Gordon Stein, CFO of CleanTech Lithium, explains why CTL acquired the 23 Laguna Verde licenses. Watch the video here.
You will need to make sure that you do not exceed your CGT allowance for the year.
Richox,
BT have complied with Offcom's ruling from 3 years ago. It would be interesting to know when Justin Le Patoure left Ofcom and then engaged Law firm Mishcon de Reya to litigate this. Any thoughts that this is purely for the benefit of disadvantaged customers is "pie in the sky". It's just another ambulance chasing scheme now that the miss sold PPI claims scheme has past it's sell bye date. I am sure that there will be many more class actions to come. Let's hope that the SP does not suffer too much because of this.
I have a small sum of money to invest. Taking into account this shares rises from early November is it still a good investment proposition? I am able to keep any investment made for about 4 years before needing the money back.
Ofcom needs to reiterate to Sky, Talk Talk and Vodafone that Openreach is not in business purely for them to increase their profit margin. The customer will only foot the bill if Sky, Talk Talk and Vodafone are unwilling to be more customer friendly with their pricing structure, they will after all still be making a profit. If Ofcom upholds their complaint then it will be Openreach footing the bill for the other providers. I wonder if that were to be the case would Sky and the others then pass that saving on to their customers? Openreach as they are doing all of the heavy lifting, needs to be able to generate a fair profit from their investment.
No change there then! Talk talk and all of the other providers that whinge on all of the time but don't actually provide any networks for their customers, (except in some highly populated areas) especially in hard to reach areas, but just want to piggyback on Openreaches Network at minus what it actually costs. With Ofcom usually backing them up. I remember when Talk talk complained to Ofcom and they forced a price reduction on the product in question. Dido Harding then released a statement that although they were pleased with the cost reduction they did not feel able to pass the reduction on to the customer. This is what Openreach is up against and it's about time it changed.
I would not believe a word that comes out of the health ministers mouth following his track record up till now. Changing the law to fast track a vaccine, what does that mean? "Missing out stages in the testing process". As for 30 million people all fighting to be vaccinated as soon as it is available, I think not. Would you want to be the first? Nobody knows how effective the vaccine will be. Also nobody can say how long it will protect you for. I agree that a light at the end of the Covid 19 tunnel is what is urgently needed, but not at any cost. With regard to BT then I don't see the SP going too far in either direction any time soon and don't see how the government could afford to let the communication links for this country be sold of to the lowest bidder. I have funds to buy if the future begins to look more positive but for now have invested in property, good old bricks and mortar.
Velo, I did not mean that BT does not generate a profit. What I meant was that unless BT is given a level playing field, the government shackles are removed and Ofcom is bought to heel then the future will remain more difficult than it needs to be. 36 years of regulation should be enough to allow competition to thrive. Bt needs to be allowed to set fairer prices for it's products that reflect the amount of money it is investing in the network.
Velo we are all entitled to an opinion. I read and respect what others say and you should too! If everything is going to be fine in a couple of years then I will be happy as I have no need to sell. But just look at what has happened to the share price between October 2015 when it was nearly £5 and now. No Covid in 2015. I am not new to BT shares and have held them for many years. A bit of respect for other posters goes a long way.
You can look at as many charts as you like. However until BT shows that it can generate a profit the SP is going nowhere. It is no good saying that cash available will be increased in the future by cutting staff and economies created by less repair work being needed on FTTP. Also if you think that the government or Ofcom via the government are going to allow BT to increase it's prices and make a fair return on it's FTTP investments then you are mistaken, why change what's worked well to help every other telecoms provider survive and make a profit for the last 36 years. Also the BOD is so weak that they must be getting a backhander from the government and Ofcom for being so accomodating. Just look at the Huwai scandel. Government says reduce Huwai involvement BOD says "by how much". 35% says the government, yes we can do that it will cost £500million. Government now says oh remove it all by 2027 when BT had already said it would probably take until 2030 and delay 5G roll out. What's the new cost asks the government. Oh that's exactly the same as it was to reduce it to 35% says BT. Thank's very much says the government now get on with it. Unless the government changes it's tune and Ofcom are forced to regulate fairly so that BT can show clearly that it is in a position to make fair profits going forward then the share is a dead duck. Oh I forgot to mention they need to stop hammering the shareholders by cancelling the dividends which are then used to fund FTTP. As for directors buying shares it does not prove that they think the company is any good. All it proves is that they know what to do to trouser their own pockets. Free shares can go straight into an ISA tax free and any other shares purchased are because it is more tax effective to have shares than cash. I would not count on the dividend returning either. Remember the latest dividends were cancelled at the last minute, how many people saw that coming?
ThJones, I agree you make a valid point about the relationship between BT, Ofcom and the government with regard to the SP. The only way that the SP can realise it's true potential is if BT is treated more favourably, especially as it's supposed to have been a private enterprise since 1984. Other companies have had considerable help from the goverment via Ofcom over the years. This now needs to be relaxed to allow a level playing field. But as I have said before don't expect anything from Boris and his bunch of sheep. Incompetant does not do them justice!
The BOD should have cut the dividend to show the right intent instead of cancelling it. By cancelling the next three dividends they must have discouraged potential investors. It's sent a message to the government that the BT board will bend over backwards for the government. Place more emphasis and importance on what they want when it comes to the roll out of FTTP and 5G rather than what is good for the company and it's current and possible future investors. With regard to this government and it's leadership then it's as much use as a fridge is to an Eskimo, just watch yesterdays PM's questions. All bluster and table banging, but devoid of any substance or proper leadership!
