resent anybody who may be more clever than you? Nick Read for example. Get that chip off your shoulder?
I used to have a Ford Anglia, & I think a mole-man's £140 full tanks worth would have lasted longer than my car did? Now though I have a sensible, cheap to run, get from a to b car. A Ford K.A. O.K. when you all stop laughing, I don't need to prove anything anymore, because nobody believes me anyway?!
My problem is the Lord of the Vodafone Boards - Danieh !!!!!!
So who should replace him then Mikey? Sorry, but if you came up with something constructive for a change, that might help? It has nothing to do with selective reading, as you always come up with same old comments all the time, so nothing much to select from. If you wan't to be taken seriously as an ex employee(retired) with one vodafone share, then come up with something other than "1/10 this will end in the red, sack Nick Read, blame the Yanks, E.T.C. E.T.C. If you can't be bothered to reply, then I think we all know what your problem is?
Bentley by the sounds of it, can't get that much fuel in my ford anglia, how the other half live hey, I will hold back on my judgement untill results day
Good luck
mole-man. Sounds like you drive a big car/tank then? I could not get £70 worth in my car. What have you got??
Dear dear - you seem to have very selective reading . As i stated I retired - last time i looked retired is not the same as resigned or sacked !!!!
I certainly do not have a chip on my shoulder or and axe to grind - as I also said Vodafone is a great company to work for with some great people working for them .
I do believe though that Reid is not the right leader for the company , he has done nothing since he took over and its not just me as an ex employee who thinks that.
Never mind you just keep your selective reading !!!!!!
Good finish for vod. Another non red finish. As for Nick resigning he should be sacked. I prefer sack Mick to sack Nick, perhaps he didn't resign, but was sacked? could the order have come from the top?. If so, at least they got that one right?! Talk about chip on your shoulder? Nothing like a resentful ex employee with an axe to grind.
Volatility is nuts at the moment and I don't see that changing for a while. Markets are having a hard time digesting all the info. One minute 8.3% is bad as it was higher than expected, now it's good as it was less than last month! No doubt it will sink in that 8.3% as a standalone figure is bad, as are 0.5% rate increases at every meeting as a minimum, then the whole lot will come down again!
Ftse , dow and nasdaq bouncing back - voda same as usual . Not sure about Reid resigning he should be sacked !!!!!!!!
Although the rate is high at 8.3% and instantly upset futures, the rate of inflation did fall in April compared to March. March may yet turn out to be the peak. There is some hope.
Mind you, Just put £70 of diesel in the car and it’s only half full. Crumbs.
Don't worry - the FTSE will be joining the red club soon. US inflation hotter than expected at 8.3%. That means the Fed could even more aggressive with QT and raising interest rates.
All the US indexes are now below support levels so I'd expect to see quite a lot of selling today and over the next few weeks, which will spill over in the UK and VOD.
Well here we go again - FTSE well up - voda dropping down and soon be in the red !!!!
Funds always have an investment objective and which states where and how the money will be invested and the asset allocation. That could be 100% equities, bonds, money market, property, alternatives or a mixture. They have to stick to that objective and asset allocation so fund managers will never sell out and sit on a pile of cash as that would be in breach of that objective and leave them wide open to successful claims.
If you use a discretionary fund manager you’ll get the same - they agree a risk profile and asset allocation and will stick to it. Financial advisors will do the same, although their job should be far more wide ranging to include detailed tax and cash flow planning which should boost overall returns and give some clarity, although the ones that don’t do that are a waste of money.
That approach will never be as profitable as timing the markets correctly, but that’s very hard to do and most people would be better off sticking to a long term diversified investment strategy.
I use a spreadbetting account for my trading funds as the combination of tax free returns, charges, variety of instruments to trade, options to go long or short and leverage make it a significantly better choice for me. It is a massive step up in complexity and potential risk and you need to maintain your own calculations regarding position size, leverage, risks, costs, yield etc as none of the platforms give you all the information you need. If you don’t do all of that then the odds are you will get burned through a combination of higher charges and using way too much leverage. Around 70% of people lose money spreadbetting, as opposed to virtually 0% of people who invest for the long term in funds. To be one of the 30% over the long term requires a lot of work, discipline and risk management. I withdrew my original capital a few months ago and now take regular withdrawals as part of my risk management process. It also allows me to reduce my taxable income and increase pension contributions (which go into funds) so the tax savings will also significantly boost total returns for me. Too much work and stress to do it forever though !
was only joking csdi, good luck with poly, sb sounds too complicated for would probably lose my shirt
Dan you maybe saying sack nick yourself after next weeks results, but i hope not
Hi Dan
I'm down about 10-15% with POLY.
Only got 500 shares at average cost 294p.
Annoyingly I had 500 at 220p early March, but sold at a loss when they got rejected from FTSE Russell.
I thought I would not be able to sell them later, but misunderstood the RNS. Hey ho we live and learn.
Only got two shares atm, POLY & PSN - also down about 5%.
The old school report applies - Teacher says "Must do better"
Cheers for now and fingers crossed VOD returns to higher SP for you all - but not until I've bought some down here - CSDI