Talktalk Telecom Share Discussion Threads

[au24] 16/5/2017 11:33

Markets must like what they have heard from Dunstone as the increase in share price continues from the lows.

[club sandwich] 15/5/2017 15:56

And that's theChief Exec? He seems all over the place, so are they growing or are they shrinking? Are they spending money to acquire customers or not?All clear as mud...

[septimus quaid] 15/5/2017 15:07

Transcript of recent meeting (10/05/17):



Presentation

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Charles W. Dunstone, TalkTalk Telecom Group PLC - Executive Chairman [1]

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Good morning, everybody. Welcome. Apparently this is -- in the good old days, this is the room that the directors of the Midland Bank used to have lunch. And the companies, I was told just outside there wasn't covered, so they wore their hats while they enjoyed lunch.

I want to say it's good to be back. I'm happy to be here. And thank you all very much, indeed, for coming. I think this is quite a seminal watershed moment for TalkTalk because I think if you look at the results today, I'm not proud of them. And I don't expect to be back here, given your results like this again. We're having a real reset of the business. I think we've become overly complicated, chasing unachievable targets and trying to do too much. And we're all focused on the business now about simplification and growth and going back to our roots.

And a little bit more closely involved, it's kind of clear to me, this business can make like GBP 300 million EBITDA per year. If it -- if you shrink the customer base, and you don't spend money acquiring customers, you can make more than GBP 300 million. And if you grow the customer base, and you spend money recruiting customers, you'll make less than GBP 300 million. And it is as simple as that. And until we get the business back to growth, it's unrealistic because that's where we expect it to make more than GBP 300 million EBITDA. And so we just -- that's where the guidance we've done today is very clear and very straightforward. And our priority is to get the business growing. I remember people saying to me before is, you can't shrink yourself to victory. And this business has to grow, and we have to be a force to be reckoned with within the marketplace.

And that's what I said in my quote on the RNS, that our priorities are growth, cash generation and profit, but in that order. That's the key aspect of this business. I've had a simplified structure, focus on our core fixed network and not forget distracted and invest CapEx into other maybe potential exciting opportunities, such as building up an inside out mobile network. We have the resources or the time or the bandwidth to get involved with that. So again, we're just -- we know what our business is. We're core -- our core fixed network is where we're going to put our money. And we have real financial discipline. And if we -- whatever we do, wherever we put our money, we're going to be smart about how we invest it. And we're going to have high expectations about the returns that we get from it.

[au24] 14/5/2017 21:21

My guess is that the bottom has been reached. All the bad news is out there(I hope LOL)

[leafysuburb] 14/5/2017 13:15

I agree with you that the supposed experts are involved in guesswork just as much as probably you or I.

The recent Ransomware incident that has involved the NHS for a couple of days and several other companies across the globe will serve only to cast peoples minds back to the TalkTalk hacking scandal in recent years and ask the question again.

The dividend only appeal that was previously there has halved. Not one therefore in my opinion for jumping in with both feet presently, but probably for small nibbles bit by bit on any retraces or substantial progress in turning around and growing the business.

dyor

[quepassa] 12/5/2017 12:28

Citi today issue Broker Note and RETAIN their NEUTRAL recommendation but INCREASE their PRICE TARGET BY 20% (from 150p) to 180p


ALL IMO. DYOR.
QP

[au24] 11/5/2017 11:58

Everything is guesswork,these 'experts' are no better than the rest of us.
Lots of illustrations- Diesel is better than petrol to the pollsters getting it all wrong,
WW3 after voting brexit which never happened.

[1gw] 11/5/2017 08:07

Maquarie apparently changing its mind and downgrading from 240/outperform to 150/neutral.

[garycook] 11/5/2017 04:59

1224saj,Divi paid on 04/08/17 is 5p,and correct next years full divi will be 7.5p.Interim 2.5p,and Final 5p.

[1224saj] 10/5/2017 18:19

what is the value of final div FY17 paid on 04/08/17 and is the proposed div 2018 at 7.5p

[royaloak] 10/5/2017 15:24

Been with TalkTalk for years, BB, Television Box, free phone calls, free calls to nine overseas countries, 200 free minutes on SIM card for my mobile calls, speak as you find, I have found them excellent...and until today had not been a shareholder...if anything I believe the services I have are too cheap!

