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BP Considering Suspension of Dividends

Deputy Fife

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BP directors will meet on Monday to discuss whether to suspend dividends to shareholders, the BBC has learned.

Executives will then meet with US President Barack Obama on Wednesday, but no announcement on the payments is expected in the near future.

BP has been under intense pressure from the US government, which wants BP to use the money to pay for the Gulf of Mexico clean-up.

Meanwhile, BP's shares closed up 7.2%, recovering losses suffered on Thursday.

"No announcement is expected for a while, but it is looking more likely that BP will cease paying the £1.8bn of dividends per quarter that it's been delivering to shareholders - until that is it can quantify the final massive bill for the Gulf of Mexico oil debacle and prove to the White House that it can afford those enormous costs," BBC business editor Robert Peston said.

BBC News - BP board to discuss dividends on Monday

I'm not understanding this move. Won't withholding dividends encourage even more short selling on BP and decrease investor confidence even more?

Unless the goal is to sink BP, I don't understand why this is necessary. BP has plenty of assets to handle this crisis, it just needs the understanding of how exactly to plug the hole.

Somehow I feel this suggestion is being floated around by politicians in a dire attempt to grasp at political straws. "Look! We're doing something! We're punishing BP!"
 
in effect they are actually driving BP to the wall.
Think on folks, if BP goes bust who pays for the clean up?
Who pays compensation (except they will never do that), only one entity after BP that may be capable and that is Obama and his bunch of idiots, so sorry, should have said 'Experts'.
 
in effect they are actually driving BP to the wall.
Think on folks, if BP goes bust who pays for the clean up?
Who pays compensation (except they will never do that), only one entity after BP that may be capable and that is Obama and his bunch of idiots, so sorry, should have said 'Experts'.

Thankyaverymuch!!!

The Libbos's hearts are so filled with hate and vengence, not to mention cover love for The Messiah, that they are willing to drive BP into bankruptcy and leave the rest of us with the bill..

The idiots currently running our government actually want BP to pay their employees that have been laid off, due to the drilling moratorium. How moronic is that? The government puts people out of work, then expects some else to support those unemployed people. How can Libbos sleep at night, going along with this bull****?
 
Thankyaverymuch!!!

The Libbos's hearts are so filled with hate and vengence, not to mention cover love for The Messiah, that they are willing to drive BP into bankruptcy and leave the rest of us with the bill..

The idiots currently running our government actually want BP to pay their employees that have been laid off, due to the drilling moratorium. How moronic is that? The government puts people out of work, then expects some else to support those unemployed people. How can Libbos sleep at night, going along with this bull****?

:lamo

You do good satire, Nice job making fun hard right political ideologues.
 
BP directors will meet on Monday to discuss whether to suspend dividends to shareholders, the BBC has learned.

BBC News - BP board to discuss dividends on Monday

I'm not understanding this move. Won't withholding dividends encourage even more short selling on BP and decrease investor confidence even more?

Unless the goal is to sink BP, I don't understand why this is necessary. BP has plenty of assets to handle this crisis, it just needs the understanding of how exactly to plug the hole.

BP is a large company no doubt, however in terms of liquid assets they do not have the reserve to pay off potential criminal liabilites or even the potential liabilities if they are found to be grossly negligent. It would be a smart move by BP to suspend dividends just to ensure they have as much liquidity as possible.

Already BP will have problems getting credit from this point on, which will be another concern with their capability to pay, of if they can pay, develop new business.

BP will probably survive, but it will be very expensive for them to do so. There are a lot of liabilities that we do not even think about at this point. For example, the government can sue BP (and others) to recover lost tax revenue from their own moratorium. That can potentially reach into the hundreds of millions, plus cost of clean up, plus all the liabilities from gross negligance (which they will probably be found guilty of), plus now this talk of making BP pay workers who are out of a job because of the government moratorium. It will be unknown the exact liabilities until the well is capped, because their potential liability is tied to how much oil has leaked. There is the potential for billions upon billions of dollars in liabilities. BP needs to hold the cash for now in my view.

If I was a shareholder (and had not already dumped) I would be pleased to see them holding this money in an effort to get through this disaster.
 
