BT to buy Plusnet

BT today announced it has made a recommended cash offer for PlusNet,
offering 210p per share, valuing the company at approximately £67m.

The offer for PlusNet fits perfectly with BT's strategy of providing its
customers with the most that broadband can deliver. Broadband is
increasingly becoming more than just fast internet access and PlusNet has a
strong reputation for both customer service and innovation.

Operating since 1997, PlusNet was listed on the Alternative Investment
Market in 2004. It has grown rapidly during the last few years and now has
close to
200,000 broadband customers as well as an additional narrowband customer
base. If the offer is accepted, PlusNet will retain its brand and distinct
identity. It will continue to operate from its base in Sheffield and Lee
Strafford will remain its CEO. For the 12 months to 30 June 2006 the company
had revenues of £41m, EBITDA of £7.5m and net income of £3.9m.

BT Retail chief executive, Ian Livingston said: 'This offer makes great
sense for BT. We already provide the UK's most popular and best-performing
ADSL broadband service and this acquisition will ensure that even more
people can enjoy our market-leading services. PlusNet's customers and
employees will benefit from the combination of PlusNet's excellent platform
and access to BT's resources and technology development.'

Lee Strafford, CEO of PlusNet said: 'I am pleased to announce BT's offer
this morning. Whilst the PlusNet Directors continue to believe that PlusNet
is a high
quality business, our sector is consolidating and there are considerable
benefits to PlusNet in becoming part of BT. BT recognises the importance of
retaining PlusNet's identity and culture and I believe this will give rise
to exciting opportunities for PlusNet, our customers and our employees.'

The directors of the company, having unanimously recommended the offer, have
provided irrevocable undertakings to accept BT's offer.'

From http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article...1160701041717M

Regards
Sunil

"Sunil Sood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> BT today announced it has made a recommended cash offer for PlusNet,
> offering 210p per share, valuing the company at approximately £67m.

Interesting, problem is, are we (plusnet customers) to get the best of both
worlds or the worst!
Fred

> BT today announced it has made a recommended cash offer for PlusNet,
> offering 210p per share, valuing the company at approximately £67m.
>
> The offer for PlusNet fits perfectly with BT's strategy of providing
> its customers with the most that broadband can deliver. Broadband is
> increasingly becoming more than just fast internet access and PlusNet
> has a strong reputation for both customer service and innovation.
>
> Operating since 1997, PlusNet was listed on the Alternative Investment
> Market in 2004. It has grown rapidly during the last few years and
> now has close to
> 200,000 broadband customers as well as an additional narrowband
> customer base. If the offer is accepted, PlusNet will retain its
> brand and distinct identity. It will continue to operate from its
> base in Sheffield and Lee Strafford will remain its CEO. For the 12
> months to 30 June 2006 the company had revenues of £41m, EBITDA of
> £7.5m and net income of £3.9m.
> BT Retail chief executive, Ian Livingston said: 'This offer makes
> great sense for BT. We already provide the UK's most popular and
> best-performing ADSL broadband service and this acquisition will
> ensure that even more people can enjoy our market-leading services.
> PlusNet's customers and employees will benefit from the combination
> of PlusNet's excellent platform and access to BT's resources and
> technology development.'
> Lee Strafford, CEO of PlusNet said: 'I am pleased to announce BT's
> offer this morning. Whilst the PlusNet Directors continue to believe
> that PlusNet is a high
> quality business, our sector is consolidating and there are
> considerable benefits to PlusNet in becoming part of BT. BT
> recognises the importance of retaining PlusNet's identity and culture
> and I believe this will give rise to exciting opportunities for
> PlusNet, our customers and our employees.'
> The directors of the company, having unanimously recommended the
> offer, have provided irrevocable undertakings to accept BT's offer.'
>
> From http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article...1160701041717M

Thanks for that Sunil. I wonder how long it will be before the
Plusnet-Tiscali network link will be severed?



Peter Crosland

Peter Crosland wrote in message
455c4052$0$8755$(E-Mail Removed):

>> BT
>> recognises the importance of retaining PlusNet's identity and culture
>> and I believe this will give rise to exciting opportunities for
>> PlusNet, our customers and our employees.'
>> The directors of the company, having unanimously recommended the
>> offer, have provided irrevocable undertakings to accept BT's offer.'
>>
>> From http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article...1160701041717M
>
> Thanks for that Sunil. I wonder how long it will be before the
> Plusnet-Tiscali network link will be severed?

As a customer of PlusNet (actually Force9) I wonder whether this is good
news or not. Will PlusNet go down the BT route of using clueless Asian
support engineers who can only work from scripts and with whom you can't
have a sensible professional-to-professional discussion of a problem.
Admittedly PlusNet's telephone support has gone downhill over the past six
months or so, like so many other aspects of PlusNet such as the reliability
of its mail, nes and web servers, but it was one of the reasons that I chose
PlusNet originally: a British copmpany using British staff - and from
Yorkshire, at that!

