MINTER COURT

Just cleaning out old files while wife has a shower....look what turned up.

Retail boom over - Fidelity manager
Glen Pratt favours telecoms and dotcoms to retailers By Steve Johnson FT Investor, 15:59 BST Aug 12, 2002

LONDON (FT Investor) - Fidelity fund manager Glen Pratt is steering clear of stocks reliant on UK consumer spending, amid fears the spending boom is running out of steam. But he has bought into bombed-out telecoms stocks and the survivors of the dotcom carnage.

Opportunity knocks for Thus

Alternative telecoms carrier Thus is another favourite. Thus shares have fallen more than 98 per cent from their 820p peak, recorded in March 2000, but the ill winds that have swept the sector since could now come to Thus' aid, Mr Pratt believes. "It is a fixed-line operator that competes with BT [BTA, News, Chart, Research], Energis [EGS, News, Chart, Research], Worldcom and Global Crossing [GBLXQ, News, Chart, Research], and I think the industry's dynamics have changed in their favour. "Energis is in the hands of the banks, no one wants to buy the UK assets of Global Crossing and we all know what has happened to WorldCom. "They have been competing for business on price. Either assets will now go out of the business completely or they will be run for cash, raising prices." He concludes: "Thus is fully funded. It will be free cashflow positive in about 15 months and won't have to raise any more money to do that. It will make £30-40m profit in about three or four years time, but it has a £130m market cap."