Member Info for Gerry557

Is Vodafone a bit like an endowment, smoothing out the returns over the years in both good and bad? Never really thought about it that way before.

LordA, you are correct re dividends and I'm guilty of expressing the phrase without a caveat of "effectively" I suppose I'm talking apples n oranges as I mix time frames with profit being multi year whereas borrowing being single year, either calendar or financial. In 2014 vod showed big profits so can pay dividends for many years ahead now but its still spending more than its earning last financial year, hence the widening balance sheet. This is not ideal and things must improve as this cant go on ad infinitum. Maybe I should be more careful in future on how I try and put this across.

I look forward to being wine n dined. Lets hope were not left stood up! Although I could catch up on a little TV if I'm on my own.

Yep Deb picking up but most things were up yesterday. Had my eye on a top up or four but they are all moving the wrong way and only one is now a maybe. Is that chap still trying to get past Blairs bodyguards and citizen's arrest him for war crimes? Blair did bring "peace" in Ireland, which I didnt think would happen. Wonder if Queeny will be using Deb's flowers to treat us bb users for Valentines. I thought I might get Mrs G some GEMD instead of the usual stuff. Yes Debs back on the rise, just like Magic Mike and his French Connection

Well that is the beauty of dividends, they tend to be a lot more stable. Lately Vod has been borrowing to pay the divi and rightly you pointed out that this can only go on for so long or until credit agencies say that the balance sheet is stretched to far. Yes borrowing is cheap, for now and can be used to reduce tax. So collect the stable divis and reinvest when the not so stable SP is low. Its up to each individual to assess their own risk profile and that of the company. DYOR n all that. I dont think I recommended you buy a lower yield growth stock either but a growing divi is lovely to have, here or elsewhere. Vod has time to sort thing out but should a down turn persist the debt n divi will hinder any recovery and limit options. Yes I wish all my holdings had no debt. Yes growth would be nice but what happens when you have sold the world 3 phones each? Compounding 7percent divis looks ok to me. I suspect if the UK and India were doing ok some of that debt would be reducing. Lets hope I get lucky and have to sell them for some reason just before it all goes wrong. Plus the folly of reinvesting divis is that it doesn't cost you any more capital or you can put them elsewhere if vod looks more risky than planned.

Makes you wonder why they bother with the script in the first place, normally good way for a company to save cash but then they spend it all and costs asking Merrill Lynch to do it all for them. Of course it might help us poor shareholders save some dealing costs on reinvesting those divi's if their brokers do script. Yes its to benefit us then!

More to topic, SP picking up a tad even after Barclays underweight 480

I did apologize to you in the original post and it was aimed at all shareholders or bb viewers, some of which are not probably from engineering backgrounds. As for relevance, which bit of the RR Derby bit on A380 engines wasn't relevant ? I'll give you interesting! I'll even give you Sad! My TV watching is varied I'll grant but that is my choice best I dont let you look at my music collection then. Even Mrs G likes different things on TV (and music) but we can find some shared interests to view together and I can play Scooter loud when shes away. I look forward to your links to more relevant and up to date things that are more (or less) interesting depending on your view point or if the misses is away and I can ratchet up the subwoofer.

Dan, Vod is a big company, so millions, in context is not much. There were big trades late Friday, result a penny or so movement. Might be more difficult in a crash scenario granted. Yes I suspect you are correct in that if the divi was cut, as a choice rather than being forced, we would be just as well off. Many would say they should cut and pay down debt. My main issue is that vod is seen or expected to be an income share so if that changed then there would be a lot of disappointed shareholders. I know the divi was a big attraction for me and its a real return in my pocket than a gain on paper that might go away in the blink of a Deepwater Horizion episode or a few more billionaires start giving away free calls.

Well Webbs you got your Monday bounce, why Dead Cat. I hope its more Top Cat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykRZbOb1c5c Does that make me Officer Dibble or Benny? Still thats the divi fall back ...... for today anyway.