Will they do the same thing as BT and split themselves into lots of separate
businesses which can't co-operate with each other or accesses each other's
databases? Dealing with BT as an ISP is a deeply unrewarding experience
because if a customer has problems with his email or internet access, he
usually has no knowledge of whether he's BT Yahoo, BT Broadband, BT Internet
or BT whatever. Incredibly, if you phone one support line at random (eg BT
Yahoo) they cannot trace the account from the email address and tell you
which tariff the customer is on and therfore which department should deal
with the problem: BT Yahoo can't access BT Internet accounts database etc.
My feeling is that it's all BT and that the distinction into separate
businesses is a spurious one which should not affect the end-user. I hope
they don't do the same to PlusNet.

On the other hand, having the backing of a big company like BT may mean that
there is more money available for upgrading and running the services that
they offer, so maybe there will be an end to the totally unacceptable
experience of frequent inability to read email from the POP server or
lengthy delays to incoming email or news. If they can get back to near 100%
availability of servers and can speed up downloading of POP mail and reduce
interminable delays on their portal site (especially to the bloated webmail
pages) then something good will have come out of BT's takeover of PlusNet.

In article <455c38e4$0$8727$(E-Mail Removed)>, The
Simpsons <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>"Sunil Sood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> BT today announced it has made a recommended cash offer for PlusNet,
>> offering 210p per share, valuing the company at approximately £67m.
>
>Interesting, problem is, are we (plusnet customers) to get the best of both
>worlds or the worst!

Imho, the likely scenarios are that soon:

a) PlusNet support will be moved to India where BT is investing heavily
in its service centre

b) PlusNet's Sheffield premises will be disposed of

c) PlusNet staff will be made redundant

d) PlusNet directors, including the awful Lee Strafford will be shown
the door

e) PlusNet customers will be better off since pretty much anything is
better than the status quo which includes rotten support, rotten
mistreatment, rotten communications, rotten exploitation and downright
deception - plus of course, virtually zero investment in
infrastructure. But the rotten throttling will probably stay.

Stan

"Stan The Man" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:161120061108599226%(E-Mail Removed)...
> In article <455c38e4$0$8727$(E-Mail Removed)>, The
> Simpsons <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>"Sunil Sood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> BT today announced it has made a recommended cash offer for PlusNet,
>>> offering 210p per share, valuing the company at approximately £67m.
>>
>>Interesting, problem is, are we (plusnet customers) to get the best of
>>both
>>worlds or the worst!
>
> Imho, the likely scenarios are that soon:
>
> a) PlusNet support will be moved to India where BT is investing heavily
> in its service centre
>
> b) PlusNet's Sheffield premises will be disposed of
>
> c) PlusNet staff will be made redundant
>
> d) PlusNet directors, including the awful Lee Strafford will be shown
> the door
>
> e) PlusNet customers will be better off since pretty much anything is
> better than the status quo which includes rotten support, rotten
> mistreatment, rotten communications, rotten exploitation and downright
> deception - plus of course, virtually zero investment in
> infrastructure. But the rotten throttling will probably stay.
>
> Stan

"rotten support, rotten mistreatment, rotten communications, rotten
exploitation and downright
deception - plus of course, virtually zero investment in infrastructure"

These are the reasons I left BT :-)

In article <455c54ef$0$1347$(E-Mail Removed)> , Tony
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>"Stan The Man" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:161120061108599226%(E-Mail Removed)...
>> In article <455c38e4$0$8727$(E-Mail Removed)>, The
>> Simpsons <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>
>>>"Sunil Sood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>>news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>> BT today announced it has made a recommended cash offer for PlusNet,
>>>> offering 210p per share, valuing the company at approximately £67m.
>>>
>>>Interesting, problem is, are we (plusnet customers) to get the best of
>>>both
>>>worlds or the worst!
>>
>> Imho, the likely scenarios are that soon:
>>
>> a) PlusNet support will be moved to India where BT is investing heavily
>> in its service centre
>>
>> b) PlusNet's Sheffield premises will be disposed of
>>
>> c) PlusNet staff will be made redundant
>>
>> d) PlusNet directors, including the awful Lee Strafford will be shown
>> the door
>>
>> e) PlusNet customers will be better off since pretty much anything is
>> better than the status quo which includes rotten support, rotten
>> mistreatment, rotten communications, rotten exploitation and downright
>> deception - plus of course, virtually zero investment in
>> infrastructure. But the rotten throttling will probably stay.
>>
>> Stan
>
>"rotten support, rotten mistreatment, rotten communications, rotten
>exploitation and downright
> deception - plus of course, virtually zero investment in infrastructure"
>
>These are the reasons I left BT :-)

Duh! Surely BT invest in their infrastructure occasionally? In any
event, they are more accountable and have more to lose from a bad press
than PlusNet so that must make them better than PlusNet who were happy
to spend their time below the radar. Fact is that not even Ofcom seemed
to be too concerned about little PlusNet's malpractices - but BT plc
are A-list and therefore have to be aware that they and their
subsidiaries are under increased scrutiny.

