Member Info for Bonz1957

Welcome back. A lot has happened since your first and only other post nearly 5+1/2 years ago...lol!! ATB.

It just goes to show how different people can have very different experiences with the same company. I have npower as my energy provider for 2 properties and are the people who make the FiT payments for my solar panels and I have nothing but praise for them, yet they do very badly in reviews. Also a lot of these surveys only tend to report absolute numbers and not a % of customers who are dissatisfied. As British Gas have more customers than anyone else it stands to reason that even if the % of people who are unhappy is slightly less than their competitors, in absolute numbers they are likely to have more actual complaints. I have always found that despite how peed off you are, the nicer you are over the phone the more likely you are to get your complaint resolved. Not that I am in any way suggesting that you have ever been anything less than the perfect model of politeness on the phone lol!!! If I get a wally on the other end then I simply hang up and try again an hour later, you invariably get someone in a different call centre - or continent - that quickly resolves any difficulties. I am almost always led by price - except I would never consider TalkTalk even if it were free - but have paid slightly more to BT in order to get Fibre. The plus side is I get BT Sport for free - for now anyway. With so many options now as to how you can watch Tv I do think Sky will have to rethink their current model, probably sooner rather than later. It all depends on exactly what you want to watch, at the moment Sky have my custom for the footy, F1 and channels like Fox and Sky Atlantic, if all providers offered every channel it would truly be competitive. I wonder how many people pay a subscription to Sky but only ever watch channels that are free to air or can be watched with a standard aerial? Currently I would say Sky have the better Tv option, BT the better mobile phone option - but who will win out? I have a foot in both camps but by far my larger investment is in BT. If BT does go for the jugular in the UK then Sky will still have it's European earnings to fall back on, with both companies being big enough that neither is going to go to the wall. Both companies could do with vastly improving their customer relations though, most people will pay a few £'s extra for what they consider to be a premium service. Life was simple when there was one provider to show footy, you could see your team play for one subscription even if you thought it was over-priced. Then some dozy politician starts spouting about competition and how the market should be opened up. So now there are two providers showing footy and in order to see every game my team plays I now have to pay two subs - or switch to BT to get one for free. Brilliant Mr MP, there may be competition but I am poorer as a result. Why not show 1/2 the F1 races on Sky and 1/2 on TalkTalk, or England batting on Sky but the Aussies innings on Virgin and totally screw us over!! ATB.

It is different for everyone depending on how much their other income is for the year, and how much of their CGT allowance they have used, if any. Each individual has a tax free allowance of £10,000 for 14/15 and then can earn a further £31,865 from all sources making a total of £41,865 before they are liable to pay tax at 40%. So, as a general rule of thumb, anyone who will earn less than £41,865 this 14/15 tax year would be best advised to take their cash as the C Share Income Option. They will have no liability to pay any tax on the div whether their total earnings (including divs, interest, etc.) is £40k, £30k, £10k or only £500. Plus, they won't have a tricky CGT calculation to perform - total £'s received less the base cost of the % of their original holding that has effectively been exchanged for the div, further complicated by the adding into the 'pool' cost the effective cost of any divs taken as new shares. Plus, they won't have to fill out the CGT forms for their tax return. So in answer to your question about those who may earn less than the personal allowance - it makes no difference. The div carries a tax credit - which cannot be reclaimed - and there is no liability to pay any extra tax on the C Share Income Option whether your total earnings are over or under the personal allowance, the tax treatment is exactly the same regardless of how much you earn as long as the total is below £41,865. The B Share (Return of Capital) option is best suited to those who pay tax at the higher rate and can absorb any CGT gain within their 14/15 £11,000 annual allowance to avoid having to pay any extra tax. Remember they only need to be able to shelter their gain (as described above) and not the whole value of the div they receive. Except for a very small number of people - those with very large incomes who regularly use all of their CGT allowance - it should be possible for the vast majority of people to avoid paying any extra tax on this Special div. These high earners will need to do a quick calculation to see which way will involve them paying less tax. They will have to work out which is lower, either the extra tax on the div they receive or the higher rate CGT on the gain they make. For virtually all it is likely to be the latter. They will almost certainly pay less tax by taking the B Share Return of Capital Option and paying 28% only on any gain, rather than paying the extra 25% or 30.56% (depending on the top rate of tax they pay) on the total div they receive. Finally, the C Share Income Option is the Default option unless your Registered Address is in Germany, Austria or Canada. This means that if you want to elect for the C Share Income Option you do not need to do anything, it is what you will automatically receive. ATB.

