Member Info for DONVANVLIET1

Thanks, Rod. I'll put the horse's head back in the freezer.

Hopefully we will see a bounce in the SP today now that one of BT's core product offerings no longer remains under threat.

MORGAN STANLEY RAISES BT GROUP TO 'OVERWEIGHT' ('EQUAL-WEIGHT') - TARGET 200 (125) PENCE

Sir Ian Cheshire waiting for the call from BT
Ben Martin, Senior City Correspondent
Monday March 29 2021, 12.01am, The Times

Sir Ian Cheshire has taken the unusual step of publicly putting himself forward to take charge of the board of BT after the surprise departure of its chairman amid a rumoured rift with its chief executive.

The City grandee, who was appointed an independent non-executive of the telecoms group a year ago, has announced that he is interested in succeeding Jan du Plessis as chairman.

It comes less than a month after BT disclosed that du Plessis, 67, was planning to leave this year despite having served fewer than four years at the head of the board. There have been reports that du Plessis’ departure was precipitated by tensions at the top of the company. Philip Jansen, who became BT’s chief executive just over two years ago, is said to have been prepared to resign unless a successor to du Plessis was found.

Cheshire, 61, recently appointed as chairman of Spire Healthcare, the private hospitals business, said that “it’s not a state secret that I will put my hand up” to replace du Plessis. He told The Sunday Telegraph: “As many of my more charitable friends have pointed out, the last four chairmen have all come from outside. So my chances are not necessarily great.”

Jansen, 54, is trying to modernise BT. He is cutting thousands of jobs and closing offices, while the group also has set out plans to invest £12 billion in its full-fibre broadband network. Du Plessis’ successor will oversee this transformation.

Cheshire’s relative lack of telecoms and technology experience could count against him in the race to become BT’s next chairman. The Times reported this month that Jansen believed BT needed a chairman with technology experience.

Cheshire had a 17-year career at Kingfisher, the owner of B&Q, and more recently was chairman of Debenhams, the collapsed department stores chain. In December he stepped down as chairman of Barclays’ ring-fenced UK bank.

It would appear that the CWU is getting a little twitchy.....

Union accuses BT of bribing workers - Alex Ralph
BT said it would pay £1,000 in cash and £500 in shares to 59,000 of its “frontline” workers as it faces national strike action

Unions have accused BT of attempting to bribe members not to vote for strike action after Britain’s biggest telecoms group announced a £1,500 bonus for almost 60,000 workers.

BT, which is facing its first national strike in more than 30 years over restructuring plans, yesterday said it would pay £1,000 in cash and £500 in shares, which will vest in three years, to 59,000 “frontline” workers.

It said the “generous offer”, equivalent to 5 per cent of the average salary, recognised the efforts of staff, including engineers and call centre workers, tokeep its customers and the country connected during the pandemic.

“It is being made despite BT freezing pay across the company and ongoing, unresolved discussions with the trade unions over its transformation and modernisation plans,” it added.

However, the CWU union criticised BT’s offer, saying “our members will not fall for what simply amounts to a bribe to not vote for strike action”.

Andy Kerr, CWU’s deputy general secretary, said the payment was not a resolution to the pay negotiations and was “yet another example of the short- term approach the company has adopted in its race to the bottom tactics on terms and conditions”. He added: “BT have made this move because our members support the CWU. What is vital is that we redouble our efforts to win the industrial action ballot and deliver an agreement on job security.”

CWU members in December overwhelmingly backed holding a vote on industrial action early this year. The union said more than 74 per cent of 45,000 members across BT, Openreach, the broadband division, and EE, the mobile network, took part in the consultation. Members include engineers and technicians. The CWU said this month that a timetable will be set out “in the coming weeks”.

It would be BT’s first national strike since 1987 and comes when the country is particularly reliant on connections because of lockdown. Long-running tensions on the board burst into the open this month over BT’s transformation. Jan du Plessis is leaving as chairman this year after less than four years.

BT has been restructuring under Philip Jansen, its chief executive, and investing in new 5G and full-fibre broadband networks. Last year BT completed the first phase of a £1.6 billion restructuring and cut its workforce by a net 9,000 to about 100,000 over the two years to March last year.

BT’s £60m bung for staff looks cheap - Patrick Hosking

The going rate for “thank you” gestures to key workers is rising fast. Lidl gave £200 each to its supermarket workers. Sainsbury offered £530. Now BT has pushed into four figures with its gift of £1,000 each to 60,000 frontline heroes.

“Frontline” may be pushing it a bit. More than half of BT call centre workers do the job from home. Most of the staff in its 600 stores, who are also eligible, are also fielding customer calls from home just now.

But more than 30,000 engineers are out on the road or in the exchanges, keeping communications going for businesses and households. One of the great reliefs of lockdown is that broadband hasn’t buckled under the strain.

