Member Info for Gerry557

Well I suppose it was expected as the threat was subdued. Most stocks were up and the re nationalised ones even more so.

Unless you get scrip shares as they only issue the A's now even if you hold B's

What are the pro's & con's of Vodafone?

PRO:- You can make a small fortune with Vodafone
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CONS:- You need to start off with a large fortune!

Its been spent on buybacks and shares and Project Spring

I kept my Verizion shares and prefer the quarterly payouts (come on Vodafone!) Not sure companies are ever good at when to buy their own shares. Then again so are some PI's, myself included

Well this has done well over the last couple of months and getting to five times income if I take it back off the table.

With a vote and some sort of Brexit ahead it might be safer to do so. Still if things swing the other way it might continue to climb and then there is the Santa Rally to look forward too plus I have a margin of safety under me.

Decisions Decisions

Mr Market is down generally and the polls showing that Boris might not get a working majority.

Is the former due to the latter.

I thought India was written off down to zero and no new money from the parent so it shouldn't have any negative affect as it can only get better, unless Im wrong

I see the weekend postings have been deleted. I'm not sure why. I wish the mods would add a comment as to why. It seems that the whole lot gets pulled not just the offender.

I suppose if I was a snowflake I'd be on my high horse about the following comment :- " it’s the bum boy torries "

I'll leave it up to others to decide if thats homophobic, just in case that person is an equal opportunities name caller and does this to everyone.

Back to Vodafone, share price getting back to interesting territory zone...... For buyers only Dan!

Well I doubt that Labours free broadband will do much for Vodafone share price although they are more than just a UK and broadband only provider. I see various utilities are taking steps to protect shareholders interests by setting up some things abroad. So if they do get in then less might be "stolen" and result in costing more than planned. Although I suspect they were working on not paying anything at all.

Mr Corbyn does seem quite illiterate when it comes to how finance runs but then again he wants to dismantle the system anyway and this will just be the start.

Just read back, at least I had the presentation this time. So some improvement there. How about a webcast so we can see your body language

Just finished with the call. So much background noise and poor quality sound, dont they ever test these things?

Anyway from the underwater sounding noises, I interpreted this as doing quite well and on track. Positioning for the future and expecting a downturn of sorts. Relatively low LTV and a pot of cash ready to deploy.

The pre announced divi increase is always welcome but strangely I cant see the annual amount in pence for the divi going forward. I might have to contact them direct just in case my adding on the percentage increase is a few decimal dots out.

I suppose I could have missed it if it was announced

I see they, along with many other utilities, have opened overseas companies to fend off the threat of nationalisation.

So will be interesting to see how this cat and mouse game ends. Labour calculations already being challenged and now it's looking like it's getting stretched from both ends with more post manifesto spending and it looks like the tax expectations are drifting away.

Ok cat, now your turn...........

SP touching all time highs by the look of it too. Although to be fair it seems to ripple up and down rather than rocket up and down. I wonder if the Brexit/Trump/Markets/election concerns being slightly kinder are playing a pert here.

Looks like this is a share for topping up on the dips.

BT's Openreach is a legacy of when telecom was nationalised. Its was the golden egg for now parent company BT. Forcing rivals to overpay for its services or do expensive cap ex of installing their own. If I was BT I would have done the same!

That is partly the reason for the overall lack of investment although new cap ex does exist. The Regulator has taken some steps forcing BT to run Openreach as a separate company and things have improved slightly for all except BT and its shareholders. I suspect the logical next step is a forced spin off and to open it up to all. Maybe then the other companies might divert more funds into the upgrades rather than BT's divis.

Im not sure the state "stealing" companies and trying to run them is fair, possibly illegal and generally of poorer quality. Please list all the great nationalised run entities? Normally when the cap ex is needed from the state they have other priorities such as more NHS and Education not sticking a wire in the ground.

I wonder how much cap ex is being spent via all telecos and infrastructure in the UK and how much tax is being brought it too. Offset this against those claims for nationalisation. Extra jobs also seems a fallacy, some transfer of dismissed workers into the state run thing but not extra.

Still we all want more and faster tinternet at the cheapest price and most seem to prioritise this and are willing to pay. Those who dont pay, I suspect dont actually need it. (I did hear two pensioners discussing what would they do with the free broadband, no idea said the other.!) There might be a few who would use it but what not just issue a voucher to spend how you like. For the working person, most have probably got more than this back in personal tax rate changes.

I suspect for many a state controlled internet is a big no no and a privacy/big brother issue and would be happy to pay for the independent alternative that wont get switched off when you criticise the government.

Apart from the Aussies any one else done this?

but in old money is would be £830m, the new accounting standards adds in the leases to make it up the £1041.

So yep its bigger but not as much as first seems

..... and then nationalization of broadband is announced!

We are going to have a new line installed for each member of the family as its free or one for each device, cant have any lag when discussing Vodafone whilst watching Netflix on tv.

Thought that might knock the SP a bit more today.

fcf is not nonsense, its the life blood of any company or your household for that matter.

Its the amount left over for dividends, debt reduction and extra cap ex if needed. Vod doesnt include spectrum payments, which are now an annual ongoing and rising payment and imo should be included in some form or another as it is now a reoccurring expense.

Finance expenses are covered before fcf and Mr Read did say they were trying to leverage the debt to its advantage. Remember divis were being paid out when the fcf was much less to having more free cash available didnt cause the divi cut.

Remember I commented on the SP, its better to buy at a lower SP as it ebbs and flows but most buy on good news and a higher SP and then get upset when the company has a bad turn as sell at a loss, when doing the opposite should be the coarse of action .

Velo

I suspect the share buyback will be the initial priority to stop diluting the shareholders and effectively reduce debt. I know they dont classify this as debt and Im not sure how strategic this is should there be further headwinds or targets not being met. They have done it this way for a reason , mainly to keep it of the debt books but I suspect there are secondary reasons a bit like an insurance policy.

As for progressive, they could, if the plan is on track, increase by tiny amounts to answer this but I cant see the rush to make increases when the debt needs to be brought down. I suspect they might come up with reasons, quite valid ones, not to instigate any increase. If fact in some ways Im surprised the the divi cut was only 40%.

Dan "Sorry Gerry, Are you seriously saying, vod will in future pay a 50/50 interim/final divi.(almost unheard of)"
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No Im not saying that, Vodafone are. Its their current policy in the latest report!

Dividend policy

The Board intends to have a progressive dividend policy, and the decision on the level of dividend growth will be assessed annually at year-end. Going forwards, the interim dividend is expected to be 50% of the prior full year dividend. Consistent with this approach, the interim dividend for H1 FY20 has therefore been set at 4.50 eurocents.

I see it as it will still be 9 cents, split 50/50, with a rise the following year to be progressive.

Velo

Im not decrying the assets purchased just the end point with the amount of debt. Maybe I am miss remembering the figures or how the debt levels would end up. I expected 27Bn + 18.4 Bn = 45.4Bn with the sale of some assets like NZ bring it down a tad.

In fact its 48.1bn and that includes the 2Bn for NZ and doesnt include the 3.5Bn convertible bonds, which should end up being bought back via the share buy back and some small, relatively Indian and Ziggo loans. I was expecting x3 max hence my concern at it being above.

Rightly you highlight profit over revenue and time will tell. Hopefully the next report will have more good news than bad, after all it should equal out over time and its the underlying trend not the spot issues that should drive forward.

SP back off a bit, was that following the market. Still its up prior to the update so maybe its just me