British Energy Share Discussion Threads

[louish] 26/5/2008 09:05

HighTech - why £10, is that just plucked out the air?

[hightech] 26/5/2008 01:06

expecting at least £10.

[elmfield] 23/5/2008 06:43

scottish and southern to enter the fray? Looks like a good move by them.

[richardbroughton] 19/5/2008 07:30

louish, over £8 I think. Report in y'day press that big institutions won't sell for less because of high oil/gas prices and therefore electricity prices. Because of the Gov't's well flagged intention to sell it's share there has been a phoney war, with potential buyers trying to drive the price down through leaks to the press etc. The price was being driven down towards £6.50 by the rumour mill until the co. announced that it had rec'd offers in excess of £6.80!

[louish] 17/5/2008 07:50

Richard

Invesco have always been long on this share and in a big way - I think they must be buying for someone....lets hope it drives up the share price to over £8 - any views on eventual sale price?

[richardbroughton] 15/5/2008 12:54

Don't understand latest RNS re Invesco, surely they can't have gone long on 155M shares, 15% of the share cap!

[kvkwn] 15/5/2008 11:42

700p seems to be a fair value for bgy.

[praipus] 14/5/2008 10:56

S&P grumbling about EDF's rating with BGY on board but remember that S&P also thought Northern Rock was a good bet.

Also I doubt wather S&P have factored in a $200 dollar oil price or global energy demand.

[louish] 11/5/2008 07:57

Ladywormer

No more likely Mr brown (The PM) stitched us up when discussing it with his Brother (Head of Communications at......EDF)

If this is sold at those prices I will be marching to 10 Downing street and asking the Browns for my cut of the deal...

[ladywormer] 10/5/2008 12:26

Do you think Brown and Sarkozy stitched it up on the State Visit last month?

[louish] 10/5/2008 08:37

£6.40 your having a laugh - the share price was way above this previously and as a going concern should be rated much higher, look at its profits and cash flows, oil getting ever higher.

I cant believe there is no Yanks piling in...

[m.t.glass] 10/5/2008 07:57

"..EDF, led by its advisers Merrill Lynch, submitted a low offer, believed to be around 650p per share.."

(The Times, 10 May)

[sat69] 10/5/2008 06:45

Praipus - Your link now in the header.

From the FT...

EDF is sole bidder for British Energy
By Ed Crooks, Rebecca Bream in London and Peggy Hollinger in Paris

Published: May 10 2008 02:06 | Last updated: May 10 2008 02:06

EDF was the only bidder to have made an offer for British Energy by Friday's deadline, but the UK nuclear generator is still hopeful that at least one other bid will come in the next week.

EDF, Europe's biggest power company and 85 per cent owned by the French government, has internally valued British Energy at €13bn-€14bn ($20.1bn-$21.7bn, £10.3bn- £11.1bn), indicating that it could be prepared to pay up to 700p a share.

RWE of Germany, seen as the other group most likely to bid, had not done so by the close of business on Friday, indicated by Rothschild, British Energy's advisers, as the deadline for offers.

However, British Energy, which owns most of the UK's nuclear power stations, said that any bids coming in the next few days would still be considered.

RWE releases its first-quarter results next Thursday and will be under pressure to clarify its position. The company declined to comment on Friday.

A person close to British Energy said that Franco-Belgian utility Suez and Iberdrola of Spain were still looking at making bids.

But people close to Iberdrola have said that, while the company is keen to invest in new nuclear reactors in the UK, it is not interested in leading a take-over of British Energy.

Suez has also said that it is interested in expanding into the UK nuclear industry, but that its main priority is completing its merger with Gaz de France.

The emergence of just one definite bid, from a field that at one time appeared to hold half a dozen possible buyers, creates a problem for British Energy and the UK government, which has put its 35 per cent stake in the company up for sale.

They want to maximise the value of the sale for the taxpayer and shareholders, but secure the group's future in a way that will encourage new investment in nuclear power stations in Britain. This could limit their ability to haggle.

EDF's offer was made on its own. It had held talks with Centrica, owner of British Gas, and RWE about possible joint bids, without being able to reach agreement.

Centrica remains interested in participating in any sale of British Energy, principally to secure a long-term source of electricity supplies and cut its reliance on gas-fired generation capacity.

EDF's strategy has been closely co-ordinated between management and the French government, which sees the bid as putting flesh on the Franco-British agreement on nuclear energy signed when President Nicolas Sarkozy visited London in March.

British Energy closed down 14p on Friday at 701p. The stock has fallen from a peak of 785p last month.

[richardbroughton] 10/5/2008 06:43

The Gov't only own 35%! The majority is owned by people like us (and the institutions)and yet everyone seems to think it's the Govt's decision, surely if we (the ordinary shareholders) decide the price is too low, we don't sell.

[praipus] 09/5/2008 16:18

The French EDF etc are not silly talking the price down, while buying up the land and the spare shares etc they are very serious players. But so are Spains Iberdrola.

I think we have got a long way to go and the only things required are some BGY shares and patience the share price will take care of itself with a bit of help from the oil price and its predicted $200 a barrel and electricities' security of supply issues and growing demand.

[sandbank] 09/5/2008 15:15

FALSE MARKET?:

Here we go again - for us shareholders this could be another NRK.

Clearly there are negotiations going on behind the scenes which we shareholders are not privy to. The issue is exactly when did the Government and BGY become aware of the land deals? Surely what we have now is a false market in the shares.

Apparently BGY has enough spare land already at Hinkley Point for a twin reactor so doesn't need the plot bought by EDF . In Anglesey the existing Wylfa station is owned by NDA - not BGY - so this looks like a land bank exercise being carried out by EDF so it can pitch to the UK Government for the new stations - using the existing National Grid infrastructure.

Meanwhile the BGY offical line is "deadline?...what deadline?...we never said there was any deadline! "

The saga continues.

[daveram13] 09/5/2008 15:08

I would think £7.50 at least based on the financials and future prospects! Definitely worth a punt or two. I am buying more now, short or long can't go wrong (DYOR)

[louish] 09/5/2008 14:40

If I was British Govt I would say to EDF - pay the going rate or you wont get planning permission for the land you just bought...

Outrage if this sells for below £7.00 - this is a profitable company with great cash flows.

I notice all the big players are still long on this in a big way - hopefully this signals £7 is the starting bid

[praipus] 09/5/2008 14:18

Chief Investment Officer & Morgan Stanley says big clean energy companies are a BUY.

From the FT.com's video's from the top section, (3rd video)



Defensible profit protection, monopolistic qualitites and dividend strength.

[praipus] 09/5/2008 13:12

Sat69 any chance you could add this link to the header?

[praipus] 09/5/2008 13:11

Oil price closes in on $126 a barrel headline from the FT.com website...erm so shouldnt the share price here be rising?

EDF are shrewd buying the land around the power stations how forward thinking is that?...very clever.

[diogenes dottle] 09/5/2008 10:06

Gov should stop handing out freebies to the banks and instead support energy.