Member Info for Bonz1957

In an email sent to shareholders today, Sir Gerry Grimstone, Chairman said, "Returning value to our shareholders: I’m pleased to say that the sale of our Canadian companies was approved at our general meeting in October 2014 and completed on 30 January 2015. As a result of the sale, we’re proposing a return of value to our shareholders of 73p per share, or approximately £1.75bn in total. This would be done by way of a B/C share scheme which lets you choose an income option, a capital option or a combination of both. Under this scheme, you will receive the income option unless you visit www.standardlifeshareportal.com to elect online. Consolidating our share capital: Along with return of value, we propose to carry out a share consolidation exercise. This seeks to ensure that, subject to market fluctuations, the market price of each of our shares should be approximately the same immediately before and immediately after the share consolidation exercise. Every 11 shares you currently hold would be replaced by 9 new shares. Once we’ve completed the share consolidation exercise, we’ll send you information on the number of new shares you hold." ATB.

The point of the 9:11 consolidation is to keep the sp at the same price it was before the 73p Special dividend was paid out. So instead of your shares being worth 73p less, you will end up with 18% fewer shares but at the same sp. The value of the new shares plus the cash you receive will be equal to the value of your original shares before the div was paid. It is exactly the same as you voluntarily choosing to sell 18% of your shares and ending up with fewer shares at the same price plus some cash. ATB.

"The Board has proposed a final dividend of 11.43p per share making a total of 17.03p per share (2013: 15.80p), an increase of 7.8%. Following the sale of Canada for C$4bn (£2.2bn fully hedged) the Board has also proposed a return of £1.75bn to shareholders and a subsequent 9 for 11 shares consolidation to maintain comparability of per share metrics. The final dividend will be paid on the reduced number of ordinary shares following the share consolidation. The Group will continue to apply its progressive dividend per share policy taking account of market conditions and the Group's financial performance." Sir Gerry Grimstone, Chairman said "I'm pleased to confirm another year of increased dividends, with our final dividend of 11.43p per share (up 8.0% on 2013) giving a total dividend for 2014 of 17.03p per share (up 7.8% on 2013). If approved at our AGM in May this year, this is due to be paid to shareholders on 19 May 2015." ATB.

Interestingly both BT and Sky's sp are exactly back to where they were at close of play on the day before the football rights deal was announced. ATB.

Have you spent too long under a Sun lamp dear? The bonus shares are not due until June unless you know something I don't!!??!! Still holding TSB and Santander, in fact I've even topped up Santander twice in the last 12 months - very unlike me but stlll had some VOD/Verizon cash to get back into the market. I know Santander have cut the div from Aug on but still think it has a lot of room for growth, plus I'm loving the 3% interest on the 3 123 accounts we have so feel obligated. ATB.

I did see the trade that AdJshares is referring to, the time of the trade was around 11am for approx. £73 million but it showed up after close of play and after the uncrossing trade. I did have a look to see if it was a director transfer or stake building but couldn't find anything relevant. Even 16m shares is only 1/10th of 1% so wouldn't need to be declared unless it took someone over a reportable threshold. ATB.

Insurers Standard Life and Resolution are most at risk from a British regulatory probe into whether retirees who buy annuities - investment policies that provide a regular income until death - get a fair deal, analysts said. The investigation by the Financial Services Authority will focus on whether people who buy an annuity directly from their pension provider pay more than they would if they shopped around. The regulator will also look into whether insurers hinder their customers from shopping around. The industry is obliged under FSA rules to inform pension savers that they have a right to compare annuity rates across the market. 'We want to understand the level of the potential detriment for consumers if they do not shop around, to see if there are ways to make this market work better for customers,' said FSA head of life insurance Nick Poyntz-Wright. If it finds that consumers who buy annuities from their own pension provider are paying over the odds, the FSA will take 'steps to ensure fairer pricing', a spokeswoman said. Resolution and Edinburgh-based Standard Life sell annuities mainly to their own pension customers, and therefore potentially have the most to lose from the probe, analysts said.

"Dividend growth of at least 10 per cent confirmed" - Nice. ATB.

Hope you stayed in for the ride crisb - you know what they say: 'No Pain No Gain'. ATB.