Emmjane,
BT may have £2bln a year profit but the company has a significant challenge challenge before it with the FTTP and 5G rollout. Where is the incentive for shareholders to invest at the moment? Are you suggesting that investing now and waiting 22 months for a dividend of 7.7p per share that might never materialise is a good idea? Investors want to make money and in completely scrapping the dividend BT has disadvantaged a large number of normal investors/pensioners who rely on the dividend to supplement their income. Unless things change significantly I can only see BT at the moment being traded up and down over a 15p-20p range to recover the lost dividends. Other shares are rising more quickly than BT as the lockdown is eased and business swings back into action. Who is going to invest in BT long term to wait months for a dividend that may never be paid. Especially when there are other bargain shares around on which a tidy profit can quickly be made. Taylor Wimpy were £101.5 on April 3rd they are now selling for £1.54. That's a profit of 51.7%. On an investment in only 2 months. Who is going to buy BT at the moment when there are better investments providing a higher and quicker return for your money? I do want BT to prosper but at the present moment cannot see that happening. I do hold a large number of BT shares but fear that I will never get a reasonable price or return for the investment that I have made in the company.
I disagree, BT is a distressed company. The government has over regulated and penalised BT for the last 20 years. The share price has lost 80% of it's value over the past five years. It's now cancelled the dividend until 2022. It's going to cost the company £500M to reduce the Huawei equipment to 35% and there is now a very good chance that this incompetent government will want BT to reduce that to 0%, possibly another £500M or more, also at cost to the company. The CEO is giving his pay to the NHS and bonusses have been forgon. As far as I know no staff furloughed and no help from Boris. No possibility of making a decent return/profit on the FTTP rollout, and then free cash flow only being created by staff reductions and less maintenance once the rollout is completed in the next 5-10 years. Plus if other providers install their own equipment then maintenance will be down to them saving some money but losing revenue by not selling this to & maintaining it for the provider. This sounds like a distressed company to me, but I don't see the government helping it anytime soon. Unlike companies like BA who have already furloughed 22,000 staff and want to make the remainder redundant and then hire them back on new contracts with a 60% pay cut. It's not a British company anymore but I'm pretty sure that Boris will want to help them out in any way that he can.
I hope that you are right as this would help the SP, but if you look at the report it states that over the period 2005 to 2010 the governments investment in fibre was aggregated at - 15.9 % whilst other countries investment remained flat. Now we are behind in fibre rollout the government wants it all completing more quickly but wants BT and shareholders to foot the bill for it. Factor in the 500 million to reduce huwai kit to 35% and the very likely possibility that Boris wants to have 0% so that he can appease Trump (at what further cost?). Also if the government tells Ofcom to go easy on BT then what wii all the other players be saying? As for Boris and Jansen smiling in January because they possibly had an agreement that would help BT then I believe any deal will have evaporated by now. Can't you hear Boris saying due to the Covid 19 crisis, we have had to furlough all of these workers and bail businesses out so unfortunately there is no way we can help you, with a smile on his face of course!
jamtart1,
Agree 100% with your comment. There have been numerous claims made over the years by various CEO's and chairmen about turning the company around. Lot's of different strategies have been applied, structuring and processes changed with little or no value added. Re-branding at cost of millions of pounds for Openreach. BT's mobile network sold to Telefonica for £5 billion when BT had already paid that amount for the 3G license, given away for nothing, then had to spend £12 billion on EE to get back in the game. Global services losing £2billion in 2008 caused BT to change the pension scheme for the worse, yet Global still carries on, always given more leeway than other LOB, should have been sold off years ago. All that has been certain over the last 30 years is that they (CEO BOD) have all walked away with large Golden handshakes and millions of free shares. Finally Openreach may get all the FTTP laid but content is king. If you don't have access to the content then you will struggle to attract customers.
NigeCo,
I have not invested in BT to pay for everyone else's fibre. With regards to the dividend being re instated at 50% of what it was in 18 months, lets see what happens. Anyone who thinks that they can forecast the economic situation in 18 months is looking at tea leaves or a crystal ball. It seems that the fibre rollout programme is being funded by share holders and staff (cost savings later). It's all about saving money, but remember cost savings are like an overdraft, you can only use it once and you can only cut costs by so much before there is no fat left to trim. The government will get whatever fibre rollout across the country that they want, whilst paying as little for it as is possible. As for the value of the pension deficit, when revued this is only ever a snapshot in time. Remember that the pension scheme has the Crown guarantee which means the government has agreed to protect 80% of BT's pension liability if it were to go bust. I would prefer BT to be talking about growing revenue in real terms rather than just about standing still by cost cutting and dividend suspensions. I think that a more positive outlook would help the SP.
iJr1,
I hope you are right about Ofcom. They do need to regulate in a fairer way. If that happens then BT in the future could see a reasonable and fair profit on the massive investments that they are making to infrastructure over the next decade, this would give investors confidence, help the SP recover and eventually the dividend as well albeit at a reduced figure. Let's hope that's the case.
Fleccy, I agree with most of the comments in your post re upgrading customers cheaply from FTTC to FTTP. That's okay if you have an existing duct available. In my case we are supplied all the way to the house by a buried armoured cable which runs back to the PCP so have no existing duct. I just wondered what percentage of premises might be in a similar situation, as serving my home would involve a new duct all the way back to the PCP. This would be more costly and would involve digging up customers drives or at the least moling the cable in. Just a thought regarding the costs to upgrade customers services.
"If something’s not right, why would you top up ?"
Raymondo, I was just commenting on the price of the uncrossing trade sale in the auction at the end of the day. I will still invest when I feel that the bottom has been reached. I am looking at a 5 years maximum holding period for this new investment, to supplement my current holding in BT. I'm in a position where I can buy and sell the new holding to try and supplement the lost dividend due to the low SP at the moment.
Uncrossing trade, close to 18million shares at £1:04 unloaded at 16:32. Somethings not right. Is below a pound on the cards for tomorrow? I will top up if it happens.