Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Phones 4U collapses into administration as EE is final operator to hang up

Retailer's 720 outlets will not open on Monday, with 5,596 staff to be briefed by management, as private equity owner BC Partners launches an attack on mobile operators

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/telecoms/11095462/Phones-4U-collapses-into-administration-as-EE-is-final-operator-to-hang-up.html

By Christopher Williams, Technology, Media and Telecoms Editor
8:30PM BST 14 Sep 2014

Phones 4U collapsed into administration on Sunday night after its last remaining mobile operator partner, EE, cut ties with the retailer, The Telegraph can reveal.

Phones 4U has 720 outlets, including 550 standalone stores, and employs 5,596 people. Staff will be briefed by management in stores and at head office on Monday morning. BC Partners, Phones 4U's private equity owner, said it is "intended that employees will continue to be paid until further notice".

Mobile industry sources said EE informed Phones 4U of its decision last week. After being contacted by The Telegraph on Sunday BC Partners said it would seek to appoint PwC as adminstrators on Monday.

Phones 4U stores will be closed pending a decision by the administrators on whether they can be reopened for trading. Mobile contracts signed through the retailer will be unaffected.

BC Partners is also expected to inform bondholders on Monday. The value of the retailer’s debt has plunged to 13p in the pound since the private equity firm raised £205m on the Irish Stock Exchange last year.

BC Partners has made a profit of more than 30pc since it bought Phones 4U three-and-a-half years ago for around £600m.

EE, which is understood to account for around half of Phones 4U’s £1bn sales, made its decision after a strategic review. Vodafone, which said it would not renew its contract with the retailer earlier this month made up more than a quarter of sales. O2, which only accounted for around 10pc of sales, pulled out in February.

EE reached the decision amid concerns that Phones 4U was selling for only one of Britain’s main mobile operators. It was felt this reduced its appeal for customers who wanted to compare the prices of different operators.

BC Partners attacked the mobile operators.
Stefano Quadrio Curzio of the private equity firm said: “Our overriding concern is for all the dedicated hard-working employees of Phones 4U at a time of uncertainty for the company."

"Vodafone has acted in exactly the opposite way to what they had consistently indicated to the management of Phones 4U over more than six months. Their behaviour appears to have been designed to inflict the maximum damage to their partner of 15 years, giving Phones 4U no time to develop commercial alternatives.
"EE's decision on Friday is surprising in the context of a contract that has more than a year to run and leaves the board with no alternative but to seek the Administrator's protection in the interests of all its stakeholders.”

David Kassler, chief executive of Phones 4U, said: “Today is a very sad day for our customers and our staff. If the mobile network operators decline to supply us, we do not have a business. A good company making profits of over £100 million, employing thousands of decent people has been forced into administration.

"The great service we have provided should have guaranteed a strong future, but unfortunately our network partners have decided otherwise. The ultimate result will be less competition, less choice and higher prices for mobile customers in UK.”
The operators are seeking to reduce the number of handsets and contracts they sell through third-party retailers, preferring to deal directly with customers and retain more of the profit margin.

EE, Britain’s biggest mobile operator, did about a 10th of its business through Phones 4U on a deal that would have run until September next year. It is likely to ramp up sales through other channels, particularly its own 570 stores, in an effort to replace those revenues.

EE was in talks with Phones 4U about a potential contract renewal as recently as July, but the commercial terms put forward by the retailer were rejected by the operator as out of line with industry norms, sources said. Phones 4U walked away from the negotiating table and did not return.

The collapse of Phones 4U will be a boost to its main rival Dixons Carphone, which has deals with all three mobile operators.

It is understood that the retailer was considering a complaint to competition watchdogs at the weekend, alleging co-operation between mobile operators aimed at reducing competition on the high street to drive up prices.

The claim was supported by John Caudwell, the billionaire who founded Phones 4U in 1987 and sold it in 2006. He said: “It feels to me as though these networks are acting in unison. It’ll be good for the networks ultimately but it can’t be good for the customers, taking all that freedom of choice away.”

However, he also said he “did not agree with a healthy business being stripped and debt laden”.

Operator sources dismissed talk of a competition investigation as “an attempted distraction”.

An O2 spokesman said the operator was unaware of a competition complaint being prepared: “We make all our decisions independently of others.”

