This sums up much of my thinking - I hold a few and swing trade a few and even trade intraday sometimes ......

I think there is a lot of slack that management can cut out of the costs and would also anticipate sector consolidation ..... good value currently and have been holding their own in a falling market. Lot of US interest.

ains


Edited by Dominic White
(Filed: 08/02/2003)


Texting makes MmO2 sexy but it's also risky

More and more Britons are discovering the joys of textual intercourse. In the month of December, we fired off more than 50m mobile messages a day, and next Friday (that's Valentine's Day, folks, in case you'd forgotten) we'll send considerably more than that.



It emerged this week that the chief beneficiary of this craze is MmO2 . BT's former mobile phone division revealed that it gets a higher proportion of revenues from texting than any of the other three operators.

Revenue from messaging grew at its fastest rate ever in the last quarter, up 19pc, and data services as a proportion of MmO2 's revenue rose to 17.7pc from 15.6pc.

More good news was the rise in MmO2 's average revenues per customer. ARPUs, as nerdy analysts like to dub them, grew by 5pc to 243 in the UK and by 9pc in Germany to 212.

MmO2 now has 19.1m subscribers and in Britain it may be the smallest player, with 11.9m users, but it is growing faster than its rivals - testament to the success of its rebranding from BT Cellnet.

Only 114,000 of its 503,000 new UK subscribers were higher-spending contract customers, but MmO2 claims its pre-pay customers have started spending more than before.

Customer growth in Germany, which continues to be dominated by T-Mobile and Vodafone, is less impressive and the MmO2 share price ascribes little or no value to this part of the business.

That seems unfair, given the fact that the group has attracted higher-spending customers and has made a decent fist of turning the operation around. An eventual sale or merger is almost as inevitable as a disposal of the Dutch unit, which is losing customers.

MmO2 's larger rival Vodafone is trading on a free cashflow yield of 6pc, while at 49p this week, MmO2 's equivalent valuation remains negative. It might not have Vodafone's scale or profitability but there is room for upside. A risky buy.

L2? Yes, remember to let me know when is the right time to dispose today or Thu :)

We are up which is good ... waiting on broker coment


Buy orders Sell orders
Num(%) Num Vol(%) Vol VWAP Vol Vol(%) Num Num(%)
1% (44.44%) 8 (30.46%) 2,658,953 56.26 - 57.05 6,069,799 (69.54%) 10 (55.56%)
5% (43.48%) 10 (35.50%) 3,408,953 56.14 - 57.06 6,193,299 (64.50%) 13 (56.52%)
10% (38.64%) 17 (38.13%) 4,181,748 55.93 - 57.22 6,785,519 (61.87%) 27 (61.36%)
15% (43.10%) 25 (40.65%) 5,321,335 55.20 - 57.84 7,768,006 (59.35%) 33 (56.90%)
50% (41.54%) 27 (41.18%) 5,526,335 55.01 - 57.95 7,893,698 (58.82%) 38 (58.46%)
100% (44.93%) 31 (41.29%) 5,551,355 54.93 - 57.95 7,893,698 (58.71%) 38 (55.07%)
all (44.29%) 31 (41.28%) 5,551,355 54.93 - 57.99 7,897,698 (58.72%) 39 (55.71%)

L2 not looking strong. Can you provide for VOD also. Many more sellers have surfaced now, not sure if I should've disposed as UK mkt -0.6% is weakening now.

bit too busy to do vod at this time as it isnt one i track ..... I am still holding - volumes are very high but US futures are relatively flat but +



Buy orders Sell orders
Num(%) Num Vol(%) Vol VWAP Vol Vol(%) Num Num(%)
1% (40.00%) 8 (44.18%) 3,643,175 56.53 - 57.14 4,602,259 (55.82%) 12 (60.00%)
5% (43.33%) 13 (54.03%) 5,693,175 56.33 - 57.17 4,844,059 (45.97%) 17 (56.67%)
10% (38.78%) 19 (54.69%) 6,446,170 56.18 - 57.35 5,339,879 (45.31%) 30 (61.22%)
15% (44.44%) 28 (54.67%) 7,605,557 55.62 - 58.09 6,305,466 (45.33%) 35 (55.56%)
50% (43.66%) 31 (54.89%) 7,825,557 55.46 - 58.21 6,431,158 (45.11%) 40 (56.34%)
100% (46.67%) 35 (54.97%) 7,850,577 55.41 - 58.21 6,431,158 (45.03%) 40 (53.33%)
all (46.05%) 35 (54.95%) 7,850,577 55.41 - 58.27 6,435,158 (45.05%) 41 (53.95%

L2 not looking good. Please provide for VOD also. Far too many sellers as UK-1.2%.