Stan

On 16 Nov 2006, <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>... likely scenarios are that soon:
>
>a) PlusNet support will be moved to India where BT is investing heavily
>in its service centre
>
>b) PlusNet's Sheffield premises will be disposed of
>
>c) PlusNet staff will be made redundant
>
>d) PlusNet directors, including the awful Lee Strafford will be shown
>the door

well, I'm not in the habit of suggesting 'doom and gloom' (especially
when suggestions of redundancies come about). I've nothing to win or
lose either way (as I am not a customer) but I suppose it will be a
case of "wait and see". FWIW, you need to define "soon" - under 3
months? under 6 months? I can imagine some of those things in
the next year or two, perhaps, but not if one means < 6 months.

>> ... likely scenarios are that soon:
>>
>> a) PlusNet support will be moved to India where BT is investing
>> heavily in its service centre
>>
>> b) PlusNet's Sheffield premises will be disposed of
>>
>> c) PlusNet staff will be made redundant
>>
>> d) PlusNet directors, including the awful Lee Strafford will be shown
>> the door
>
> well, I'm not in the habit of suggesting 'doom and gloom' (especially
> when suggestions of redundancies come about). I've nothing to win or
> lose either way (as I am not a customer) but I suppose it will be a
> case of "wait and see". FWIW, you need to define "soon" - under 3
> months? under 6 months? I can imagine some of those things in
> the next year or two, perhaps, but not if one means < 6 months.

Ignore him. This is what he wants to happen rather than a serious prediction
of the likely outcome. The following quote from the official statement
"BT's immediate plans are to continue to operate PlusNet as a separate
entity within the BT group from its Sheffield offices. It is of great
importance to BT to retain PlusNet's distinct identity and culture and for
it to continue to trade under the PlusNet brand. BT intends to continue to
leverage and develop PlusNet's Workplace platform and has no immediate plans
to integrate PlusNet into existing BT services, maintaining its focus on the
internet serviced, discerning user, at competitive broadband rates. BT
believes that, by combining this platform with its existing resources and
expertise within BT Retail, the customer experience will be enhanced."
Of course it does not give a timescale but it does not sound as though they
are planning to do anything does it!

Peter Crosland

"Stan The Man" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:161120061213046054%(E-Mail Removed)...
> In article <455c54ef$0$1347$(E-Mail Removed)> , Tony
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>"Stan The Man" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>news:161120061108599226%(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> In article <455c38e4$0$8727$(E-Mail Removed)>, The
>>> Simpsons <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>>
>>>>"Sunil Sood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>>>news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>>> BT today announced it has made a recommended cash offer for PlusNet,
>>>>> offering 210p per share, valuing the company at approximately £67m.
>>>>
>>>>Interesting, problem is, are we (plusnet customers) to get the best of
>>>>both
>>>>worlds or the worst!
>>>
>>> Imho, the likely scenarios are that soon:
>>>
>>> a) PlusNet support will be moved to India where BT is investing heavily
>>> in its service centre
>>>
>>> b) PlusNet's Sheffield premises will be disposed of
>>>
>>> c) PlusNet staff will be made redundant
>>>
>>> d) PlusNet directors, including the awful Lee Strafford will be shown
>>> the door
>>>
>>> e) PlusNet customers will be better off since pretty much anything is
>>> better than the status quo which includes rotten support, rotten
>>> mistreatment, rotten communications, rotten exploitation and downright
>>> deception - plus of course, virtually zero investment in
>>> infrastructure. But the rotten throttling will probably stay.
>>>
>>> Stan
>>
>>"rotten support, rotten mistreatment, rotten communications, rotten
>>exploitation and downright
>> deception - plus of course, virtually zero investment in infrastructure"
>>
>>These are the reasons I left BT :-)
>
> Duh! Surely BT invest in their infrastructure occasionally? In any
> event, they are more accountable and have more to lose from a bad press
> than PlusNet so that must make them better than PlusNet who were happy
> to spend their time below the radar. Fact is that not even Ofcom seemed
> to be too concerned about little PlusNet's malpractices - but BT plc
> are A-list and therefore have to be aware that they and their
> subsidiaries are under increased scrutiny.
>
> Stan

It depends if you accept BT's explanation that BT internet is nothing to do
with them. I agree BT telecommunications spend vast amounts upgrading the
"telecommunication" network but when I used BT internet (before it was taken
over by Yahoo), they couldn't cope with the number of customers and weren't
willing to invest anymore in additional equipment. There answer was to
restrict services more and more, employ monkeys to man the support lines and
give you less and less for the same money.

You would naturally think that organisations with BT in the name would all
belong under the same umbrella but they used to strongly deny it. Confused
or what!