Member Info for NigeCo

Anyone selling BT to chase for a dividend income elsewhere could be jumping out of the frying pan and in to the fire.

"I rounded down to £8 billion too, but it's all speculative. I don't like what BT have done, but i can see how it improves finances dramatically when added to cost savings. The £5 billion grant is earmarked to provide Gigabit broadband to the hardest to reach places. Since Openreach already own infrastructure in these places, you'd think the bulk of the £5 billion would be directed toward Openreach, probably with strings attached, but we'll see."

Agree Fleccy, IMHO, the dividend has been cut for the good of the business and mainly the regulator/government. BT have now a good case to now plead with them, lay off us now, we have cancelled our shareholders dividend, so cut us some slack going forward. This IMHO is behind the cancellation.

Toff.... "The cut was mathematically inevitable. At the old 15.4 pence per share rate, dividends cost 1.5 billion pounds a year. That compares with about 2 billion pounds of free cash flow, which also covers pension payments to the tune of 800 million pounds or so. By slashing dividends, Jansen has made sure he can invest in fibre broadband – which matters as rivals O2 and Virgin Media bulk up."

I agree Toff. Cancelling the dividend for the next 2 years will give BT the cash that it requires for the good of the company, that will make the company financially stronger going forward and will go a long way in paying for FTTP.

Credit where it's due Toff, you made a good call, I must admit I got the dividend wrong. Patience is needed for long-term shareholders.

Fleccy...."Am i right in thinking this means that BT save £4 bn in dividends and £4 bn in annualised cost savings by 2025. That adds up to £8bn in savings over the next 5 years, i would hope that covers the entire upgrade program and pays down some of the debt."

Not forgetting the governments £5 billion FTTP grant that BT will pick up the majority probably over £4bln.

Fleccy....."Looks as though OFCOM will be loosening some of the shackles from next year. Hopefully it will mean that Openreach can compete directly on price with other Fibre and Cable TV providers.

"In competitive areas where there is established competition, we would not regulate Openreach’s broadband products. We propose not to identify any such areas at this stage but expect to do so in the future."

Good news hopefully, not before time.

My BT dividend prediction is this, BT will pay the H2 dividend in full 10.78p, and cut the 2020 full year dividend from 15.40p to 10.00p. I think that the market would like this outcome and re-rate the BT shares accordingly.

Yes good call today Carrington, (up 5%) let's hope that we can hold on to today's gains once USA opens.

Fleccy.... "I worked in Telecoms for the majority of my working life, so i know what's out there and the capabilities of the Telecom companies. I've worked in BT exchanges, commissioned data connections for Talk Talk between their main Hub and Colo areas and i've also worked on Virgin Media sites. BT just dwarfs every other company geographically, so how are VM going to dominate 5G connectivity?"

Fleccy, I find your knowledge invaluable to this board. I find it reassuring to know that someone who has a similar size BT shareholding to myself intends to hold long-term, this gives my confidence going forward. Thank you.

NDNIC00, I hope that you don't mind that I re-posted your excellent post below on the ADFN discussion board regarding the BT pension deficit. Cheers.

Courtesy of NDNIC00, over on LSE board. BT next update on the pension deficit won't be reported in this weeks results, it will be reported in June 2020. The BT pension holds the following.....
Government bonds 29%
Equities 22%
Investment grade credit 27%
Other growth assets 13%
Property 9%
Also BT is committed to paying in 2019 £2b and year 2020 £1.2b then £900m a year until 2030 therefore since the last report and the next the reduction should be in the region of £2-3b Bringing it to something like £6b maybe better.

Toff.... "If fleecy’s dream becomes reality Buffett will make a £4 a share offer on Thursday and I’ll really get screwed LOL"

All joking aside Uncle warren could do a lot worse than pick BT up on the cheap today at 118p. Spring forward 5 years, once FTTP is complete (yes it may take a little longer to complete, but the majority will be done) the BT share price will be a hell of a lot higher than what it is today, factor in forward cost savings and the good times are back. All in my opinion of cause.

Toff, Just saying it could go either way on Thursday. With the BT share price already in my opinion very good value to say the least, I'm not sure that I would short such a well beaten up share price. But so far you're only holding a paper loss. Lol

Toff.... "Doubled up as I said I would. Second short added @117"

Toff throwing good money after bad. LOL

Watch out for a short covering on Thursday, when BT announce Full Year Results with a better dividend than the market is expecting.

5 May, 08:54 BST 117.00 GBX +3.05 (2.68%)

Toff doubles his £200 BT loss. LOL

"Like the old saying never say never"

Too true mate, never is a very long time.

One can live in hope Bkkbkk.

I can think of two people who wouldn't approve of the wedding? But they wouldn't be invited. LOL

fleccy.... "Sky and BT are definitely cozying up to each other on the content front. I wonder if Wedding bells will chime lol."

That would be one hell of a wedding celebration.

Fleccy... "I still think Sky and BT complement each other nicely, whether that would encourage Comcast to get into talks around some sort of partnership, or tie up, who knows. Just a sniff of Comcast and BT in talks would be a major market mover for BT."

Apologies, should have been addressed to Velo.

Fleccy... "I still think Sky and BT complement each other nicely, whether that would encourage Comcast to get into talks around some sort of partnership, or tie up, who knows. Just a sniff of Comcast and BT in talks would be a major market mover for BT."

I agree, any talk of a potential tie up would re-rate BT.

Vello.... "That set-up should be viewed as a co-operative partner and not a possible acquisition target being stalked."

Vello, with the Market Cap of BT at just under £11bln today, and if as you say that DT have plans for world dominance, plus they have funds available, plus they already have a good shareholding in BT, with a man on the board. Why not make a move on BT? Would there ever be a better opportunity for a potential predator to pounce?