Buy orders Sell orders
Num(%) Num Vol(%) Vol VWAP Vol Vol(%) Num Num(%)
1% (48.65%) 18 (45.91%) 5,180,245 56.14 - 56.81 6,102,762 (54.09%) 19 (51.35%)
5% (47.50%) 19 (44.42%) 5,680,245 56.06 - 56.87 7,107,762 (55.58%) 21 (52.50%)
10% (45.76%) 27 (45.23%) 6,073,040 55.97 - 56.92 7,353,062 (54.77%) 32 (54.24%)
15% (46.58%) 34 (48.64%) 7,192,627 55.42 - 57.00 7,593,382 (51.36%) 39 (53.42%)
50% (48.10%) 38 (46.51%) 7,417,527 55.26 - 57.58 8,530,969 (53.49%) 41 (51.90%)
100% (47.67%) 41 (46.36%) 7,437,647 55.20 - 57.65 8,606,661 (53.64%) 45 (52.33%)
all (47.13%) 41 (46.35%) 7,437,647 55.20 - 57.69 8,610,661 (53.65%) 46 (52.87%)






0-1% (48.65%) 18 (45.91%) 5,180,245 56.14 - 56.81 6,102,762 (54.09%) 19 (51.35%)
1-5% (33.33%) 1 (33.22%) 500,000 56.06 - 56.87 1,005,000 (66.78%) 2 (66.67%)
5-10% (42.11%) 8 (61.56%) 392,795 55.97 - 56.92 245,300 (38.44%) 11 (57.89%)
10-15% (50.00%) 7 (82.33%) 1,119,587 55.42 - 57.00 240,320 (17.67%) 7 (50.00%)
15-50% (66.67%) 4 (19.35%) 224,900 55.26 - 57.58 937,587 (80.65%) 2 (33.33%)
50-100% (42.86%) 3 (21.00%) 20,120 55.20 - 57.65 75,692 (79.00%) 4 (57.14%)
100%- (0.00%) 0 (0.00%) 0 55.20 - 57.69 4,000 (100.00%) 1 (100.00%)

L2 for VOD also? How comes your natural talent for this didn't predict O2 falling to yesterday's level. I feel really stupid now for not selling, such a waste of .

to be honest I had other things I was more interested in :-(( ..... trading other shares and had a few broker problems and put this on hold. It was unlikely I would sell after seeing figures and the shares are just reponding to the market falls .... they are now just ahead but I am happy to hold although I accept there was ST opportunity to close and rebuy (just)

ains

Buy orders Sell orders
Num(%) Num Vol(%) Vol VWAP Vol Vol(%) Num Num(%)
1% (48.65%) 18 (45.91%) 5,180,245 56.14 - 56.81 6,102,762 (54.09%) 19 (51.35%)
5% (47.50%) 19 (44.42%) 5,680,245 56.06 - 56.87 7,107,762 (55.58%) 21 (52.50%)
10% (45.76%) 27 (45.23%) 6,073,040 55.97 - 56.92 7,353,062 (54.77%) 32 (54.24%)
15% (46.58%) 34 (48.64%) 7,192,627 55.42 - 57.00 7,593,382 (51.36%) 39 (53.42%)
50% (48.10%) 38 (46.51%) 7,417,527 55.26 - 57.58 8,530,969 (53.49%) 41 (51.90%)
100% (47.67%) 41 (46.36%) 7,437,647 55.20 - 57.65 8,606,661 (53.64%) 45 (52.33%)
all (47.13%) 41 (46.35%) 7,437,647 55.20 - 57.69 8,610,661 (53.65%) 46 (52.87%)

0-1% (48.65%) 18 (45.91%) 5,180,245 56.14 - 56.81 6,102,762 (54.09%) 19 (51.35%)
1-5% (33.33%) 1 (33.22%) 500,000 56.06 - 56.87 1,005,000 (66.78%) 2 (66.67%)
5-10% (42.11%) 8 (61.56%) 392,795 55.97 - 56.92 245,300 (38.44%) 11 (57.89%)
10-15% (50.00%) 7 (82.33%) 1,119,587 55.42 - 57.00 240,320 (17.67%) 7 (50.00%)
15-50% (66.67%) 4 (19.35%) 224,900 55.26 - 57.58 937,587 (80.65%) 2 (33.33%)
50-100% (42.86%) 3 (21.00%) 20,120 55.20 - 57.65 75,692 (79.00%) 4 (57.14%)
100%- (0.00%) 0 (0.00%) 0 55.20 - 57.69 4,000 (100.00%) 1 (100.00%)