The response from the Communication Workers Union looks churlish, but next year BT is imposing a pay freeze on all staff, while pushing on with plans for compulsory redundancies and a radical office closure programme.

Most staff, average pay £29,000, don’t need an immediate cash payment in June. They do want their pay to keep pace with the coming rise in the cost of living. To that extent, an increase in basic pay would have been preferable.

But recognition and validation of employees is important too, especially in workforces atomised by lockdown. A meaty one-off lump sum does that better than a barely noticeable but permanent pay rise of 1 per cent or so.

BT is not in great shape, with profits and revenues both hit by the pandemic and is now embarking on a mammoth investment programme to build Britain’s digital future.

Shareholders have accepted an income pause; the dividend has been scrapped for two years. The pension fund, to which many BT long-servers still belong, desperately needs bigger repair payments.

If the £60 million cost is enough to boost morale and prevent threatened strikes, it will have been money well spent.

The 1 per cent proposed pay rise for nurses in England is the yardstick against which all rewards in both the private sector and public sector will inevitably be compared this year. By that measure, even a pay freeze doesn’t look that mean.

Ministers wanting to show due recognition to essential public sector workers while keeping tight control of public spending longer term might do well to copy those comparatively cheap BT bungs.

BT's PR Programme is clearly getting into gear....

LONDON, March 25 (Reuters) - Britain's BT said on Thursday it had met its target of extending full-fibre broadband to 4.5 million premises by the end of March, a week after it said it would accelerate its roll-out to 20 million homes and businesses by the late 2020s. Its Openreach networks arm said it was seeing strong customer demand for gold standard fibre broadband, with new orders from the customers of BT and its wholesale rivals reaching a rate of 17,000 a week on average during the last quarter.

LONDON, March 19 (Reuters) - Britain said more than one million rural homes and businesses would get gigabit broadband
in the first phase of a 5 billion pound ($7 billion) programme to connect places that commercial roll-outs by BT and its rivals
would not reach.

Up to 510,000 premises in Cambridgeshire, Cornwall, Cumbria, Dorset, Durham, Essex, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Tees Valley will be the first to benefit, it said on Friday, with building due to start in the first half of 2022.

Up to 640,000 premises in Norfolk, Shropshire, Suffolk, Worcestershire, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, will be the next in the plan, called 'Project Gigabit'.

Areas in central Scotland were also recently allocated funding, it said.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants Britain to catch up with European rivals that have full-fibre networks. Nearly two in
five households now have access to gigabit broadband, up from one in 10 in 2019, the government said.

In a separate project, BT said on Thursday it would connect 20 million premises by the mid to late 2020s after the regulator
set out the conditions needed for its 12 billion pound investment.

Project Gigabit is aimed at the hardest to reach areas where commercial fibre networks would not be viable.

"This broadband revolution will fire up people's businesses and homes, and the vital public services that we all rely on, so
we can continue to level up and build back better from this pandemic," Johnson said.

Contracts to provide the services are still to be awarded. BT said it was keen to support the government, and its rivals
CityFibre and Gigaclear said they were also interested in taking part.

"As the nation's largest independent full fibre platform, with a build programme underway to a third of the UK market,
CityFibre is ready to extend our network even further to reach rural communities," said CityFibre chief executive Greg Mesch.

"We look forward to participating in this important programme to ensure no one is left behind."
(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Jan Harvey)

According to last weekend's Sunday Times OFCOM will be reporting tomorrow.

BT to make ‘double-digit return’ on £12bn broadband roll-out
Jamie Nimmo
Sunday March 14 2021, 12.01am, The Sunday Times
Ofcom is likely to allow BT Openreach to return to work on its super-fast broadband project.
BT will this week be given the green light to make a double-digit rate of return on a £12 billion investment in full-fibre broadband, in a key verdict by the telecoms watchdog.

Ofcom is poised to say on Thursday that the former state monopoly’s Openreach division will be able to make a “fair” return on its work to connect 20 million homes to super-fast internet.

However, BT and the regulator have also been in conflict over the length of time that BT will enjoy that promise. In a speech last December, Ofcom boss Melanie Dawes said it would not impose price controls on full-fibre broadband for 11 years. BT has been pushing for 20 years, arguing that its investors need to make 10 to 12 per cent over the lifetime of the project. Ofcom’s review will be scrutinised closely for the length of its assurances.

The pledge on a “fair” return is likely to be welcomed by the government, which wants 85 per cent of homes connected to gigabit-capable broadband by 2025.

However, it will be a blow to companies that use Openreach’s network, such as TalkTalk, which have argued that it will mean higher prices for consumers.

Ofcom is set to be handed new powers to intervene if it sees anti-competitive behaviour by Openreach. BT will have to ask permission to challenge the “altnets”, such as CityFibre, in some areas. Also, Ofcom will have longer to scrutinise changes to commercial terms by BT and decide whether they would deter competition.

The outcome of the review comes a fortnight after news of the resignation of BT chairman Jan du Plessis.