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Suspension of dividends? I am still waiting for them to admit that they suspended their ethics, not to mention their brains.
 
Suspension of dividends? I am still waiting for them to admit that they suspended their ethics, not to mention their brains.

Their ethics?
 
Suspension of dividends? I am still waiting for them to admit that they suspended their ethics, not to mention their brains.

Why is your libbo heart so filled with hate?
 
:lamo

You do good satire, Nice job making fun hard right political ideologues.

So, your only retort is a personal attack? Really? From a mod?
 
As of today, BP's market cap is still $106 billion (and that's WITH the expected costs already factored in to the stock price). That's plenty to cover the expenses arising from the cleanup, and whatever incidental expenses they're legally required to pay. All of this talk about "poor BP, we need to help them profit so they can pay us back" is pure bull****. There is no question about their ability to pay whatever amount they might conceivably be required to pay. Do you people own stock in BP or something? :roll:
 
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As of today, BP's market cap is still $106 billion. That's plenty to cover the expenses arising from the cleanup, and whatever incidental expenses they're legally required to pay. All of this talk about "poor BP, we need to help them profit so they can pay us back" is pure bull****. Do you people own stock in BP or something?

And, you know all this, how?
 
As of today, BP's market cap is still $106 billion. That's plenty to cover the expenses arising from the cleanup, and whatever incidental expenses they're legally required to pay. All of this talk about "poor BP, we need to help them profit so they can pay us back" is pure bull****. There is no question about their ability to pay whatever amount they might conceivably be required to pay. Do you people own stock in BP or something? :roll:

Their "market cap" is not the same as how much they hold in liquid assets. They need cash on hand and liquid assets to pay these liabilities... their market cap is irrelevent to that fact, unless they are going to start selling other projects they have to cover the cost, which I highly doubt.
 
BP is a large company no doubt, however in terms of liquid assets they do not have the reserve to pay off potential criminal liabilites or even the potential liabilities if they are found to be grossly negligent. It would be a smart move by BP to suspend dividends just to ensure they have as much liquidity as possible.

Already BP will have problems getting credit from this point on, which will be another concern with their capability to pay, of if they can pay, develop new business.

BP will probably survive, but it will be very expensive for them to do so. There are a lot of liabilities that we do not even think about at this point. For example, the government can sue BP (and others) to recover lost tax revenue from their own moratorium. That can potentially reach into the hundreds of millions, plus cost of clean up, plus all the liabilities from gross negligance (which they will probably be found guilty of), plus now this talk of making BP pay workers who are out of a job because of the government moratorium. It will be unknown the exact liabilities until the well is capped, because their potential liability is tied to how much oil has leaked. There is the potential for billions upon billions of dollars in liabilities. BP needs to hold the cash for now in my view.

If I was a shareholder (and had not already dumped) I would be pleased to see them holding this money in an effort to get through this disaster.

The BP decision on whether or not to pay dividends should be a purely business conclusion based on business criteria. Problem is that after some of the clever statements by Obama recently it has/will become a political decision on the part of BP. And the result will be that investors and fund owners are going to potentially suffer as a result....


.
 
And, you know all this, how?

Because the costs that investors ALREADY expect them to incur have been factored into the stock price. So that $106 billion market cap is the amount BP is worth, which they could potentially use to pay ADDITIONAL expenses, above and beyond what's already expected. The highest estimate for the TOTAL cost of the spill that I've seen is $14 billion...and let's not forget that BP's liability from incidental expenses is capped.

Your "poor BP" schtick is completely transparent. Either you work in the oil industry or you own stock in the company. Which is it?
 
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Their "market cap" is not the same as how much they hold in liquid assets. They need cash on hand and liquid assets to pay these liabilities... their market cap is irrelevent to that fact, unless they are going to start selling other projects they have to cover the cost, which I highly doubt.

If they are legally required to pay the costs, they WILL start selling other projects, as they won't have a choice.
 
The BP decision on whether or not to pay dividends should be a purely business conclusion based on business criteria. Problem is that after some of the clever statements by Obama recently it has/will become a political decision on the part of BP. And the result will be that investors and fund owners are going to potentially suffer as a result....
.