Wednesday May 21, 08:58 AM





MmO2 makes 10 billion pound loss

Click to enlarge photo

LONDON (Reuters) - Mobile phone group mmO2 has reported a doubling of full-year core earnings, but has fallen to a deep loss after writing down its third-generation licences.


MmO2 (LSE: OOM.L - news - msgs) shares gained 2.7 percent to 56-3/4 pence as dealers welcomed the prudence of the 9.7 billion pound asset writedown. The group, worth around five billion pounds on the stock market, made a full-year pre-tax loss of 10.2 billion.


"Our board believes that this impairment enables us to go forward with a balance sheet that reflects realistic assumptions about the potential of our business to grow and to deliver attractive returns to shareholders," Chief Executive Peter Erskine told reporters on a conference call.


Erskine blamed the 3G writedowns on regulatory price cuts imposed earlier this year and delays to network roll-out caused by shortages of "unreliable and expensive" 3G handsets.


In an anticipated move, mmO2 wrote down 5.9 billion pounds relating to its 3G licences, 2.4 billion pounds in goodwill and 1.4 billion pounds on the sale of its Dutch business last month.


As a result of the one-off writedowns, Finance Director David Finch said mmO2 would turn a pre-exceptional, pre-goodwill operating profit this year if it met performance expectations.


The 2.1 billion pound writedown on its UK 3G licence, which cost four billion in 2000, would be tax-deductible, he added.


Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to 859 million pounds in the year to March 31 from 433 million the previous year, at the upper end of expectations. Total revenue rose 14 percent to 4.874 billion pounds.


Average revenue per user over the 12 months to the end of March rose to 247 pounds in Britain from 243 pounds in the quarter to December, while the same figure in Germany climbed to 219 pounds from 212 pounds three months before. In the fourth quarter, mmO2 added 301,000 users to around 19.4 million.


Increasingly seen by analysts as a takeover target, mmO2 demerged from former British telecoms monopoly BT Group Plc (LSE: BT.L - news - msgs) in November 2001.


Dutch operator KPN (Amsterdam: KPN.AS - news) and mmO2 have held talks about combining their German operations, which are the number three and four players in a market dominated by Deutsche Telekom (Xetra: 555750.DE - news) and Vodafone Group Plc (LSE: VOD.L - news - msgs) .


Erskine said there were no discussions at the moment with KPN, but he once again left the door open to any potential developments that would contribute to "shareholder value".


As for speculation about BT buying back its mobile offspring to help drive growth, Erskine said: "I read it in the newspapers and again I assure you there's no conversations with them."


But he added: "I'll do whatever's right for shareholder value."

The reverse is also due to the comments at the analysts meeting this morning ...... no current discussions with KPN regarding a potential takeover price for german sub


massive vol today - already 116 mllion



ains

MmO2 hit by 10bn losses over 3G costs

JIM STANTON DEPUTY BUSINESS EDITOR


BRITISH mobile phone operator mmO2 today crashed to a 10.2 billion loss.

The loss - a consequence of massive asset writedowns - came despite Europes fifth-biggest mobile operator boosting core earnings.

The company, formerly BT Cellnet, took a 9.66bn non-cash exceptional charge to help readjust the value of third-generation (3G) licences bought at inflated prices during the height of the telecoms boom in 2000.

However, mmO2 did see its core pre-tax profit almost double to 859 million, which was near the upper end of analysts expectations of between 809m and 870m.

Overall sales grew 14 per cent to 4.87bn for the year to March 31, up from 433m last time. And the company also saw an 11 per cent increase in its customer numbers to 19.4 million.

About 5.9bn of the writedown relates to the 3G licences the company bought to operate wireless internet services via mobile phones.

As the telecoms bubble burst in 2000 the value of the licences plunged. But further doubt has been cast on their value as the services they were brought to provide have taken longer to roll out than was first expected because of the lack of 3G handsets. This has delayed any potential earnings from the new technology.

