Member Info for fleccy

"well actually yes it did happen at BT the final salary scheme was closed in 2009 those on it were put on a dc scheme and told the company had no plans to revisit it."

According to this website: https://www.btpensions.net/

Sections A & C still has active members, whereas I'm actually classed as a deferred member. Had I worked at BT since the 80's, in all likelihood I would still be an active member of a DB scheme. Can you clarify which pension schemes you're referring to landyseries1? I can see that Section B are deferred, maybe NDNIC can clarify, as an ex BT employee.

"Fleccy, This is why people dont like you they just humour you what kind of person “hopes people who go on strike get pay docked,"

Because you get payed for putting in a days work, if you don't work why should you get payed? I don't care if people like me.

"You don't work for BT so you really don't know what they doing, they are closing sites and telling us to travel 2 hours to the new site. I'll definitely be voting YES and I know alot of my colleagues will be voting YES. and we don't get paid for that day."

I worked for a different company, who closed the site I worked at, and offered me a job 100 miles away. I weighed up the options and took redundancy instead, without whingeing about it. I was 58 at the time, now 59, so I just viewed it as early retirement. I was also a member of the CWU, but without collective bargaining, so I have a good idea how much better BT's terms & conditions are. I was happy to walk away with a years pay, after 30 odd years at the company, because I took a pragmatic view. In addition to that, the final salary scheme I'd been a member of since the 80's was frozen in 2013, and I was put into a DC scheme which I now intend to put into drawdown. So I missed out on 6 years In the final salary scheme, eight years if you count the redundancy, since I was made redundant two years before I was due to retire naturally. Would all that have happened at BT? I don't think so. BT staff should see how lucky they are, to have protections, and terms and conditions, much better than the rest of the industry. I have no sympathy I'm afraid.

"Appears to be a call for a yes vote for industrial action in BT Openreach and EE"

Watched it myself. Are the Union employee's going to donate their wages to the BT workers who can't afford to pay their Mortgage? That's assuming it's a YES vote, which isn't certain. BT staff have amazing terms & conditions, they should support BT in its transformation, not hinder it. If it's a strike I hope BT immediately start docking wages.

"Perhaps merger or buy out"

It's a Union announcement, not an RNS.

It may be related to Pension Review, due in the next couple of months.

"Strike"

For what reason? I'll be very surprised if they can call a full company strike without balloting the whole workforce anyway. I don't believe most of the Engineers would be up for a strike, maybe a few isolated departments.

"Fleccy, its the new world we live in,who would of thought out of the 45 towns that needed regeneration cash 47 of them where in poorly run Conservative constituencies."

Obviously related to the stratospheric price of Bitcoin, or not.

"It'll be interesting to see what happens when those US stimulus cheques land"

It's possible that some of that money may find its way into Bitcoin, or GameStop lol.

Currently $54,924.90 per Bitcoin. Is it just me that feels like I've somehow found myself in some sort of surreal financial fantasy Universe? Reminds me of the trader who recently paid $36 million for copper coloured rocks. I've started polishing T urds to sell on Ebay, who knows they may be worth a fortune.

Got my first Covid Vaccine this morning, and happy to say it was the Oxford/AstraZeneca Vaccine. I actually arrived a couple of minutes late, due to traffic. I was asked my name and date of birth, at the front desk , then taken straight to a room where I confirmed my name and date of birth, was asked about allergies, etc, then jabbed. In and out of the building in 5 minutes. I have to say I was really impressed at the efficiency of the operation.

"If you look at a firm that is closer to the telecoms, such as Royal Mail, where there is immense competition with reducing market share over the decades and a majority work force also members of the CWU, but unlike BT their share price has made a superb recovery since last spring."

In my opinion, the markets have never been more manipulated than they are now. We have Off Book Dark Pools, HFT, Algo's, and most retail shareholdings in broker accounts, allowing the Fox's to run the Hen house. Because of the various stimulus, and low interest rates, the big players have Trillions to play with. The evidence is the current Tech bubble, and bubble in US stocks generally. The FTSE isn't participating in these bubbles, so probably a safer place to invest. I believe that the current environment allows the big players to manipulate stocks, sectors, and even individual markets, if they wish. You know there's something wrong when some companies are worth more than the GDP of countries. Last August Apple apparently exceeded $2 Trillion valuation, currently around $1.95 Trillion, Spain GDP was around $1.393 Trillion.

