Asda planning sale-and-leaseback to raise cash

[thenry]

Admin edit (Chris): split from a very old thread about an attempted merger in 2018

So this merger was blocked and Asda are in trouble looking to sell off sites to only lease back. Is it better Asda goes bust? Was that mentioned in the block

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/c...burys-and-asda

https://news.sky.com/story/asda-to-s...-pile-13473168

Asdas conveniently in town here. Morrisons opened a brand new store in town in a brand new building which has now closed down including the empty building. What a waste. A smaller Sainsbury's closed in town. M&S shutdown in town. But we do have a new Tesco express in town though lol

[peanut]

Originally Posted by thenry

So this merger was blocked and Asda are in trouble looking to sell off sites to only lease back. Is it better Asda goes bust? Was that mentioned in the block

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/c...burys-and-asda

https://news.sky.com/story/asda-to-s...-pile-13473168

Asdas conveniently in town here. Morrisons opened a brand new store in a brand new building which has now closed down including the empty building. What a waste.

I thought the ones that bought ASDA thought they'd make a huge profit out of it. Obviously not worked out for them. I thought Morrisons were struggling more so. Their own range (Morrisons) used be okay but now the quality has really dropped and most of it is now crap. Between them both, both of their own ranges seemed to have cut way too many corners and the quality isn't just there anymore.

I have worked for employers in the past who use sale-and-leaseback to make the operation look more profitable. To an extent it does improve profitability in the short term because you get all the property sales on your balance sheet and you lose a lot of ongoing costs related to the maintenance of the estate. But in the longer run you’re at the mercy of a landlord to whom you owe rent, upon whom you rely for maintenance and who, once the contract is up, can turf you out of the building which you no longer own.

[Dingbat]

Virtually all BT buildings, including exchanges, were sold to Telereal Trillium back in 2001 and leased back. That deal included building maintenance.

Which goes a long way to explain why BT buildings all now look rundown and grubby.

[jem]

Originally Posted by Dingbat

Virtually all BT buildings, including exchanges, were sold to Telereal Trillium back in 2001 and leased back. That deal included building maintenance.

Which goes a long way to explain why BT buildings all now look rundown and grubby.

So the new owners don’t want to spend money on maintenance? Well, I’m shocked to hear that.....

[thenry]

Do they not sell off these assets for a more professional approach to whichever department they don't see themselves experts in therefore handing over control

Originally Posted by jem

So the new owners don’t want to spend money on maintenance? Well, I’m shocked to hear that.....

Most telephone exchanges are far too big for what they house since the end of the 1990's.
By then they had all moved over to System X, System Y etc, which takes up way less space than the old TXE4/TXE2/Crossbar/Strouger that they replced
I used to visit exchanges that had entire empty floors after conversion (and not small either).

[Dingbat]

Originally Posted by Paul

I used to visit exchanges that had entire empty floors after conversion (and not small either).

Best one I visited was London Mayfair exchange, part of which had been turned over to office space. My colleagues who worked there loved having it as their address on business cards.

Stood outside one day and witnessed a new Bentley cutting a corner and colliding with another new Bentley coming the other way. Bet their insurers were overjoyed.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Paul

Most telephone exchanges are far too big for what they house since the end of the 1990's.
By then they had all moved over to System X, System Y etc, which takes up way less space than the old TXE4/TXE2/Crossbar/Strouger that they replced
I used to visit exchanges that had entire empty floors after conversion (and not small either).

and compared to a soft switch System X takes up a massive amount of room. When VM switches off its Voice network there's going to be a lot of room in their Headends.

Originally Posted by Pierre

and compared to a soft switch System X takes up a massive amount of room.

I dont doubt it. I expect System X/Y would take up less space if designed & built now.
All the conversions I worked on are from 33 - 39 years ago now, the design is years older than that.
I left BT in 1992, so havent really seen how much they have changed since then.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by peanut

I thought the ones that bought ASDA thought they'd make a huge profit out of it. Obviously not worked out for them. I thought Morrisons were struggling more so. Their own range (Morrisons) used be okay but now the quality has really dropped and most of it is now crap. Between them both, both of their own ranges seemed to have cut way too many corners and the quality isn't just there anymore.

They'll only make money when they sell the business to someone else or float it on the stock exchange. The current owners of Asda borrowed a lot of money to acquire the business and that's where any profits from the shops are going.

Morrisons is in the same situation.

In the meantime, the competitors of Asda and Morrisons are thriving as they've been able to invest in their businesses.
https://www.grocerygazette.co.uk/202...da-slips-back/

[Stephen]

Sell it back to Walmart.

[thenry]

Originally Posted by Stephen

Sell it back to Walmart.

Too late. Josh brought Arsenal FC

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Stephen

Sell it back to Walmart.

Ain't going to happen.

Likeliest situation for Asda is a sale to another financial investor.

Morrisons could be dismembered and its stores sold to competitors or maybe merged with Asda or sold to another financial investor.

Original investors will want to get their money back at some stage; they're not long-term investors typically about 6 years.

Our Morrisons started life as Safeway, it would be fun if it became Asda as we have one just over a mile down the road.
As well as the main Morrisons, we also have two Morrison Daily stores within a mile of us, as well as a Tesco express.