Russethouse Posted November 29, 2005 Share Posted November 29, 2005 On the southern news this morning news of the 'impending' sale of P&O ferry and freight services to a company from Dubai.I have read about this before in the financial pages and have the impression that these possible new owners may not be too interested in passenger business.Anyone else heard anything ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted November 29, 2005 Share Posted November 29, 2005 There was something in the Guardian Online a week or so ago. There was the Dubai company, but then a couple of others showed interest as well. They were saying that all these companies were only really interested in the port operations side of P & O (i.e. the ports they control) and that they would all be expected to sell/ditch the ferry part pretty quickly.Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mochas Posted November 29, 2005 Share Posted November 29, 2005 This morning's Daily Telegraph suggests that Dubai Ports World will carry on with P&O's ferry service if they do take them over - though one might suspect their motives:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2005/11/29/upando.xml&sSheet=/money/2005/11/29/ixcitytop.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eslier Posted November 29, 2005 Share Posted November 29, 2005 According to BBC News this is now a done deal. Dubai Ports is owned by the Dubai govenment. Don't forget that the ferry operation is only a very very small part of P&O. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceni Posted November 29, 2005 Share Posted November 29, 2005 I have not read the Torygraph article but would guess that if there is money to be made Dubai Ports will continue ferry services to/from France, if not they won't.Johnnot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mochas Posted November 30, 2005 Share Posted November 30, 2005 Any company would be pretty stupid to continue a loss-making operation unless it thought it could turn it round. Apparently, P&O have already taken steps in this direction albeit by intending to concentrate on trucks more than day trippers.Dubai Ports World has obviously taken this into account in deciding to buy P&O. Being seen to continue the ferry service also avoids any immediate confrontation with the unions - hence my previous comment re suspect motives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcazar Posted November 30, 2005 Share Posted November 30, 2005 As a shareholder, (albeit only pref. shares for cheap travel), I had notification of this some time ago.It'll be interesting to see what, if anything, the new owners do about the shareholder's discount, or what THOSE shares would be worth, should they decide to do away with it.Alcazar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Riff-Raff Element Posted November 30, 2005 Share Posted November 30, 2005 Are any ferry companies making money at the moment? P&O's operation is commonly held to be in the mire, none of the short sea routes appear to be profitable and BF hardly seem to be in an expansive mood. Ironic really that sending goods by sea is the most cost effective mode of transport, but sending people no longer seems to make sense, not across the Channel, at least. What next, I wonder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted November 30, 2005 Author Share Posted November 30, 2005 >>and BF hardly seem to be in an expansive mood<<<Thought they were building 2 new boats ?We were on the Bretagne on the Plymouth to Roscoff route a few weeks ago - so empty they only used the freight deck for cars as well as freight - no wonder they are putting that boat back on the St Malo route ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Riff-Raff Element Posted December 1, 2005 Share Posted December 1, 2005 "Thought they were building 2 new boats"True, true - but they are replacements (I understood), not additional capacity. I am rather pesimistic (sp? - using Firfox, so no spell checker, and some rotter has hidden the dictionary AGAIN) about the future of ferry links between France and the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted December 1, 2005 Author Share Posted December 1, 2005 Hmmm- I'm not sure but if I was the new owner of P&O's ferry routes I might be looking for some player with lots of imagination to either run the operation or sell to - something more on a 'no frills' basis.That way there would be more choice, those who want BF's 'extra's' could have them and those who just want to cross the channel as cheaply as possible, could.Nice dream isn't it ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceni Posted December 1, 2005 Share Posted December 1, 2005 Gay - DPW may not even find the true profit/loss ability of the various divisions and subsidiaries after the deal is done. Let's face it, what IS an accountant's definition of truth anyway ?I suspect that the new owner is only really interested in the ports and freight businesses and will leave the people and cars bit to someone/anyone else. But time will tell, possibly.Johnnot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 Just to set the record straight, talk of the Dubai Ports deal to buy P&O being done and dusted is a little premature. Over the last couple of days, according to Lloyds List and other reliable sources, Temasek Holdings, a Singapore government-owned investment agency, has been buying large amounts of P&O shares, prompting speculation of a bid battle for the company. The Singapore agency has not yet announced whether it intends to mount a counter-bid.This may be good news for the shareholders, but not necessarily for ferry passengers. Neither the Dubai nor Singapore bidders are really interested in the ferry operations, it is the port-related business that they want. Whoever buys P&O is likely to be looking to offload the ferry business rather than continue with a loss-making operation or to try and turn it round. As P&O has been unable to find a buyer (apart from the transfer of the Portsmouth-Le Havre service, which was rather a different story from the Calais, North Sea and Bilbao routes) chances of these routes surviving look rather slim.We hope, from the point of view of travelling to France, that the routes can survive, but the above is the view of shipping and transport experts, so we will have to wait and see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted December 7, 2005 Author Share Posted December 7, 2005 Thanks for the update Will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 Seems the P&O board have agreed to a sale and will berecommending it to its shareholders http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,16781,1695245,00.html Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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