Poundashare, Seriously this would have been Nirvana to me. In my last seven years working for an electronics/technology multinational I worked from 7 in the morning until 10 at night, with every second weekend in the office, all with no overtime. My job in these last seven years had previously been held by 6 individuals, but due to cut back after cut back they all fell into my lap. I started early and finished late, as from 9.00am to 5.00pm I was invaribaly in meetings, all of which generated more work. The only productive times were early in the morning and late at night, whilst working weekends meant that I could do the equivalent to three normal weekdays work in a single day. Lunch was always at my desk or in a meeting. And I was not alone. That's the private sector for you.

It’s me or the chairman, said BT chief executive Philip Jansen
James Dean
Saturday March 06 2021, 12.01am, The Times

Philip Jansen issued the ultimatum before Jan du Plessis, the chairman, announced on Monday that he would step down
The boss of BT told his board that he was prepared to resign unless its chairman was replaced.

Philip Jansen, chief executive of the telecoms group, issued the ultimatum before Jan du Plessis, the chairman, said on Monday that he would step down, Sky News said.

Sources told The Times this week that part of the reason that du Plessis was going was because he agreed that his role required a person with experience of the technology sector as the company undergoes a transformation.

Others said that Jansen, 54, felt that BT needed a chairman with experience of the technology sector. He is thought to have raised the matter with du Plessis last year. Jansen is thought to want a chairman who can help the company to seize emerging opportunities as a network and service provider.

A spokesman for BT said: “Jan’s decision is a personal one; after 17 years of chairing FTSE 100 companies, he has decided to retire. The board is fully aligned on the strategy and direction.”

BT is the former state monopoly, privatised in 1984, whose businesses include Openreach, its network infrastructure venture, EE, the mobile network, and BT Sport, the broadcaster.

It is awaiting the outcome of a review by Ofcom, the telecoms regulator, that will affect its £12 billion full-fibre investment strategy. Separately, a review of its pension fund is expected to show a deficit of about £9 billion.

BT is taking also part in the latest 5G spectrum auction and is exploring potential partnerships and investments in security, healthcare and drones.

Du Plessis, 67, is a former chairman of Rio Tinto, the miner, SABMiller, the brewer, and British American Tobacco. His departure after less than four years at BT came as a shock to the City.

Du Plessis said on Monday: “After 17 years of demanding roles as chairman of significant FTSE companies, I know the time is now right for me to step down and focus on other interests.

“BT has made good progress over the last few years. We have a refreshed board and much-strengthened senior management team. Above all, our relationship with Ofcom has improved significantly over the last three years and I strongly believe the commitment to invest in a full-fibre network is in the long-term interests of stakeholders.”

BT’s share price rose sharply on Wednesday after the chancellor announced a “super-deduction” tax break in the budget, which will allow significant tax savings if companies invest in new plant and machinery, as BT does. They closed up 6¾p, or 4.9 per cent, at 141½p last night.

MaryBr190 "True but temporary news driven spikes present a selling opportunity too as the spike which may not last. Papers try to put a specific reason on a price rise or fall. They rarely are spot on. Great for trading on weakness.GLA."

Point taken, but I believe this will only help to underpin upward momentum, as I fully expect the upcoming OFCOM report on Fibre Pricing / Margins (due at the end of the month) to provide even more good news for BT.

Capital investment measures boost BT
Tom Howard
Thursday March 04 2021, 12.01am, The Times

Shares in BT rose sharply yesterday as the City bet that the telecoms group will be one of the biggest winners from the chancellor’s tax break on capital investment.

BT is set to be among the main beneficiaries of the scheme given that it has already laid out plans to invest £12 billion in its full fibre broadband roll-out over the coming decade. As investors clocked on to the potential boost to BT, they piled into the shares, which closed at 8½p, or 6.8 per cent, higher at a six-week peak of 134½p.

Positive news? Let's see how the market reacts to this.

The vaccination rollouts will see a semblance of normality returning to everyday life by June at the very latest. Stock markets will continue to rally on the back of this return to near normality. Ofcom will relent (for how long we are not sure) and take the shackles off BT’s/Openreach’s pricing structures for fibre. And finally the government will accede to BT’s demands to reduce business rates and accelerate the funding of rural broadband. Collectively all of this bodes well for BT and its future. The clouds are definitely breaking up and the not so distant horizon is clear.

Fleccy - You should also take into account the increasing strength in Sterling. There is invariably an inverse relationship between a strengthening local currency and a weakening local stock market. Conversely a weakening local currency invariably triggers a rise in equities. Whilst the relationship between equities and currencies is a complex one it is, more often than not, true. Same goes for base rates and equities, although there the relationship is more transparent.

H-hi A 38% increase since October 19th doesn't look too shabby to me.

Does that mean you have one foot appreciably larger than the other? Just asking.

FYI Folkestone is not at all important, except for leisure craft and small fishing boats, but Dover is.