More encouraging results from UK homebuilders with Redrow poised for biggest one-day move since late 2010 after unveiling a 92 pct rise in H1 pretax profits, a doubling of its divi & a reduction in net debt. The Thomson Reuters UK Homebuilding index, up 2.2 pct, & bluechip Persimmon both hit all-time highs. A month on from the gloomy forecast from Jefferies about house-builders and things look very rosy indeed. ATB.

More encouraging results from UK homebuilders with Redrow poised for biggest one-day move since late 2010 after unveiling a 92 pct rise in H1 pretax profits, a doubling of its divi & a reduction in net debt. The Thomson Reuters UK Homebuilding index, up 2.2 pct, & bluechip Persimmon both hit all-time highs. A month on from the gloomy forecast from Jefferies and things look very rosy indeed. ATB.

Unless you need 100's of Kids, Music, Docs and HD channels then the Original Bundle (includes Sky 1+2, Atlantic, Arts, Syfy, Fox, Dave, Gold, etc) and Sports is only £46 a month plus £11.25 for the extra box. Maybe you could save a few £'s by changing your package. You could always do what I do and share a Sports subscription with a friend or family member. I have the package at my house and my Son watches footy and F1 200 miles away via Sky Go on his laptop with an HDMI lead connected to his Tv. Wonder if Sky will charge less for Sports when it loses the Champions League - there's that flying pig again!! ATB.

For the Jan/Feb and Apr/May divs the payment remains at €0.15 and they will be offered as a SCRIP div. Then for the four divs in the 2015 results season the div drops to €0.05 and will be offered as 1 SCRIP and 3 cash divs. From 2016 onwards they will grow divs in line with profits. ATB. http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/7087B_-2015-1-8.pdf - See pages 4, 6, 10 and 11.

Nice analogy. £1 notes were a long time ago, and I'm so old I can remember ten bob notes - and pennies, sixpences, half-crowns, etc. A similar analogy could be swapping £1 for €1 and having a few pence in change to spend elsewhere. ATB.

Actually the share price will recover the next day when the consolidation takes place. At todays price you will end up with approx. 82% of your holding as new shares, and at the same price as before the Special div was paid, and 18% will be returned to you as cash. ATB.

You should end up no worse off at the end of the day, the value of the new shares you have plus the cash you receive should be roughly equal to the value of your original holding - give or take the odd £1. Just the same as if you had sold approx. 18% of your sharers. Many yeas ago I did Pure and Applied maths for A level, loved Pure maths but sometimes you had to know which forces were acting in which direction and to what extent when it came to Applied. ATB.

No. The whole idea of the consolidation is to keep the sp where it is now - or where it is when the Special div is paid. So if it was done tomorrow then you would get 73p back from todays close of 403.6p and the resulting consolidation would see the sp rise from 330.6 back to 403.6p. You would own fewer shares but at the same sp as before and your share of the company and the value of the div per share you receive would stay the same. As I keep saying the Special div and subsequent consolidation is exactly the same as everyone voluntarily selling approx. 18 % of their holding back to the company which then cancels them.

As you say timing is everything. Buy extra shares now so that when they are consolidated you end up with the same number as your original holding, or buy back the shares you have lost after the event to preserve your total div in real terms? Tricky one, and sadly my crystal ball is away at the polishers so can't advise best time to buy, but would expect this to rise (assuming no large swings in the markets) pre the deal as those uninformed pi's pile in on the hope of gaining 73p - much as happened with VOD. ATB.

Sadly you are incorrect. It would be nice if the Special div could be used to buy new shares, but it is a Special div and therefore is not included in their DRIP. It's a way of returning Capital and reducing the size of the company, and if they allowed everyone to take new shares it wouldn't achieve this objective. ATB.

In real terms it is exactly the same as you voluntarily selling approx. 18% of your holding. If you scroll back a page to my post of 17/1 it explains things in the same way as Gerry557's post . You will end up with a mixture of new shares and cash which will be equal to the value of your original holding - give or take a £1 or two. It is an extremely complicated way to return some cash to you, but has been done in a way to be tax efficient to SL and leaves you holding exactly the same % of the company as you did before. ATB.