The next focusIR Investor Webinar takes places on 14th May with guest speakers from Blue Whale Growth Fund, Taseko Mines, Kavango Resources and CQS Natural Resources fund. Please register here.
I think you’ve got a point about OFCOM.
At the time I wrote to my MP pointing out the fact you refer to.
Interesting that he gave me reasonable response that didn’t dismiss my concerns out of hand as I thought he might ,he also suggested that my letter had prompted him to some research on the topic.
If MPs get enough input from constituents about the demonstrable lack of impartiality of OFCOM it may help a little.
Do all UBS clients hang on to every word they say on BT?
It would appear not as the tenth largest shareholder in BT is
UBS Asset Management UK Ltd which owns 67 million shares on behalf of clients.
MCAP is just arithmetic driven by the price which as you say gets swayed by all sorts of things.
I agree with the sentiment of Mulders post about EE and as a stand alone entity it’s probably still worth more than the BT MCAP at present.
The way the market views BT will only change if either BT plans come through with their promise which will likely take four or five years or in the absence of the possibility of a total sale of BT then a sale of assets including EE leaving the core Network Assets and Openreach as the new BT would release shareholder value of multiples of todays MCAP.
Unfortunately can’t see there’s a will to do that so LTH will have to put up with the paper losses or look elsewhere.
From the tone of the majority of this board I think most are patient .
New rankings have Sky first ( best ) but BT next three places Plusnet,EE,BT worst performance from Virgin Media….by a mile! looks like tales of woe in press overstate problems in customer service.
Oh dear, Strategy Group has two years to come up with a grand new investment idea to spend the cash that gets freed up when the roll out is done, another sports channel perhaps?. It would be more hopeful if she doubled down on cost reduction.
Thanks for the article Fleccy, it’s obvious that the name you’ve never heard of selling something you’re not familiar with using a business model that is totally reliant on debt is going to fare less well than a known name less reliant on debt.
No amount of huffing and puffing by OFCOM is going to change that without hobbling BT which I’d hope would be resisted by our new CEO as it would delay the roll out.
The altnets will continue to cry foul but with the wave of money backing them they knew what they were walking into.
Hope the level playing field doesn’t get tilted in their favour because they complain so much.
What inside track do you have to know that large investors are thinking of selling….?
Do tell, otherwise it sounds just like another tiresome deramp.
Mulder , 5.52 according to this site. Either way less than the competition. I’ve never seen a comprehensive analysis that takes all the positives as strongly as all the negatives. All you hear is pension and altnets and capital cost of roll out if someone is making the bear case and Openreach and EE and how capital spend will end soon and profit will ramp up if the bull case is being pushed.
Let’s be fair everyone has their reasons for pushing their views but an objective valuation is extremely rare as it needs to take in pros and cons so rarely meets anyone’s agenda.
Proof that it’s losing out? Last data I saw said that penetration of new contracts from possible arising from new fibre was twice that achieved by altnets. Pension gap also closing. Have you also researched the headwinds facing the US companies and altnets ? In addition consider the huge debt fuelling their roll outs ? If you’re going to push the bear case on BT I’d suggest that research on the competition may also be useful.
Abject, Yes there are some similarities.They are both well down from previous highs but Verizon PE is over 14 ATandT is over 8 and BT is 6.
Abject, Yes there are some similarities.They are both well down from previous highs but Verizon PE is over 14 ATandT is over 8 and BT is 6.
Savage, if that’s your view are you sure that investing in equities is the best place for your money ?
Come the revolution you’ll lose it all!
No Aus not missing anything I didn’t dispute that Brexit has caused its share of problems merely that it’s overly simplistic to think all UK problems started in 2016.
The stuff I listed has been acknowledged by economists and other interested parties for years as contributing to the undervaluations on the UK market endless news articles and academic musings are online you don’t need to look very hard.
It may suit your argument to say it’s all down to Brexit but the slippery slope started years before that and Brexit merely made things worse.
Poker, isn’t it the case that if you take out the best bits of any country’s statistics they won’t perform as well?
Aren’t the numbers supposed to include everything?
Aus, I wish it was only one thing but I think you are missing things if you only think Brexit. Successive governments have hit UK pension funds going back years from thatcher’s allowance of pension holidays to browns dividend tax credit grab to various restrictions on where pension funds can invest causing massive reduction in the share of pension investments in equities as funds had to move to fixed interest to meet stress test requirements. Add to that the crazy drive to ESG focus which has hit fossil fuel and defence companies then add over regulation which hit telcos like BT and reduced the inclination to take risk in banks ( article in past week on this , I think in the Telegraph. ) Also allow for erratic tax policy from investment allowances to corporate tax rates to windfall taxes . On top allow for on off views on support for nuclear and new oil investment .For remainers Brexit is an easy target but it’s only one of many things that have reduced liquidity and inclination to invest in U K . All of them are consequences of successive governments not having a cohesive plan for growth in the UK. I wish the answer was just it’s all Brexit but in my view our dear government and its predecessors have made us unattractive in all sorts of other ways. And the politicians still seem to kid themselves they can drive growth when they’ve been a blocker for decades.
Move Along ……I’ll second that
It’s not my money that’s needed it’s the huge amounts of liquidity sloshing around the USA that brings all sectors valuations to a big premium on UK valuations. Lots has been published on this fact lately , check it out.
Thanks Fleccy ,I’d forgotten that . Not sure a secondary listing is the same as the main listing. As for litigation risk the hundreds of companies listed on USA exchanges seem to manage that risk so probably not insurmountable. I’d love to see it mooted as a possibility if only to see the media meltdown and all the “ disgusted of Tunbridge Wells” crowd worked up into a frenzy at the possibility. It would be great entertainment and to be fair as a long term holder BT hasn’t provided much of that in recent years !
Is there any reason why BT couldn’t follow Shell and look at moving its listing to the US market. Telcos are valued much higher there , I can imagine the fury in the media if Kirkby said this was being considered.
Why not?