A price is still a price

Prices are information.

But for now Philips-Davies is concentrating on seeing off Elliott with a comprehensive rebuttal of its demands, claiming that a standalone renewables arm would suffer devastatingly higher borrowing costs.

This is with reference to SSE. The renewables arm and the distribution, the current strategy is to use the profits from the one to fund the other, it being possible to do this at less than market rates by cross-funding internally.

We have no view at all on the company, the raider or even the strategy. What we do want to insist upon though is that a market price is indeed a market price.

Whether or not the renewables are cross funded internally, or externally from the more general market, that price is the same. If it’s done at arms’ length then that price is obvious in the cashflow to financiers. If it’s done internally then it’s not obvious but still exists - in the cash not flowing to the corporate owners, the shareholders.

The price of funding those renewables is whatever it is. Moving around who pays it doesn’t change that in the slightest.

For prices really are information concerning what it costs to do something.