1 January 2008
The Times has published Richard Branson’s letter which was sent to Virgin Atlantic cabin crew as they prepare to strike this month.
Virgin Atlantic has never had any handouts and therefore to survive we have to keep our costs under control.
…
I’m afraid that those in the union who compare Virgin Atlantic with British Airways are being very unrealistic. It’s like comparing chalk with cheese
…
For some of you more pay than Virgin Atlantic can afford may be critical to your lifestyle and if that is the case you should consider working elsewhere. For the vast majority of you, the pay rise you were offered was the best in the industry this year, which is why the union strongly recommended it. I’d urge you not to put at risk our ability to solve this dispute by messing up our customers’ travel plans.
Considering the number of airlines (especially the American ones) that have gone bankrupt in recent years, Branson and his management have drawn the line. Virgin Altantic has suggested that “unhappy workers” should look elsewhere if they want a bigger wage packet.
13 May 2007
When I posted about Transcorp earlier this year, I said May 2007 would be a crucial month for the company. The hype about Transcorp has come and gone.
Bernard Longe is on compulsory leave due to an investigation at First Bank of Nigeria over a loan granted to NITEL whilst he was CEO. The Transcorp Board said the process was initiated in compliance with a Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) directive about indicted/dismissed CEO of quoted companies.
Earlier this month, Tom Iseghohi was appointed CEO, no word on Bernard Longe. Transcorp has had 2 CEOs in the last 2 years. Good luck, Tom.
It seems Transcorp managed to secure 76% of NITEL despite varying reports suggesting it only owns 51%. Last month, it was reported that BT had quit as its technical partner. Transcorp released a press release stating that first stage of the agreement with BT had simply finished and was hoping to extend it.
The company also stated it was “pursuing opportunities to bring in potential strategic investors into NITEL and M-tel”. A week later, the Independent reported that Transcorp was close to sealing a $1.2 billion deal with Vodacom. The deal would probably give Vodacom control of M-tel and a 27% stake in NITEL.
With this deal on the table, I’m still optimistic. If this deal goes through, it will inject the much needed cash into indebted company whose IPO was not well received (compared to Dangote Sugar, despite the worldwide roadsow) and will bring in Vodacom, an able partner, who has been keen to enter the Nigerian mobile telecom market for some time.
12 February 2007
100% Nigerian. 100% World Class
Beautiful Slogan, you would agree. The slogan could become a problem if TransCorp decided to expand outside Nigeria. For now, TransCorp is 100% Nigerian, not sure 100% World Class.
A friend told me about TransCorp’s roadshow presentation at St. James Park in London and I gladly agreed to attend. Naturally I was excited about the attending my first Nigerian roadshow. I made a few observations; allow me to share them with you.
The IPO of TransCorp should be the gold standard for other companies looking to “go public”. The IPO prospectus omitted crucial information. It failed to state the any “meaningful” historical accounts for the company. After the Cadbury Nigeria incident, accounts should be detailed and thorough. The IPO prospectus should have some historical accounts for NITEL and TransCorp Hilton to give prospective investors an idea of the profitability of these businesses. Forecasts are only useful when compared with historical accounts.
At the roadshow presentation I attended, the TransCorp Executives could not confirm the number of subscribers on the M-tel network. I find that very odd. Are they suggesting they paid good money without due diligence? This report offers very little comfort to prospective shareholders suggesting subscribers in 2006 stood at 200,000 from 1.2 million in 2005.
The same report suggests 75% of NITEL was sold to TransCorp. In the IPO prospectus, TransCorp owns 51% of TransCorp Telecomms. TransCorp Telecomms owns the 75% of NITEL. So TransCorp owns half of the 75% stake? This is poor disclosure.
The roadshow presentation was not what I expected. Standing for thirty minutes and listening to someone defend Obsanjo’s Tata idea for Nigeria was not cool. The TransCorp Executives failed to communicate their ambition for the company. I’m more optimistic but let’s see what happens in May first.
