OK – so they providers of capital (in this case largely the French state/taxpayers) invest in EDF at a cost of around 10%.

On this they currently receive a return of around 6% – 4 percentage points lower.

Cost 10%, return 6%. Now that is simple. Please tell me how this represents UK electricity consumers subsidising the French?

Again there is a difference between profits and profitability even if it is considered patronising to point this out. But the bottom line is that, in effect, EDF shareholders are subsiding the consumers not the other way around. Yes, there is a profit at the end of the year. Yes, this largely goes to French state (but look at annual report and see how/why equity capital (the bit they own) shrunk last year), but when seen in relation to providing this capital in the first place, they are making a negative return. Perhaps this explains why their share price performance has been so poor.

So to end my contribution to this thread, “merci mes amis francais, vous etes tres gentils” (apologies for any grammatical errors)

I am pretty sure ernie knows he is doing it

Of course – par for the course! Like him, I (normally) find it funny!

molgrips – Member

He’s far more restrained than many on here, and you and ernie are two of the worst in terms of arguing style.

I haven’t even argued – as far as I’m aware I haven’t contradicted anything teamhurtmore has said.

A couple of pages back he appears to have taken exception to my comment that every time I turn a light switch on a few pennies go into the French government’s coffers.

After a bit of toing and froing over the next page or two, in which he explains how unimpressed he is with EDF’s UK profits (why would I argue with that ?) it concludes with him not offering any evidence to suggest the contrary.

He’s far more restrained than many on here, and you and ernie are two of the worst in terms of arguing style.

I am not claiming otherwise though I have largely tried to stop and dont think i have done anything on this thread tbh.

I am not going i am not condensing/patronising and then giving those replies.

Anyone enough navel gazing for me and I shall give THM the benefit of the doubt

Kindest regards with the difficult situation

Given my age and looking at the age of my parents and all my close friends the next decade is going to be a tough and shit one for us all. Few going through it now ..not good times at all.

[Cheers again JY – its is a truly shitty time of life, that it is difficult to prepare for. Decisions (eg, when to stop care, home/hospital etc seem easy until you have to make them) and British stiff-upper lip doesn’t always help. 😉 Having a release valve with a bit of STW banter does though!]

Had the chat with my Mum about all this

I get her living with me till she goes mad or is too much like hard work- I told her she would only get a weekend with those rules 😉

I always thought knowing what she wanted would hep but , given what you say I suspect it wont.

Not much I can say to help but you have my sympathy

My folks are active and fit for the most part, but I know this stuff is coming. You have my sympathies

After reading the above posts, would I be correct in saying that it isn’t the profits that are poor, it’s the investment at 10% that has been poor. If this is the case, then is the share price subdued by the poor decisions made by the management of EDF and not by the £1.7 billion profit? How does that profit compare with other energy companies?

Cheers mol, anyway enough of such morbid talk, I don’t want to hijack the thread any more (despite the appropriate title in my case!) and have already said au revoir (and merci) to this topic once!

After reading the above posts, would I be correct in saying that it isn’t the profits that are poor, it’s the investment at 10% that has been poor.

I think investment in this sector(apart from windfarms and the like) has been poor, indecision over whether to build the next generation of power stations hasn’t helped.

On the profit side, those who own the energy companies have been milking it for a long time.

So this thread has gone from the Welsh valleys to EDF’s profit margins, and probably didn’t even take seven degrees of separation or anyone knowing Kevin Bacon.

enough navel gazing for me ………

It’s sad that this thread effectively got derailed by a completely pointless discussion about EDF. Especially as I’m none the wiser concerning who’s disagreeing with what. I really need to be more selective about whether I bother to respond in the future, even if a comment is directed at me.

.

its is a truly shitty time of life, that it is difficult to prepare for. Decisions (eg, when to stop care, home/hospital etc seem easy until you have to make them)

It’s just crap. Life can be an experience of incredible lows as well as incredible highs. Old age, failing health, and the inevitable end, are all unfortunately the price which has to be paid for the gift of life. But it’s hard, very hard. Young children remind us of the positive part of the deal during difficult times like this.