Tony Blair for UKinP? I thought he wanted a role in europe, wasn't it defence related. I'm not even sure what I thought Brexit meant as it hadn't been decided just that it would happen in the future post the result. I think I expected it would range from a worse case scenario to some sort of fudged special deal. I also think we will adapt to whatever outcome we get but there will be some winners and losers, like always. No I didnt trade in Tesco on the day and expected it to fall back although it could add some support noise especially if it looks like the deal will proceed. I was starting to take more of an interest because the price had fallen. Wish they kept stum really. As for Debs, shes starting the week off a tad but off lows, so maybe less sales is working. I suspect this will follow the market until some real news from Mr B comes out. Lets hope they like what he has to say.

for shareholders? The sale, completed after a big change leaving the "good bit" and now that is going down the swanny. Trust is easily lost and then it take so long to get it back. Mr Hawkins for PM then!

RR Derby on TV last night. Caught about 10 min on City in the sky approx 30 min in. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b07hn675/city-in-the-sky-3-arrival Looking at the state of engines around the world. There was a broken one ..... after a baggage truck drove into it. Program first shown back in June 16 so old news, soz Arsenal. Dont know if there was more cos I only caught that bit. I might try can catch the series if I have time.

Dan, I suspect large investors prefer taking capital gains than divis as the tax treatment is usually better and probably buybacks to special dividends, again for tax reasons. Buffets share dont pay a divi and all the earnings are rolled up. There are also extra costs reinvesting dividends so why not choose something else and avoid those costs altogether. As for comfort blanket, maybe. It a way of getting a bit of a return especially if the share is going through a bad patch. Some need a regular income like pensioners. I like the idea of regular cash coming in so I can choose if I want to reinvest my divi and at what price. It also saves having to sell to free up cash for another share. To divi or not to divi poises many questions on the merits of each and I suspect that personal circumstances, tax and costs all play a part. Fortunately there are lots of shares to choose from and as this does pay a divi, and some would say it shouldn't under present circumstances, then this is part of the attraction. Maybe not for day traders though. For me, I struggle knowing when to sell a share so this decision is made for me, twice a year. I did end up with money in a fund with both income and accumulation units after buying the wrong version. There was little difference in the overall value of each after holding for a while. Reinvesting divis is supposed to make a big difference in overall returns whether you do it or its done for you.

Well he didn't get his 10 percent but they do work out cheaper. They reckon over $600m saved, maybe Trump should invest in some shares here then. Lets now try and sell him some Rolls Royce engines.

My share of the century! ............ I expect my individual divis will be bigger than my initial investment by 2117. Might be spending them on all of GSK products though! Shorts on the rise

Stan wasn't the man! No divi there so stopped adding, might have been a mistake in hindsight but said sight might also say I should have stayed away in the first place. Still losses getting smaller and the divi might come back in a couple of years. Suf - Nowt wrong with having some black orses and a few here. Diversification and x6 divi dates, wots not to like?

Sampson, Not sure where you heard the special divi rumor? Are you sure it wasn't one of Suf's parrot talking ramps? He was banging on about the US funds being brought back and I think it was wishful thinking on his part for a Special. As HKHobo points out, if there is any surplus cash its more likely to be used as another buyback although I would prefer the cash myself then I can decide when to buy back, if at all. I suspect HSBA will be happy for Goldman to continue playing with the SP so they can script another couple of £Bn

fleccy, I suspect it will show up by the end of today and early next week if you have it paid into the bank. Some brokers quicker than others. Should be able to trade with it straight away! Herby27, That is the crux of the matter. FCF is due to cover it this year. So long as they dont need any cap ex or new spectrum then things look ok. Unfortunately they do need the latter, so its a waiting game to see if the growth and plans come together before they burn out of cash. They look ok for a few years as they have some cash in the bank and the more fcf they get the longer they can continue to ride on the carousel. So your being paid your own money until they get their act together or fail. This are improving with a few speed bumps along the way so it looks like time and patience job.

See you back on Tuesday then Webbs? My train of though is more aligned with callerone's. Any particular reasons you expect it to go down even if things are good?