14 August 2006
I have two GOLDEN RULES when it comes to investments;
- Never invest in football teams
- Never invest in Airlines
I broke rule No.2 once…quite sure I didn’t make money on it. As Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic, once responded to the question of how to become a millionaire;
Start by being a billionaire and then buy an airline.
I digress. Back to football. By the way, I support Arsenal.
Men, when did Americans begin to love football (called “soccer” in America and Austrialia) so much. First, Malcolm Glazer (owns Tampa Bay Buccaneers). Now Randy Lerner (owns Cleveland Browns American football team).
Today, Aston Villa’s board recommended that shareholders accept Randy Lerner’s bid of £63 million after beating three rival bidders including Michael Neville. A quick scan of the RNS statement shows that Randy Lerner is paying 547p in cash per share. This represents a 47% premium to the share price on the 16 Sept 2005 (not sure why they are using this date as the approach was announced on 1 Sept 2005).
Now look at the share price graph since 1998;
© Selftrade
Ofcourse if you invested in 2003 when everyone else was just recovering from tech bust, you’ll be laughing all the way to the bank.
The future looks very bright for Aston Villa. Recently appointed Martin O’Neill as the club’s manager with the Lerner promising to make £20 million available for new players.
Read more:
Yankee Invasion Or Lifelong Fan For Villa Park Boardroom?
Sentimentality gets us nowhere, Michael
10 August 2006
I got emailed this article about Obasanjo and TransCorp. We all know OBJ oversaw the creation of Transcorp based on South Korea’s chaebols.
There is yarn* that OBJ owns $9 million TransCorp shares. TransCorp recently acquired the state telecoms giant, Nitel in a bidding process most observers believed wasn’t very transparent. That was a shame, however I don’t understand why the presidential spin doctor doesn’t know whether OBJ owns shares or not in TransCorp.
A presidential spokeswoman said she did not know if the president owned shares in the company, and the company also denied knowledge of any presidential holding.
I thought spin doctors were briefed before press conferences.
As if that wasn’t enough, I don’t understand why TransCorp doesn’t have a shareholder list.
Transcorp spokesman Adedayo Ojo said the company did not have a full list of shareholders: “No one in Transcorp can talk about what the president has or does not have.”
Is this dude kidding me? TransCorp is a private company. They intend to list on the Nigerian Stock exchange soon, at least the prospectus should detail their existing shareholders. I hope so anyway.
So “Does Nigeria really have hope”?
*yarn, slang ; talk on the street, rumour
16 July 2006
From Thisday;
“The Commission thinks it necessary to clarify that: EFCC visited Chief Adenuga’s home on Sunday, 9th July 2006, only after several invitations to him, over a period of more than three months. He refused to honour the invitations;
“Even at his Victoria Island, Lagos home, for over seven hours, Adenuga, among other evasive tactics employed by his family and staff, refused to see EFCC operatives or allow them entry;
“The 14 operatives (not “over 40″ or “over 70″ as reported in the media) had no choice than to extract Chief Adenuga in a professional manner, with due respect for his rights as a citizen of Nigeria and in accordance with established rules and regulations. Consequently, no injury was done to his person or damage to his property;
Fair enough.
25 June 2006
Discuss!
17 June 2006
The Nigeria Leadership Initiative (“NLI”) was founded in 2006 by Segun Aganga;
…to create a growing global network of credible and very accomplished community-spirited Nigerian leaders who are committed to taking responsibility for driving positive change in Nigeria and Nigerian communities.
Earlier in the year, NLI held its inaugural seminar in the U.K and currently accepting entries for its annual essay competition.
via Mona
14 June 2006
— Here are some business ideas to avoid. Still think it would be cool to have a t-shirt company. #
12 June 2006
— Delawhere? “why are the majority of companies incorporated in Delaware, regardless of their actual physical location?”, finally found the answer. #
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