LIBERTY TWO DEGREES EXPECTS LOWER EARNINGS

LIBERTY Two Degrees said distributable earnings were likely to be 40 to

55 percent lower in the six months to June 30 due to weak trading in the second quarter, a statement said yesterday. While first quarter trading had been in line with expectations, and there was a slow improvement since the start of level 3 of the lockdown, the lockdown had severely impacted second quarter trading. Due to the distributable earnings decline and uncertainty from the Covid-19 impact, an interim distribution would not be paid, but a final distribution for the 2020 would be considered. Property valuations were expected to be negatively impacted by the decline in rentals due to the pandemic, the potential for negative reversions and lower growth assumptions, as well as an increase in vacancies and the time required to re-let vacant space. “A number of our tenants (can’t) trade or are still under restricted trading conditions including restaurants and tenants in the hospitality sector,” the group said. The portfolio value, which was being independently valued, was estimated to have declined by 10 to 20 percent compared to December 31, 2019. Interim results were expected to be published on July 27.

BT GROUP and Vodafone Group told UK lawmakers they would need at least five years to swop out China’s Huawei Technologies if the government decides on strict rules that would ban the company’s products from being used in 5G networks. It would cost Vodafone on the lower end of “single-figure billions” to swop out its thousands of Huawei stations and antennas across the country, according to Andrea Dona, Vodafone’s head of UK networks, speaking to the UK Parliament’s Science and Technology Committee yesterday. Dona added it would take a minimum of 5 years to swop Huawei out without disruption. Howard Watson, BT’s chief technology and information officer, agreed and said it would take “ideally seven” because of the practical limitations on closing streets and dispatching engineers to sites. “It is logistically impossible, I believe, to get to zero in a three-year period,” said Watson, referring to the time-frame targeted by some Conservative party lawmakers. “That would literally mean blackouts for customers on 4G and 2G as well as 5G throughout the country.” It could cost BT “tens to a hundred million” beyond the £500 million (R10.3 trillion) the company already earmarked for complying with rules imposed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in January, which limit Huawei’s presence to 35 percent of 5G and fibre networks outside sensitive core components, where they will be banned by 2023. BT has trialled swopping Huawei antenna sites to Nokia and Ericsson, Watson said. He was pressed by members of Parliament on the company’s use of Huawei in its 4G core. |