Another of my rare posts!!
I guess it would be possible for a takeover but my God it would take a lot of unravelling!
BT maintains critical government/MoD infrastructure and secure data. I cant for the life of me seeing the government placing this in, shall we say, foriegn hands. But never say never... There's always a way around such issues?
More likely is a break up of the company where the various divisions can be sold. I have no idea what impact this would have on the share price!
I've said it before and I'll repeat....
Once BT achieves, say, 90% FTTP (full fibre) they will state that the 'copper pair' is being withdrawn and customers will then have a choice of staying with BT on Fibre or switch elsewhere.... And where will they switch to!!!?
Unless the Altnets collectively pull fibre into the whole country they won't be able to compete.
Believe me, as soon as they can, telephony/broadband over the copper pair (actually, in some places the cable is aluminium!) will be announced as obsolete by BT and everyone will be compelled to switch to Fibre. Watch this space I guess!
I concur NDNIC00. 'Performance management' was used as a blunt tool in an attempt to either dismiss people or move them into a 'jobless' role in the hope that they would leave the company. Hence, if a leavers package was offered many people didn't hesitate to leave.... So to a certain extent the tactics worked! There is a 'but', and I know this from being middle management, if an individual was deemed to be be underperforming they would be denied a full leavers package. I had to fight very hard to get a couple of my people 3 months gardening leave and a half value leavers package.
And as you point out, not too many senior people were seen as underperforming. Performance Management, IMO, was never delivered across the whole company.
For what it's worth, I jumped ship at the earliest possible opportunity.... Delivering performance management did for me and many of my peers.
In the longterm, decreasing headcount by any means possible will ultimately improve the share price!!
So, lots of discussion regarding the rollout of Fibre, the take-up by customers, and customers sticking to the copper pair. Well, IMO, BT will declare the 'close down' of 'legacy' telephony which will force their customers including ISPs to switch to Fibre. While I'm certain there will be push-back it will happen sooner or later.
Where does it state, I ask, that BT have to provide telephone service or broadband via a copper pair?
I could well be wrong but I reckon BT hold the trump cards and will, within a decade, stop any kind of telephony over copper or via a local telephone exchange unless it suits them!
Just read an article from John Fieldsend, The Motley Fool. His summary was...
"So while there are positives about the company, the reality is that cheap dividend-paying companies are plentiful in Britain right now. The high debt levels mean I’ll be keeping a bargepole’s worth of distance between me and this stock."
Such people keep going on about debt etc.
3-5 years time when all the copper pair has been ripped from the ground and the only option is fibre the 'debt' will reduce to nothing... IMO. Oh, there will always be the pension deficit but, gradually, BT are paying this off.
I'm prepared to hold for for 12-36 months, take the divi, and see what happens.
I have to admit, as an ex BT employee, the 10k shares I hold owe me nothing... I bought them for pennies. Pleased to say my old company, for whom I worked for 30 years, are looking after me in my retirement!
Re pension increase, I agree that its at the discretion of the trustees. Well that's my understanding. Having said that and in my 10 years as a BT pensioner, they've always honoured the September CPI rate. I think section C is capped at 5% though??
I've posted before and thought I'd post again about 'security' and 'secure data' (not necessarily the same!)
Although I never worked within 'security' within BT, the systems I supported held vasts amount of secure data.... And even though I had 99.9% of access to ALL data being held, I never had full access to 'secure data'....people on my team (my direct reports) did and and I didn't.... Same as my line management chain.... All the way to the very top. Nobody but nobody had access unless secure cleared, and I mean to the top!!
I'm sure anything and everything can be sectioned off (in some way) so never say never about BT and Openreach being sold although it will be a challenge due to 'security / secure data'
In the meantime I think the share price sucks! Fortunately, of the few thousand I still hold, I paid around £1 for each one! Privilege of being an employee in the 90s and 00s...??. Anything North if £2.50 and I'm selling the lot. Too much uncertainty and stress to hold 'em. I should have sold all my holdings when they were a Tenner.. and they was way back when!!
Hey HandyMandy, I'll give you two simple examples.... Access to the Royals phone numbers and the Prime Minister's!
Such data is severely restricted (believe me I know!!) to a privileged few within the company (we're talking a handful of people) and how this would be handled should BT be sold-off. And this just being the tip of an enormous iceberg!
I'm sure everything has a solution but I'm scratching my head as to overcome this one!
When I joined BT (GPO telephones) I had to sign the official secrets act.... I was only 17, had no idea what or why I was doing!!
It's "secure data" held on BT systems that would be of huge concern, IMO. So much Government, GCHQ, Military etc, etc, is currently 'safely' maintained by a select few people in BT/OR.