The remainder of the writedown is connected to lower valuations put on other telecom acquisitions to reflect the fall in stockmarkets over the past three years.

Some analysts believe that mmO2 has tidied up its balance sheet to make itself a more attractive takeover target.

In a statement, mmO2 said: "We still believe theres a great long-term future for 3G. Its a service people will want and will pay for but it will take time for them to adopt it."

Chairman David Varney said: "In these year-end results, the size of the exceptional charges we have taken has masked the strong underlying performance delivered in our first full year as an independent company.

"However, this impairment enables us to go forward with a balance sheet that reflects realistic assumptions about the potential of our business to grow."

Mr Varney added that after the company had disposed of some operations in the Netherlands, mmO2 could build on the momentum it had created since it demerged from parent BT Group in November 2001.

Mr Varney said that arpu (average revenue per user) - a key industry measure - over the 12 months to the end of March rose to 247 in Britain from 243 in the quarter to December. In the fourth quarter, mmO2 added 301,000 users to around 19.4 million.

Chief executive Peter Erskine insisted that the company had put in a strong performance in spite of the writedown.

He said: "In mmO2s first full year as an independent company, it was vital for us to deliver on the commitments made at the time of the demerger; these results demonstrate this was achieved, with the group delivering strong growth and performance improvement."

Mr Erskine said the groups "O2" brand, which had been introduced across the whole group, had "achieved awareness and appeal well ahead of expectations".

He said that over the year the firm had successfully restructured its business in the UK and Germany, as well as securing a 3G licence for Ireland, and had introduced a stream of data service products.

"All these factors contributed to the growth, and improvement in performance, that we are determined to sustain going forward," Mr Erskine added.

nomura is bullish and considers write downs as a red herring

L2? Did you topup or holding & waiting. Can't believe could've paid far less today.

I have topped up and back to a full house now ..... I think some of the news has been mishandled and not worried ....



Buy orders Sell orders
Num(%) Num Vol(%) Vol VWAP Vol Vol(%) Num Num(%)
1% (52.00%) 13 (53.28%) 2,919,950 54.29 - 55.14 2,560,251 (46.72%) 12 (48.00%)
5% (53.13%) 17 (57.12%) 5,209,750 54.04 - 55.42 3,910,251 (42.88%) 15 (46.88%)
10% (46.15%) 24 (45.58%) 5,433,950 53.97 - 56.06 6,486,951 (54.42%) 28 (53.85%)
15% (40.00%) 30 (45.16%) 5,726,950 53.78 - 56.26 6,954,071 (54.84%) 45 (60.00%)
50% (40.79%) 31 (45.18%) 5,731,850 53.78 - 56.26 6,954,071 (54.82%) 45 (59.21%)
100% (40.96%) 34 (45.00%) 5,751,970 53.71 - 56.35 7,029,763 (55.00%) 49 (59.04%)
all (40.48%) 34 (44.99%) 5,751,970 53.71 - 56.40 7,033,763 (55.01%) 50 (59.52%)

Can you post L2 for VOD also? What did you topup at & what you looking to sell.

Looking for a swing trade rather than intraday - close to 54p




14:01 GMT: ROUNDUP mmo2 posts 10 bln stg loss in wake of 3G writedowns
LONDON (AFX) - Mobile phone operator mmo2 PLC reported a huge 10 bln stg loss as it wrote down the value of its third generation licences bought at the height of the teleom boom three years ago.
The company reported a 10.2 bln stg loss for the full year, reflecting an exceptional charge of 9.66 bln stg.

Around 5.9 bln stg of the charge came from the write-down of 3G licences, 2.4 bln on past acquisitions and 1.4 bln stg on the sale last month of its loss-making O2 Netherlands arm.

British Telecom paid 4 bln stg for mmO2's 20-year UK 3G permit and 5.2 billion stg for its German license before it demerged its wireless arm, then called BT Cellnet, in November 2001.

mmo2's assets are now worth about 10 bln stg.

Analysts expect the move by mmo2, widely flagged by weekend press reports, will lead other mobile operators, like Vodafone, to follow suit.

"There is a recognition that too much was paid for 3G licences three years ago at the top of the market, and since then, time in which to recoup that investment has shortened," chief executive Peter Erskine told reporters on a conference call.

This is because the launch of 3G has been delayed, in part due to the shortage of "unreliable and expensive" handsets.