Lufthanse have 757 Aircraft, across its various businesses, so also clearly much bigger that RYA. The simpleflying article presented a false picture.

https://investor-relations.lufthansagroup.com/en/corporate-facts/fleet.html#:~:text=At%20the%20end%20of%202020,Group%20fleet%20comprised%20757%20aircraft.

"Seems Mikey is the 6th or 7th largest airline in the WORLD."

The article says "The Dublin-based carrier operates 452 aircraft"

https://simpleflying.com/largest-airline-fleets/

IAG say "IAG combines leading airlines in the UK, Spain and Ireland, operating a fleet of over 533 aircraft."

https://www.iairgroup.com/en/the-group/our-fleet#:~:text=IAG%20combines%20leading%20airlines%20in,fleet%20of%20over%20533%20aircraft.

RYA is clearly smaller than IAG, it's obvious looking at the pre-pandemic revenue's of each company.

"This has to be the easiest stock to short. It's fall back after any rise is totally predictable. IAG at 210 today 3 months ago it was same price as BT. Nothing much has changed for them and yet away they go. Loosing money hand over fist and the share price still takes off like 737..unbelievable."

I agree, it makes no sense that Airlines should outperform Telecoms companies, Vodafone is currently getting similar treatment to BT. Being the cynic I am, I put it down to the market purposely pushing down Telecom stocks. If Telecoms were as bad as the market would have us believe, why are the likes of Goldman Sachs investing Billions in Fibre through CityFibre? At some point, the power players will decide to change the narrative, and i'll still be here when that happens.

"Apart form a couple of cases with small remaining 'deficits' in my portfolio, BT is the only share where I'm thousands down. "

It depends where you're invested. If you're invested in Banks, or other Telecom companies then you're likely to down due to the pandemic. On this chart I multiplied Lloyds share price by three to make the comparison with BT, VOD, and BARC in relative performance terms, since the start of 2020. Barclays has done slightly better recently, but Lloyds and Vodafone are performing similarly to BT.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vTVcbXZMg5K4jCPxaGyvtt4mxaTST2k6zT09ea3uHI5lYSXaGjmm6WrKhdVBxXxqWMb3Rwzqd8SKdQ_/pubchart?oid=1613401209&format=interactive

Blackrock disagrees with them, as they closed their short position. It's one thing writing an opinion, it's another putting your money where your mouth is. It appears Numis and UBS are desperate to quell enthusiasm in BT.

Just read the article, they are clearly having a laugh. Where they come up with 102p, which would give BT a P/E of just over 5, is beyond me. What also baffles me, is the way they dismiss investment in the business as a negative. I think I'll place that analysts opinion, in the section marked Comedy Fiction.

"So Why Is He Going Then?"

Anyone's guess, but the market reaction this morning tells a story imo. The market has been pushing BT to divest of Openreach for a long time. Reading between the lines, of various media articles, some big Infrastructure funds have been eyeing Openreach for the last couple of years. If Jansen wanted to inflate BT's price, all he'd have to do is open negotiations with these interested parties. As I said in previous post, I wouldn't take issue with BT selling a portion of Openreach, as long as the sale price valued Openreach at around £25 Billion.

"Mon, 8th Mar 2021 07:00

RNS Number : 4103R
BT Group PLC
08 March 2021

8 March, 2021

BT Group statement re Sky News article

The Board of BT Group plc ("BT" or the "Company") notes the article from Sky News on Friday 5 March regarding the Company.

The Company announced on 1 March the intention of Jan du Plessis to retire as Chairman in 2021 once a successor has been appointed, and we are very sorry he will be leaving.

The Chairman throughout his tenure has demonstrated strong leadership of the Company, been extremely supportive of management and any suggestion that he has impeded the transformation of BT is without foundation.

There has been no misalignment between the Board and executive management over the Company's strategy."