Today the Government published details of its sell off plans. Gordon Brown's "car boot" sale includes: the Tote, the Dartford Crossing, URENCO (Uranium Enrichment), High Speed 1, British Waterways and much more.
And further assets are now earmarked - including the Port of Dover and BBC Worldwide. Selling off the Port of Dover will come as a great surprise to the people of Dover, as a solemn pledge was given by Labour at the last election that they would not do this. Indeed, it became the touchstone pledge of their campaign in the Dover & Deal constituency. BBC Worldwide is an interesting case - especially as the way the Government are looking at it, a multiple of £102m (£2 Billion on a PE of 15) could be achieved, whereas it could potentially be worth closer to a multiple of £500m with appropriate reorganisation (£7.5 Billion on a PE of 15). Either way, it's noteworthy that the BBC doesn't now seem to be a sacred cow for the Government.
In principle there's nothing wrong with selling off excess assets. Yet it's unwise to sell assets too hastily in weak market conditions. So it is to be hoped that we won't see a firesale at the bottom of the market, as we did with Brown's Gold sale. The student loan book, which is less sensitive to current market conditions, could be a better more immediate candidate. And special caution must be taken with the security of our nation and her borders. For this reason, the sale of Urenco and the Port of Dover should be viewed with grave concern.