Try ringing Sky to complain about the on-going series link and planner problems and see if they can help you. They either haven't got a clue, admit there's a problem but can't help, or offer to send out an engineer at a cost of £80 when they know full well it won't help one bit. This problem has been on-going for over 6 months now, heck they even knew about it before they launched the last software update, but seem unable to do anything about it as can be witnessed by the thousands who are complaining about these problems on Sky's own forum's. Have recently switched from slow unreliable Sky b/band - less than 1meg at times - to superfast BT Fibre which is 40 times quicker, the Openreach engineer even came inside the house to fit the latest master socket for free. Sky said they couldn't offer me Fibre despite the brand new Fibre cabinet being within 100 metres of my front door, so lost me as a phone and b/band customer. Will they offer me a reduction on the price of Sky Sports when they lose Champions League footy? Doubt it!! I could buy a whole season of Now Tv day or weekly passes to watch my team play for a lot less than the annual cost of Sky Sports. The day BT or another provider can offer me an equivalent Tv package with the channels I want to watch at a competitive price then I will have to seriously consider moving, Sky have had a monopoly for far too long. They make take 30 seconds when you want to upgrade, but have you ever tried to cancel anything with them? It takes for ever being passed from dept to dept, each one trying to bribe you to stay with 1/2 price this or 6 months free offers. You can upgrade online, why won't they let you downgrade online?? For my money BT is the best quad play option, superior phone, b/band and mobile offerings, all they need to do is to offer a comprehensive Tv package and they will clean up. ATB.

How very very nice to hear from my favourite Scottish wee prickly thing, long time no speak. Hope all is well and that you portfolio is positively blooming now that the FTSE has decided to reach record highs and test 7,000 after being in the doldrums for 15 years!!!!! ATB.

Good set of results showing strong growth during the year and a proposed Final div of 6.95p. ATB.

I feel your pain. This has been a poorly performing share over the years but as I own so few they have been consigned to my 'waiting for a miracle' drawer. Doubt they will ever return to their all-time of 628p in 03/99 - which with the 1 for 5 consolidation would now be £31.40!!!! But with a return to profit and the re-instatement of a 2p Final div you may be back in profit one day soon. ATB.

No dividend was announced in yesterdays y/e 31/12/14 Final Results. Looks like we will have to wait for the 2015 Interim Results due 29/7 for any dividend news. Until then those that qualify will have to make do with the 1 for 20 Bonus shares that are due in the summer. ATB.

Acromas have sold part of their stake in Saga to an institutional investor who will pay £83.25m to take a 4% stake from the company’s private equity owners.The sale is the first time that Acromas, the private equity vehicle that now holds 68pc of the firm, has sold shares since Saga’s problematic initial public offering in May 2014. FWIW I would have thought this can only be seen as a positive sign if large institutions are willing to buy a stake in Saga. With the sp only a couple of pence above the issue price of 9 months ago, maybe they see a bright future for Saga and we can now see this test 200p. ATB.

Very often on here the stats go a little haywire just after close of play, overnight or at weekends. Now, 40 mins after your post all seems OK again: Share Price: 185.00 Bid: 184.50 Ask: 185.00 Change: -1.50 (-0.80%) Faller - Saga Spread: 0.50 Spread as %: 0.27% Open: 189.70 High: 187.50 Low: 180.00 Yesterday’s Close: 186.50 There is always a lot of after market activity, book balancing, uncrossing trades, auctions, etc, that can distort closing prices for a while. As long as people wait for the markets to open and don't base their investment strategy on prices quoted outside of hours then no harm is done. ATB.

If you had read yesterdays RNS you would have seen that the Capital Return Plan has indeed been accelerated with the 2015 payout being increased to 95p. The record date is 9/3 and the payments are expected to be made by April 2nd. ATB. http://www.lse.co.uk/share-regulatory-news.asp?shareprice=PSN&ArticleCode=y0cs3t4g&ArticleHeadline=Proposed_Return_of_Cash_to_Shareholders

.....despite losing Champions league footy and over-paying for Premiership right. With the sp over £10 we are now back to levels last seen during the Dot.com bubble. ATB.

....in our own way, it's just that we all seem to be coming at this from different directions. Anyone buying in now will NOT make a profit on the Special div as it is already in the sp. The profit was in being in this share prior to 14/9/14 before it was announced. The sp did see a small uplift after it was announced, but not the full 73p as the company is selling off a major asset and will be a smaller company after the event. I also saw a profit on the VOD deal, because I was in before it was announced, and so saw my shares rise from the 160p level to around the 225p they were after it was announced. IMHO there will not be any significant movement in the sp in the few days before and after the event - unless the markets swing dramatically. There will be a seamless transaction from old shares to new shares with most people not even noticing, just a change in the number of shares they hold and a cheque or cash credit arriving a week later. People will still hold the same share of the company as they did before so tracker funds will not have to pile in to buy more shares in SL. The big institutions will be left with a large cash pile - as will all of the pi's - which they are likely to invest back into the wider market place. Not sure where my cash will go yet, but probably back into a safe stock with a good yield like NG. ATB.