Never say never about anything but that's a complex thing to unravel when it comes to selling the business!
'BT sold yellow pages etc.'
BT also sold O2, cleared a vast amount of debt, and then paid a special dividend (50p per share I think!?).
I've posted before about selling the Crown Jewels! I just hope the BoD know what they're doing, assess where current and future revenue is likely to come from, and stick to a plan! In all fairness, I think the company needs another 3-5 years before anything significant with the SP is likely to happen. Time to hang-on in there?
BT holds, on its computing systems, vasts amount of sensitive information. I know because I was, at one stage, security cleared within the company . Whatever, it'll take a huge effort to completely sell off BT... but never say never!!
So, talking pension, it amazes me that so few BT/Openreach employees know little or nothing about their future pension payout!
As an ex-BT employee I knew my exact pension options and payout to the penny... Because there's an online (intranet) method of checking.
Having just spoken to a few Openreach people it was also concerning that they didn't know there grade and options to progress within the company.... assuming they want to progress and earn more money, albeit with additional responsibilities.
I'm not condemning them but they should be probing future promotion etc. I also feel it the responsibility of their direct line management to encourage them... But perhaps they don't!!
Ultimately, and given the current pension scheme, the more you earn during your career the bigger the pension pot.
Rant over regarding Pensions. All I can say is that by taking certain opportunities during my BT career my pension, taken at 58, ain't too bad!
Spoke to a few Openreach engineers today... In the main they were fairly new recruits and in the union. Basically they voted for strike action because a) they didn't fully appreciate the deal that's on the table, b) they were in the union and guided by union leaders c) didn't know what they were, short term financially, about to lose.
I was an engineer back in the 80s. I went on strike for 3 days. I didn't really gain much (er, nothing!) from striking. What I do know is that I lost 3 days contributions to my pension.
I'm disappointed with both the union and the BT management team. This whole saga could and should have been resolved months ago.
Ultimately BT will continue to provide service and, if/when things get really bad will pull-in an army of contractors...!!!
As already mentioned, GCHQ etc. You needed to have worked for BT, especially in support of there computing systems, to appreciate the vast amount of Government Secure data that is held.
However, to all intent and purpose, this is separated out and only handled by a select few employees.
I can understand the Government's concerns and a few questions will need to be addressed by BT in respect of shareholders both now and in the future..... That's my twopennyworth!
Another rare post from me, an ex-BT employee. So, the last time there was a strike (it was all very selective by the union, who, where, when and for how long) not only did I lose 3 days pay, I also lost a minimal amount paid into my pension (and it was highlighted when I retired and took my pension!) What did achieve for me - bugger all. All BT staff thinking of voting for industrial action should think again. Its honestly not worthwhile. I believe the offer made by the company to be fair....well, to the majority. That's my twopennyworth!
Total mismanagement by Bonfield and the board got the company into deep sh*t. But selling Cellnet, in particular, was just plain stupid and short sighted. And then (as a sweetener??) paid a special dividend of 50p if I recall.... just goes to show that reducing the debt was an irrelevance. Just my opinion of course!
It's too early to say but I think the current board have the right idea..... Emmm??
There have been many posts about the sale of Openreach, BT sports, small divisions of BT etc. Well I'm old enough to remember the sale of Cellnet, a wholly owned division of BT. What did it get me.... A special dividend, 50p a share. What did it do for BT.... Bugger all. Years later the company spent billions buying EE. And we needed to so we were a quad provider, telephony, broadband, mobile & TV (forget the TV package, by far and large its Sports customers want).
So, in my humble opinion we (BT) should keep hold of anything and everything, Sports, Openreach, and anything that's likely to retain customers and bring in some income.
There's still further outsourcing opportunities which will reduce headcount, especially around legacy computing systems and architecture.
As an ex-employee I say "retain the Crown Jewels - sooner or later they'll come good". Don't be short sighted!
Apart from that I'm seriously down on what I paid for my shares except years of dividends has more than covered that loss! I'm not a broker or anything, I'm in this Share for the long term.
Rant over!
Notakin, all, that's my opinion. What, please tell me, do Openreach actually own apart from 30k plus staff and lots of vans/equipment.
OK, I'm seriously out of touch since leaving BT 9 years ago but I get the impression that BT 'cunningly' separated Openreach owning nothing apart from debt.
Time will tell what's going to happen in the future but I get the strong impression the the current government ain't going to allow the sale of either BT or Openreach any time soon.
On the other hand, under the current management, I see good things... Getting rid or outsourcing anything that's not generating money for the company... Just my opinion of course!