The latest Investing Matters Podcast with Jean Roche, Co-Manager of Schroder UK Mid Cap Investment Trust has just been released. Listen here.
200.09, just for mo, hopefully we’re there, but might have to break it another 3 or 4 times.
“ Andy Kerr said that he was also “extremely disappointed” that BT had chosen this course of action and that “we’re pushing hard for any future proposals to include this union at a much earlier stage, to give us the full opportunity to put together an alternative, in-house proposal.”
Maybe, if you (CWU) had engaged with BT in a more positive manner in recent history, BT may have put you in the full picture sooner. You reap what you sow.
Seems DAZN played a bad poker hand from what the Telegraph has been saying……
Sources claim Dazn could have sealed a takeover of BT Sport months ago, but had become bogged down in the commercial details as it relentlessly sought better terms.
Every time BT had ironed out a concern thrown up by Dazn, another issue would arise and bring progress to a halt, an insider says.
Among the hurdles were long-term guarantees Dazn wanted from BT to cover the costs of BT Sport if customers cancelled their subscriptions. BT is believed to have refused.
Dazn's deal team is also understood to have miscalculated Discovery's interest. It viewed it as a stalking horse when The Telegraph revealed the US broadcaster's intent in December.
Yet Discovery was not playing any games as talks dragged late into Wednesday night at BT's new offices in Aldgate on the edge of the City.
Marc Allera, the head of BT’s consumer division, and the company’s deal team wrangled over the finer details of the two offers as they raced towards deadline. The board eventually settled on Discovery, before the decision was revealed to the market hours later on Thursday morning.
…….Will no one rid me of this turbulent Tang, step forward 4 knights.
Technically this should be a shot in the arm for BT. VMO2 have to find money from other outside investors because they have debt galore on their balance sheet, as Fleccy has said many times. BT has said they are in a good place and are able to fund the full fibre without any additional help due to reduced costs and projected savings brought forward….. But will the market see it that way Huh!
Fair Q BP, If Russia can behave itself, £2 by Monday COP, falling back a little after and £2.07 by COP Thurs.
Last Nov 4th (half year) and ex div date in Dec both worked out beneficially on SP recently, where previously have been stinker on past quarterly/half/full results day and ex divi’s dates. Times are a changing!!
Throw in Polo from UBS, and you may have a paying audience.
To be fair, the price rises are not kicking in till end of March/beginning of April, so as a bastion of consumer value, he’s really saying get yourself locked into a better deal prior to prices going up, now and not later. Winners and losers on all providers. Best thing to do is give your current provider a call and have a chat.
I wonder whether GS has got wind of fairly imminent bid in the offing, given the conviction to buy. What happens after that has been well debated on here. At least a bid offer moves the share price closer to a more realistic value. Watch and see, GLA.
Plus side proper telecoms man. Makes a change from a government backed economist civil servant, with a free rein to reek havoc on the telecoms industry. God bless John Lewis.
Openreach chairman becomes frontrunner in Ofcom race
Process to choose new chairman for media regulator being led by Sue Gray, the senior civil servant also investigating Downing Street parties.
The chairman of BT’s network arm Openreach has emerged as the frontrunner in the race to oversee Ofcom, in a process being led by Sue Gray even as she investigates parties in Downing Street.
Mike McTighe has applied to head up the board at the media and telecoms regulator after previous attempts by Boris Johnson to install Paul Dacre, the former editor of the Daily Mail, triggered a political storm.
The Prime Minister attempted to install Mr Dacre at the head of the board of one of Britain’s most influential regulators last year.
However, an independent panel led by a senior civil servant found that he was “not appointable”. The Government then relaunched the search almost two years after it was announced that the previous permanent chairman of Ofcom would step down. But Mr Dacre withdrew from the race in November.
Ms Gray, the senior civil servant now leading the investigation into lockdown parties in Downing Street, is chairman of the new independent appointment panel.
Mr McTighe, 68, would be a popular choice among telecoms executives and their regulators, having been at the centre of a radical change in the UK telecoms industry over the last five years.
He was appointed the first independent chairman of Openreach in 2016 after a bitter row in which rivals accused BT of under-investing in and over-earning from its monopoly on Britain’s broadband infrastructure.
As a result Ofcom imposed a “legal separation” between BT and Openreach, which gave the network arm more autonomy to treat all broadband retailers equally.
Mr McTighe, who previously spent eight years on the board of Ofcom and has chaired boards in the energy and financial services sectors, has been credited with repairing relations between Openreach and its non-BT customers, including Sky and Vodafone, by improving installations and repairs.
One of his first acts as chairman was to publicly criticise BT management for underinvesting in broadband upgrades. Openreach now plans to connect 25m homes to a faster and more reliable fibre-optic network by the end of 2026.
Mr McTighe’s candidacy may face some opposition from rival network builders and retail providers such as TalkTalk, which has been in dispute with Openreach over unpaid fees.
He would face a six-month period of purdah to address any potential conflicts of interest, according to sources close to the appointment process.
Openreach declined to comment.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/boxing/2022/01/13/openreach-chairman-becomes-frontrunner-ofcom-race/
At 7.7p its already half the dividend value prior to the cancellation of 2 x final an 1 x interim payments. The problem with the share price is it’s too low and doesn’t represent the true value of BT making it a target for a takeover. Further cessation of the dividend will drive ordinary and institutional investors further away. At £230m this is small beer to reward investors and help the recovery of the share price. I wonder how much Goldman Sachs and Robey Warshaw are costing in their advisory capacity against possible takeover defence.
Or use the divi’s to pay the interest on the billions borrowed.
Fairly credible analyst, he used to have a slot on BBC business news, representing Barclays Investment, at least 10-15 years ago.
Some of these writers must get paid by the word, so always best to start off with, “British Telecom, the telecoms giant and former state monopoly has……..”. There’s £100 already.
Interesting Don, just read the article in the Times, Oliver’s tip last year for 2021 was Chrysalis Investments, who’s SP improved by 29% in the year. There were other writers forecasts not doing so well with Pets at Home and Whitbreads etc, going down on the year but Hopefully a good shout from Oliver will be much welcomed.
BP, the NORAD Christmas tracker says Rodney is currently over Eritrea, with Sudan coming up next. He’s a busy bunny!
Happy Christmas all, and a prosperous new year.
Telegraph…….Ministers call for national security review of Inmarsat takeover.
Tom Tugendhat has written to Kwasi Kwarteng saying the satellite firm’s sale to America’s Viasat could ‘diminish‘ UK sovereign capabilities.
Ministers have been urged to review British satellite company Inmarsat’s £5.5bn takeover on national security grounds.
Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, has written to Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng saying that Inmarsat’s sale to America’s Viasat could “diminish the UK’s sovereign capabilities”.
He argued the deal should be assessed under national security legislation due to come into force on January 4. Mr Kwarteng responded, saying the Government was monitoring the takeover and will intervene if it considers it appropriate.
“ Netflix has attacked reforms that could let broadband companies charge tech giants for access to their networks, warning that changes could harm investment and amount to telecoms companies extracting rent.”
So it’s OK for the telecoms companies to forego profits and divi’s to their shareholders in order to invest in the network and it’s future, so the streaming companies can roll about in their profits.