Britain aims for the stars
MUCH fuss among the Remain lobby about the threat to Britain’s involvement in satellite and space science as a result of the threatened exclusion from Europe’s £8.6bn Galileo satellite navigation system.
This makes it all the more important that Inmarsat, as a UK satellite and communications firm of enormous strategic importance, remains in UK hands.
The board has so far firmly rejected two bids from US competitor Echostar, which is hugely encouraging. Unlike so many British companies gobbled up by overseas predators, Inmarsat has grown-up directors.
Chairman Andrew Sukawaty boasts a career at the highest level in telecoms and fellow directors have dazzling CVs relevant to the company. They are not a bunch of randoms picked off lists of fashionable, politically correct independents.
The 10pc drop in the share price following the bid rejection will disappoint short-term investors looking for quick profits. It is to be hoped that cornerstone shareholders including Lansdowne Partners, Capital Group and Aberdeen keep the faith and hang on.
It is no accident that Inmarsat is based in Britain. The group was set up in 1979 by the International Maritime Organisation (headquartered in the UK) to enable ships to keep in contact during emergencies.
It has now become a significant source of satellite communication for the British Armed Forces and US allies.
Customers range from the Government to broadcasters, airlines and vital industries such as oil and gas. Indeed, even if Echostar was allowed to come back with a stonking offer or were France’s Eutelsat to renew its interest, there would be fundamental questions as to whether the deals would be blocked on national security grounds.
It is hard to see Britain’s impetuous but robust defence secretary Gavin Williamson (who put up an admirable fight for GKN) allowing this deal to go through on the nod. Among other things the group’s 13 satellites helped secure ground communications for the UK’s operations in Afghanistan.
Its technology was also used to try to track down the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in 2014. The likely location of the aircraft was pinpointed but so far to no avail.
The reach of Inmarsat stretches beyond its maritime and military origins. It is developing smart technology that could work alongside UK-based firms such as chip designer Arm (now owned by Japan’s Softbank) working on the Internet of Things.
Furthermore, its GX Aviation Wi-Fi service is a pioneer for in-flight connectivity.
As Britain strikes out on its own, it is far better to have an independent UK player in satellites rather than surrender ownership and all that goes with it to the Americans.
Blowing bubbles
INDEED, while on the subject of foreign ownership, remember British Oxygen? At the height of the boom in overseas takeovers in 2006, BOC, a multinational gas company with 30,000 employees, was sold to Germany’s Linde for £8.2bn.
Command and control of the vital supplier of oxygen to the NHS passed to Munich and another UK company with British in its name was defenestrated. As Britons sit down at home or in their local Wetherspoon today to watch England in the last sixteen of the World Cup, they might well ask what happened to the fizzy drinks and why the beer, if available, is even flatter than usual.
It can all be put down to CO2 shortages. Those seeking supplies might try looking at the BOC website, now branded as part of Linde. And the helpful message? ‘Due to temporary supply issues, if you need to order this product [CO2] please call 0800 111 333.’
Odds on the froth on steins in Munich’s beer halls will be bubbling over.
Steel nerves
NO sooner than Thyssenkrupp (TK) consummated the long-planned merger with Tata Steel’s European operations, which include steel making in Port Talbot, than chief executive Heinrich Hiesinger is out the door – after seven and a half years at the helm.
The main complaint among investors is the combined steel operation gives too much away to Tata even though TK stands to collect 55pc of the proceeds from a future float. In some respects a stronger transEuropean company makes sense in the light of the Chinese threat and Trump trade tantrums. But survival of steelmaking in Port Talbot is all the more dependent on the kindness of strangers.