If you are a 40% taxpayer DavidL then it would make sense for you to choose the B Share option if you have not already used all of your £11,000 CGT allowance. Remember the amount you set against CGT is the profit on the 18% of shares that are effectively being sold - you will need to refer to your base or pool cost - and not the £ value of the cash return. So if you have seen 100% profit on your shares you could receive £22,000 cash - if you have enough shares - and still shelter all of the profit in your allowance. All you need to do is to make your choice in good time, the rest is automatic. The record date for the Share Capital Consolidation and entitlements to B Shares and/or C Shares is 6.00pm on 13/3. The share register for the existing shares will also be closed at this time. Ordinary shares will be cancelled and the new consolidated shares will start trading at 8.00am on 16/3. B and C shares will be issued on 19/3 and cancelled on 20/3. Dispatch of payments in respect of proceeds under the B/C Share Scheme, and dispatch of share certificates in respect of New Ordinary Shares will be by 1st April.

Spot on. The value of the new consolidated shares, plus the cash from the Special div, plus the fractional entitlement will equal the value of the original holding - give or take a few pence. Will be interesting to see, similar to VOD, how many pi's think they can buy into this for a quick 73p and then moan like stuck pigs when they don't make a penny!! As ever the devil is in the detail. ATB.

If you are a basic rate taxpayer and the value of the Special div when added to your earnings and other divs will not push you into the Higher Rate tax bracket then you will have no further tax liability if you take the Income option. Remember the value of this div is £730 per 1,000 shares held. This option will then leave your full CGT allowance to be used against any Gains you have made in the 14/15 Tax Year. However, if this div when added to your other earnings and divs pushes you into the higher rate bracket then you would be better off taking the Capital Return option and using part of your CGT allowance (£11,000) for any Gain. ATB.

Keeping as much as I can in their 123 accounts - we have 5 between us - as I can't find anywhere else that pays 3%, and as I have no other earnings I can claim back all the tax that is deducted - just banked my £2,167 refund from HMRC. Son learnt quite quickly, passed 1st time, and offered to pay 1/2 the cost of the lessons from his part-time job. Though it did cost me £10k to buy him a car as I couldn't leave him with a banger being 200miles away. Loving the fuel cost at the moment, especially when you have up to 20p off a litre from Tesco, can't remember the last time I paid 85p a litre. Mind you at my age I can't remember much beyond last Tuesday!! Almost worth turning the gas off and running the Range Rover on petrol for the extra performance. Nearly finished all those bags of Thornton's, have to say I'm not enjoying them as much as I thought I would. Would be nice to see a bit of an upturn in the banking sector, could do with the TSB and Lloyds sp improving - 5 shares mentioned in one post!! 15 year high reached today on the FTSE, a couple of good sessions - Greece and Ukraine permitting - and we should finally pass the 30/12/99 mark of 6930.2 and breach 7,000. To infinity and beyond. ATB.

Should have added that there is no choice between shares or income. The choice is whether to have your Special div treated as Income or as a Return of Capital. Everyone will end up with approx. 82% of their original holding as new shares and 18% as cash. ATB.

You are correct, if you hold 3,600 shares then your Special div will total £2,628. Depending on your tax situation you can choose to receive this as either Income and added into your Income Tax calculations, or as a Return of Capital and treated under CGT rules. After the consolidation your new holding will be 2,945 shares. As has been posted by others on here today the payment and new shares should be with you, or in your account, by 1st April. ATB.

The "plantpots (that) are still piling in thinking they'll make a killing" are probably the same idots who bought into VOD expecting to make money. There is no money to be made here as the 73p div has already been announced. You will receive 73p for each share you hold, with the result that the sp will also fall by 73p. The shares will then be consolidated on a 9 new for 11 old basis to bring the sp back to where it was before the 73p div was paid. You will be left with approx. 82% of your original holding as new shares and 18% in cash. You will have the choice to have your 73p cash treated as either Income (C share) or as a Return of Capital (B share) depending o your tax position. Doubtful there will be any massive increase in sp prior to the consolidation, but without the use of a crystal ball it is impossible to know whether you would be better off to stay put or to sell now and buy back later. Though as the sp is designed to be the same both before and after the div and consolidation there will not be the opportunity to buy shares cheaper after the event - unless Greece or the Ukraine has a detrimental effect on markets. ATB.