Seriously? BP is going to get hammered for years to come because of this. It is purely a business decision. They are going to have huge liability bills coming down the pipe, and they need all the cash on hand they can get.

Which is better? Investors lose a dividend, or BP cannot meet its obligations and sells other money making projects, borrows, or fails in an effort to meet these obligations. All of those are worse for the shareholder than losing some divdends.
 
If they are legally required to pay the costs, they WILL start selling other projects, as they won't have a choice.

Doubt it. They would probably just spin off the US division, or declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
 
Seriously? BP is going to get hammered for years to come because of this. It is purely a business decision. They are going to have huge liability bills coming down the pipe, and they need all the cash on hand they can get.

Which is better? Investors lose a dividend, or BP cannot meet its obligations and sells other money making projects, borrows, or fails in an effort to meet these obligations. All of those are worse for the shareholder than losing some divdends.

Don't know what the BP board is going to decide. But if you don't think that the political implications/ramifications of any decision will be part of the discussion, believe you are being naive.....



.
 
Don't know what the BP board is going to decide. But if you don't think that the political implications/ramifications of any decision will be part of the discussion, believe you are being naive.....

.

I am sure they will think about the political impact, I would hope they are already doing so, but they still need to focus on the issue of available cash, which suspending a dividend would do.

Depending on what they think the overall cost would be, and their cash on hand, that will be ultimate factor. If I was on the board, I would vote to suspend the dividend.
 
Because the costs that investors ALREADY expect them to incur have been factored into the stock price. So that $106 billion market cap is the amount BP is worth, which they could potentially use to pay ADDITIONAL expenses, above and beyond what's already expected. The highest estimate for the TOTAL cost of the spill that I've seen is $14 billion...and let's not forget that BP's liability from incidental expenses is capped.

Your "poor BP" schtick is completely transparent. Either you work in the oil industry or you own stock in the company. Which is it?

I work in the oilfield. How you come up with your, "poor BP", routine is beyond me, unless you can quote me as defending BP. Um, can you?
 
How is this scandalous?

Why would BP be paying out profits to its shareholders when it still has a mess to clean up?
 
How is this scandalous?

Why would BP be paying out profits to its shareholders when it still has a mess to clean up?

Legal obligations, perhaps? I reckon the law comes and goes, as needed. eh?
 
I work in the oilfield.

I ****ing knew it. You don't give a **** about who should be responsible, you just want to personally profit as much as possible. You are completely dishonest for not acknowledging your personal conflict of interest up front.

apdst said:
How you come up with your, "poor BP", routine is beyond me, unless you can quote me as defending BP. Um, can you?

Yep. Here you go:

The Libbos's hearts are so filled with hate and vengence, not to mention cover love for The Messiah, that they are willing to drive BP into bankruptcy and leave the rest of us with the bill.

Translation: "I don't want BP's own incompetence to 'drive them into bankruptcy' because I have a nice job. I'd rather rant against the 'libbos' and 'The Messiah' for hurting poor wittle BP's profits, instead of ranting against BP for hurting the taxpayers."

You're dishonest. I hope that you're the first one laid off as a result of this.
 
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I ****ing knew it. You don't give a **** about who should be responsible, you just want to personally profit as much as possible. You are completely dishonest for not acknowledging your personal conflict of interest up front.

Yeah! **** me in the ass for wanting to pay my bills! I should just go belly up and get on unemployment. Oh, wait, I'm self employed, I don't qualify for unemployment.



Yep. Here you go:



Translation: "I don't want BP's own incompetence to 'drive them into bankruptcy' because I have a nice job. I'd rather rant against the 'libbos' and 'The Messiah' for hurting poor wittle BP's profits, instead of ranting against BP for hurting the taxpayers."

You're dishonest. I hope that you're the first one laid off as a result of this.

Thank you for your compassion. I hope you remember this statement, when your tax dollars are going to pay for the downfall of the United States economy.

So much for the Democrats looking out for the little man. Whatta joke!

BTW, how do you know it was BP's incompetance that caused this blowout? And, why aren't you citing Halliburton as being the culprit anymore? Do you know what happened to cause this blowout? Hmmm?
 
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