EE and Vodafone declined to comment.

it will be a no vote cert 55% yes 41%

off to the airport keep the peace gf

i actually agree, though 96% doesn't = 100% and i suspect the vote will be rather closer than you indicate

Wheres TANKER flying out to .......Iraq.

Corrected Aldwickk......was thinking of the bottle perhaps ?...(:))..

Malta ..... used to be known as the Hole with the Mintoff, but before all your times except probably fred who remembers the bombing in WW2

MaxK....Scotland would probably have to join the Euro (if they will have them).....and I reckon that perhaps the rest of the UK might follow.....that's why it is best to vote NO...

There is no chance of us joining the Euro. There is no appetite for it in any party.

Populus – CON 33%, LAB 37%, LDEM 9%, UKIP 13% (tabs)
Ipsos MORI – CON 34%, LAB 33%, LDEM 7%, UKIP 15% (tabs)*
YouGov – CON 31%, LAB 35%, LDEM 7%, UKIP 16% (tabs)

* rougue poll........fiddled.

Cynic,

I do.

And remember we had a new comer to the primary school I was at.

He was a Maltese.

Also, can remember the newspapers with the maps with arrows and Swastikas.

Also, remember the film at a later date called The Malta Story(?).
=======

England will eventually be a full member of the EU, unless the rest of the EU reject them.

quite interesting ...... the markets are now telling us that a NO vote is the (very) likely outcome

Tonight on BBC2 9pm part 1 of part 2 documentary........."Traders: Millions By The Minute".

"Traders: Millions By The Minute" - the TV Programme

I was at Euston station earlier, seeing off my son going back to uni. There were police in pairs wearing body armour carrying large automatic weapons.

You must be a VIP Haystack , all that just for you .

Its TANKER who is on the loose.

Here's nasty for you...supposedly a charity




Would you give your home away in exchange for care?

Comment: Charity Age UK runs a controversial scheme whereby elderly homeowners sign away their properties in exchange for help living there



By Richard Dyson

10:01AM BST 15 Sep 2014

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/insurance/longtermcare/11090016/Would-you-give-your-home-away-in-order-to-be-able-to-carry-on-living-in-it.html



Would you swap your home in return for the help you need to carry on living in it? Many people do this – and have done for years – under an arrangement known as the “gifted housing service”, overseen by the giant charity Age UK.


The fact this service exists is a grim sign of how complicated and inadequate care funding in Britain has become.


Here’s how it works. Under a legal arrangement – not, importantly, a regulated financial one, like a mortgage or equity release arrangement – home owners sign away their property to Age UK.


The charity undertakes a valuation of the property and gets a medical report on the owner’s health. Most people who do this are in their 70s or 80s.


In exchange, the home owners are allowed to live on in their property, with the charity footing the bills for council tax, water, insurance and maintenance. It also promises to meet the costs of “repairs, maintenance and decoration of the structure”.


The service “helps older people live independently in their own homes while reducing the cost and responsibility of upkeep”.

There are also pledges – somewhat vague, although to be negotiated in more detail with individual donors – of help to meet care costs, such as “contributing towards home and residential care costs, should this become necessary”.

“We don’t provide hands-on care ourselves, but if you need this we will contribute to the cost of care and help find people who will provide you with good care which respects your needs,” Age UK promises.


The advantages of the gifted housing service are clear. The property owner gets to live in a well maintained home without the hassle and costs of upkeep. There is also support, advice and help at hand in the form of Age UK’s staff, plus some financial assistance with care.

But the disadvantages and potential for things to go badly awry also seem clear.

In a world where scrutiny and transparency are increasingly valued, the gifted housing service seems an anachronistic set-up.

It is a financial transaction involving elderly people parting with a major asset. That is a potentially disastrous mix.

Age UK stresses that few deals are done and extreme care taken in ensuring the arrangements are suitable for donors and understood.

But there is also the issue of profit. Quite how much Age UK has made out of this scheme isn’t clear. But I reckon it would have done very well out of some of the properties signed over to it in recent years.

True, many donors would have wanted the proceeds of their home to go to the causes Age UK champions, but it remains the case that no donor can know the value of what they sign away.

I didn't realise that Haze and family were that dangerous.

I thought a puff of wind would blow him away!