Royal Mail privatisation... Would you?

Yorksport

cepheus wrote: »

"There's no way we will sell Royal Mail 'on the cheap,'" promised the government in its "myth-busters" factsheet. Yet this is precisely what it is doing; the valuation is believed by many experts to be on the embarrassingly low side. Experts from Panmure Gordon say that its lower value estimate of £2.6bn could be undervalued by up to £1.9bn pounds, or over 40%. Labour points out that the valuation does not seem to include up to £1bn of property assets – such as the Mount Pleasant or Nine Elms sites in London. Add to this that Royal Mail has an accumulated backlog of tax credits of about £2.8bn, which means that it is expected not to pay any tax for between five and 10 years. And here is the kicker – not only is this government selling the service significantly under any sensible valuation, it is retaining its biggest liability – pensions. Why wouldn't there be frenzy for its undervalued, no-strings-attached shares?

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/07/royal-mail-sale-privatisation

This really is pointless political posturing. Reaching a valuation which will enable a successful float is incredibly difficult and this one seemed fair enough, both at the time and now to be frank. I don't remember the Labour party arguing for a different price until the last few days, rather their stance was that it could not be successfully privatised. The flotation is about enabling the business to raise capital for the investment and development which it needs to prosper in a rapidly changing world. 30% is still nationalised so we all benefit from its increase in value. As for 'experts from Panmure Gordon', try a few other brokers and you'll collect a range of views.

custardy

sabretoothtigger wrote: »

The real kicker may be the regulation, BT was sold cheap, massive amounts of land and resources but they had the thumbscrews put on and were forced to lower prices every couple years.
RM will retain future pension liability I guess, another bump in the road as the employees will no doubt contest anything less padded then it had in gov

The final salary scheme has been closed for years

buglawton

I couldn't find the following question already asked on MSE so hope it's OK to bounce this ol' thread:

Does anyone know what is the ex-dividend date for RMG or why it has not been announced and when will the date be announced?
Been on their investor site and nowt there. Most companies have these dates set very long in advance and the date is same every year. This is obviously key info for anyone deciding to sell or hold now that the July actual dividend payment date moves into sight.

Biggles

buglawton wrote: »

Does anyone know what is the ex-dividend date for RMG or why it has not been announced and when will the date be announced?

The reason it's not been announced is that no dividend has yet been announced. Their interim management statement (which must be on their website) said that they expect to announce their full year results on 22 May and to pay a dividend in July. The relevant record and ex-div dates will be announced then.

AdrianC

Biggles wrote: »

The reason it's not been announced is that no dividend has yet been announced. Their interim management statement (which must be on their website) said that they expect to announce their full year results on 22 May and to pay a dividend in July. The relevant record and ex-div dates will be announced then.

A single, full dividend of £133m has been announced. With 1bn shares issued, that's 13.3p/share.

But no ex-div date yet.
http://www.royalmailgroup.com/investors/shareholder-communications/dividend-information

Thrugelmir

AdrianC wrote: »

A single, full dividend of £133m has been announced. With 1bn shares issued, that's 13.3p/share.

But no ex-div date yet.
http://www.royalmailgroup.com/investors/shareholder-communications/dividend-information

With a proviso. "Proposed"

bigadaj

So the actual yield isn't great, as many originally bought in on the basis of a good dividend return.

I'm just waiting to the new tax year and will be selling mine, would probably have done before but I've got cgt to pay this year, so come April I will probably offload.

rrtt

Thrugelmir wrote: »

With a proviso. "Proposed"

Have thanked you for your thought-provoking tag-line as much as your post!