The latest Investing Matters Podcast with Jean Roche, Co-Manager of Schroder UK Mid Cap Investment Trust has just been released. Listen here.
Any BT workers on here? when is the ballot for the pension agreement going ahead? we can all see through the smoke and mirrors of 3500 new employees news, so when is the real front and center news of a pension agreement going to be made, its strangling the SP. If it's agreed then I hope the affected employees get to somehow break even, if its not agreed after ballot what next?. The dividend is going to be a huge chunk of my retirement fund, and I am getting fed up with zero news or information.
Your comment itself is of no consequence and is of no particular use either. Try this for not particularly useful My feelings are that the sp will increase, eventually, some time in the distant future, but, not before taking a further plunge due to current issues, my conclusion/opinion is based on nothing more than what I can deduce myself. I am in long, reinvesting divis. At least it is an opinion that is related to what this forum is for eh? what's your skinned down to the bone analysis without all the pie chart talk and algorithms, anybody have long term faith or is it just me being hopeful?
What will be the next step in becoming a holistic service just like all the service providers without a forced USO? I cant guess exactly, however losing all ties with Openreach may be the next best guess. Perhaps a cheeky sell off as a going concern or buy back by the government? who knows, All I know is the only company with the manpower and resources to take on the challenge of FTTP are doing the right thing in waiting for the business case to be profitable enough to guarantee a return on the investment. Everybody wants it but nobody wants to pay for it, catch 22.
Where did I get what? the fact the BTPS trustees want more than a simple promise of repayment ? or the fact Openreach are by far the biggest earner for BT?. The BTPS deal is being waved about by BT as signed sealed and delivered, yet the 20,000 people it affects have not been asked/balloted if they are willing to sacrifice thousands of pounds for the love of the company, who in their right mind would?. I feel the total lack of respect shown to these people that have worked to make the company what it was before the Italian till dipping exercise, is truly reflected in the SP, its going to be a long slow recovery, all the money is going on management mistakes and ofcom interference/fines rather than leading the way on UK FTTP network building, once the company starts to employee leaders with foresight/accurate forecasting and who are able to keep their eye on the ball then and only then will things improve. Not slating the company, just saying it as I see it based on information that is available and out there for all to see, problem is nobody wants to see it!. I really dont see any good news from BT recently and I dont see that BT have improved anything today, its just started the ball rolling on something that has been known about for at least 30 years, DB schemes are not viable in a low interest era. No doubt something else that has been festering will be announced shortly.
This may help but isn't positive as far as I can see, BT are going to hand the pension trustees the biggest asset they own, their entire telephone network, as security against repayment, (just in case they go bankrupt, why would they being doing that?, either very confident or very worried) and when Openreach is fully and legally separated as per what Ofcom wants as opposed to what BT have currently done, that will put paid to 1/3rd of their income. I am not a ramper or de ramper, I just take in and understand whats going on in plain sight. The result of the pension settlement IF it is settled after ballot, will be an immediate increase in pension contributions, short term pain for long term gain is the way I see it. If there was a strike then this country would be in trouble within no time, without the worker bees in place the wet string of a telephone network would fall over very quickly.