The huge write-off masked a strong rise in the group's core earnings.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to 859 mln stg in the year to March 31 from 433 mln in the prior year, coming in at the upper end of expectations.

Total revenue rose 14 pct to 4.874 bln stg.

Analysts were impressed by the strong performance from O2 Germany and the prospect of a deferred tax credit from the 2.1 bln stg write down of its UK third generation licence.

Broker Cazenove put the maximum value of this tax shield at 630 mln stg.

mmo2 said its average revenue per user (ARPU) target growth of 4 to 8 pct had been achieved with ARPU in the UK up 6.9 pct to 247 stg for the year and ARPU in Germany ahead 12.3 pct to 219 stg.

mmo2 improved its customer base by 11 pct to 19.4 mln at the year end.

The company added 98,000 UK customers in the last three months of its fiscal year, giving it 12.1 mln subscribers.

In Germany, it signed 236,000 new subscribers, taking its total to 4.81 mln. Erskine said mmO2 would consider any offers for O2 Germany if they were "good".

But he declined to comment on stock market rumours that mmo2 is in talks to sell O2 Germany to Dutch telecom operator Royal KPN, owner of German mobile firm E-Plus.

tim.farrand@afxnews.com

Buy orders Sell orders
Num(%) Num Vol(%) Vol VWAP Vol Vol(%) Num Num(%)
1% (47.83%) 11 (42.40%) 2,165,492 54.41 - 55.12 2,941,940 (57.60%) 12 (52.17%)
5% (54.55%) 18 (53.90%) 5,018,141 54.08 - 55.37 4,291,940 (46.10%) 15 (45.45%)
10% (47.17%) 25 (43.97%) 5,391,141 54.02 - 56.00 6,868,640 (56.03%) 28 (52.83%)
15% (42.31%) 33 (44.18%) 5,805,341 53.79 - 56.19 7,335,760 (55.82%) 45 (57.69%)
50% (43.04%) 34 (44.20%) 5,810,241 53.79 - 56.19 7,335,760 (55.80%) 45 (56.96%)
100% (43.02%) 37 (44.03%) 5,830,361 53.72 - 56.28 7,411,452 (55.97%) 49 (56.98%)
all (42.53%) 37 (44.02%) 5,830,361 53.72 - 56.33 7,415,452 (55.98%) 50 (57.47%

Buy orders Sell orders
Num(%) Num Vol(%) Vol VWAP Vol Vol(%) Num Num(%)
1% (55.71%) 78 (48.48%) 11,945,684 119.08 - 120.28 12,694,577 (51.52%) 62 (44.29%)
5% (55.49%) 101 (42.99%) 13,599,334 118.94 - 120.63 18,035,920 (57.01%) 81 (44.51%)
10% (54.25%) 134 (45.53%) 20,473,088 117.96 - 121.36 24,494,252 (54.47%) 113 (45.75%)
15% (46.93%) 153 (41.03%) 21,738,098 117.67 - 122.96 31,238,804 (58.97%) 173 (53.07%)
50% (45.30%) 164 (39.36%) 21,867,212 117.59 - 123.76 33,690,044 (60.64%) 198 (54.70%)
100% (42.75%) 177 (38.74%) 22,050,548 117.37 - 124.43 34,867,344 (61.26%) 237 (57.25%)
all (41.75%) 177 (38.71%) 22,050,548 117.37 - 124.62 34,912,144 (61.29%) 247 (58.25%)

0-1% (55.71%) 78 (48.48%) 11,945,684 119.08 - 120.28 12,694,577 (51.52%) 62 (44.29%)
1-5% (54.76%) 23 (23.64%) 1,653,650 118.94 - 120.63 5,341,343 (76.36%) 19 (45.24%)
5-10% (50.77%) 33 (51.56%) 6,873,754 117.96 - 121.36 6,458,332 (48.44%) 32 (49.23%)
10-15% (24.05%) 19 (15.79%) 1,265,010 117.67 - 122.96 6,744,552 (84.21%) 60 (75.95%)
15-50% (30.56%) 11 (5.00%) 129,114 117.59 - 123.76 2,451,240 (95.00%) 25 (69.44%)
50-100% (25.00%) 13 (13.47%) 183,336 117.37 - 124.43 1,177,300 (86.53%) 39 (75.00%)
100%- (0.00%) 0 (0.00%) 0 117.37 - 124.62 44,800 (100.00%) 10 (100.00%)

starting to recover