for sale, page-27

G'day,

Heard a bit of muttering and growling coming from Diesels' kennel last night so I snuck up to have a listen and it seems he was musing further on some of his favorite TLS conspiracy theories.

From what I gathered, he is still pondering the possibility of the Government doing all it can to drive the price of TLS up over a period of a couple of years so that T3 becomes attractive (to both sides of the transaction). It seems that, on balance, he agrees with me in that a forthcoming bull market will help but he reckons the best way to push the price of TLS up is the obvious one - increase the dividend. The problem is, of course, that to be seen to increasing the dividend to shareholders while not improving services (or at least improving the perceptions) would be politically undigestible. So, to increase the dividend means raising some more money - he is wondering if they may sell off some non-core parts of TLS (even at a loss) to raise some cash to enable increased dividends. Do they still own a chunk of Sausage (Diesel licked his lips at this juncture)? Could they sell off some of the overseas non-performing assets?

This morning, Diesel woke me with another question that I am unable to answer. He says he saw on TV on the weekend that the savings in interest on the Government debt that would be paid off is LESS than the dividend currently being received. As he says, he is only a dog so he is entitled to be confused at times.