[che7win] 10/5/2017 13:46

The investments we have already made in simplifying and upgrading our customer-facing systems and processes have begun to deliver measurable returns in the form of higher customer satisfactionWhat a load of rubbish, all my mates leaving talktalk for good, having had issues since last June and 3 engineers out from Openreach blaming talktalk, I can say they are dire for customer service

[ny boy] 10/5/2017 12:22

Dividends

Dividends of GBP150m paid in the year (FY16: GBP135m) comprised the final dividend for FY16 10.58p and the interim dividend for FY17 of 5.29p.

The Board is committed to returning the business to revenue and customer base growth, improving cash generation and reducing leverage, and in this context has declared a Final dividend for FY17 of 5.0p (FY16: 10.58p), taking the total dividend for the year to 10.29p (FY16: 15.87p). For FY18 the Board expect to declare an Interim cash dividend of 2.5p (FY17: 5.29p) and a Final cash dividend of 5.0p (FY17: 5.0p) taking the total cash dividend for the year to 7.5p (FY17: 10.29p). Looking beyond FY18, the Board expects to resume dividend growth once the business returns to earnings growth and has reduced leverage towards the Group's Net Debt/Headline EBITDA target of 2.0x.

The Final dividend for FY17 will be paid on 4(th) August 2017, subject to approval at the AGM on 19(th) July 2017 for shareholders on the register 7(th) July 2017 (ex-dividend 6(th) July 2017).

[septimus quaid] 10/5/2017 12:21

Funny how the price has dropped more or less bob on 10%. Is this when buying-bots kick in, thereby stabilising the price?

For reasonably sized companies like Talk, I wonder what percent buying/selling these days is actually done by human beings?

Another question re stock on loan, although we have access to the % on loan, is there anyway of knowing what the loan-ee actually did with the stock "borrowed", e.g. have they sold the stock and, if so, for what price?

The share price reaction seems a tad overdone (as usual), the dividend cut was previously talked to death, although I believe the other reported metrics are at the lower end of expectations.

[kulvinder] 10/5/2017 11:43

Salty, completely agree - I think the market will wake up to the fact - a hard line has been agreed to get the company back on it's feet with good management of existing funds and looking better after any profits in the future by reducing the dividend now rather then later - still a better % then most banks, especially if the price does move back towards the £2.50 mark in the coming months.

[saltaire111] 10/5/2017 09:57

I've just bought in. Like the idea of Dunstone getting hands on here. Looks like new management team has a sound plan and 5% divi return will do for me.

I anticipate that the share price will gradually recover from here on and will look forward to it hitting £2.50 within the next 12 months.


Salty.

[blueball] 10/5/2017 09:14

Going to fall much further imo.

[mister md] 10/5/2017 09:00

have watched this one for a while - decided to get in now at 162p. 5% dividend next year good enough for me with hopefully some capital appreciation from here

[leafysuburb] 10/5/2017 08:21

Well it happened just as I had anticipated with the shorters having made a pretty penny.

I think the larger fall is in part down to the size of the cut itself but also given that cutting this years final dividend has meant reneging on a pledge off Dido Harding after the hacking scandal, that being hat the dividend would be maintained for 2 years. I think everyone thought this years divi was safe and would remain untouched. Not so.

I am going to sit off this one for a bit, let the dust settle and watch for some signs of corporate progress.

[1gw] 10/5/2017 07:17

Results look to me like a bit of a miss all round. Have to hope that the market gives Dunstone some credit for grasping the nettle on dividend and debt and that talktalk can present a convincing story about the future in the webcast.

[mayers] 09/5/2017 20:31

When's the time to buy more? When the shorters withdraw I imagine. Any information on this?

[muscletrade] 09/5/2017 07:57

And to add to the debate Macquarie stick their neck out and reiterate their outperform and 240p target this morning.

[au24] 08/5/2017 10:51

Agreed HD

There are few places where an investment can get this (interest rate/divi) even at half.

[hiddendepths] 08/5/2017 10:06

If there's a dividend cut, that'll be an end to the continuing fear of a dividend cut! Such a cut, even 50%, is well and truly priced in already. Many shares, eg Royal Insurance, start to perform really well when the dividend is finally slashed.

I'm sitting tight!