Member Info for 1ontheup

As I’ve said many times, I sold everything at 407 and won’t touch the stock until I know the full extent of the cyberattack. That’s been my position and with hindsight I wish I had bought back in the 330’s but hey ho that’s one’s choice and I have to live with it. If I had done though I would certainly be contemplating selling a big portion before the 5th and taking the profit. I still believe in M&S and I will reenter at some stage soon but first I want clarity. They have also announced big investments which have undoubtedly helped the stock but might not help the profits when we see the projections. If I were to listen to anyone for now it woild be Carrington & Fforest as they are invested and are giving genuine opinions. Some others just want to pump the stock

@retirment - you wrote "I won't buy a coffee out that's just me." And that's one of the main problems as I see it in the UK. Not having a go at you but if you take your own example, you've publicly said on here that you are well off and have made serious money investing but you won't spend £4 on a coffee because you don't see the value in it compared to making it at home. There are so many people that just look at the price and say that everything is so much more expensive now, which is true, but it's also true that wages & pensions (private or state) have also increased significantly so many people can really afford it but they won't buy it because "it's so much more expensive now" and just look at the absolute value and not the relative one. Some people might not like this but Brexit has increased prices significantly over the years. Pre Brexit the € to £ was 1.40 to 1.50, now it's barely 1.15 = inflated prices on imports of food and energy. I can get a cappuccino in Italy for €1.30 and the price has hardly changed for years so why is that????????? So Retirment, get out there and buy some coffee and help the economy 😉😂

Share price is all over the place today

Even if this story about MSC doesn't materialise it could be good news for the stock anyway because much of the commentary around it is how much lower the SP is compared to pre-covid and vs its peers. Just this story is linking it to other shipping lines that have done similar is also creating speculation about how EZJ could be a target for others.

Even if it's just speculative, it will get investors thinking about its SP and future possibilities so many will think it worth a punt anyway. GLA DYOR

The MSC news from today brings me back to this thread and post I made on 26/08 16:26:

"So my theory is this: could it be that mgt play the results with negative commentary to try and suppress the SP because there's a potential buyer, or at least interest in acquiring them? I've seen that many of you have followed this stock for a long time so could be in a position to have a view on it."

Most didn't agree or saw little sense in it. Nevertheless everybody knows that when results come out they are generally positive but the SP drops mainly due to the poor commentary or overemphasising negatives that weren't necessary, then beat and rinse and repeat.

I'm still convinced that this was a strategy to suppress the SP whilst others were flying. This was one of the main reasons I bought into it.

I'm not here to try and say I was right, I might still not be, but surely some of you see the correlation?

Some people never learn, even the over 80's. I hope for the others on here that's not the case.

GLA

Percy, "I buy and rarely look at them for years at a time, I just enjoy the dividends." Spot the error also in that one.

Only need to look at the volume of your posts since joining in August to see that's not true. And all the stocks you're commenting on with a strong buy rating such as Boohoo, Liontrust Asset Mgt, Ceres Power & JD have all been absolute dogs over the past year. So if it is true you don't look at them then maybe you should!!😂

Has anyone read anything about EZJ eventually extending their holiday offerings to other markets like Germany, France, or Italy—especially given the success of the UK model?

If they do expand beyond the UK, it could be a game-changer for their market share and valuation. Surely this must be a no-brainer next step?

Could provide further uplift today. GLA

Good catch Carrington 👏

Interesting and balanced article. I could have written it myself 😉

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/down-11-could-marks-spencer-165631466.html

@David7015, I am one of those investors. Got out at 407 after the cyberattack and have a sizeable amount waiting to go back in but as I've been saying ever since on here, I won't go nowhere near it until I have clarity. I have done very well out of M&S and it saddens me to see the SP where it is. If it weren't for the cyberattack we would all have done even better. I am invested in several stocks but if you go back at my previous posts on here you will see they are all pretty much about M&S. I still believe in it which is why I'm still interested, possibly more than the others strangely enough but I'm not getting back in until I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and then I will review the business case for getting back in again.

There are so many more downside risks to this than upside ATM. BiggestMoron just pointed out another and 4% of its revenues is about £550 million!!! Add all this to the big investments they have announced and making plus bond yields and the future budget and negative commentary that will surely play put up to that etc...

There might be some short terms upside from here but only the short term traders will benefit from that. It will be volatile until everything is clear.

People saying the SP is as cheap as chips are gambling on positive updates so investors have to weigh up whether the case going forward is more on the upside or downside. Which side of the fence are you on?

M&S needs to come out and give a final figure on the cyberattack damage now that everything is back online. They have had pretty much all of August to do this. Until then the 'other bad news' will pressure the stock more than their peers (look at today) and it's not fair for you LTH's or traders!!!!

Not sure if JDS15 is still on here but it would be great to get his opinion as he was pretty spot on when we were discussing their comms around the "turnaround".

@Hammer in the absence of specific news about M&S I think you might be right as it's certainly plausible. I mentioned yesterday that whilst the investments they recently announced are positive and probably necessary, short termism has likely come into effect today and investors are assessing this spike with these investments and the debt financing impact on future margins.

Thank you Fender 😉and it’s my gut feeling too about those losses. Another thing that is bugging me/holding me back is how the market will take all this investment. For sure M&S is growing and evolving for the better so it’s necessary, also for margin growth, but when? I see this also as a short/medium term SP risk on top of the cyber hit. Retail is a challenge at the best of times but if you get the investment timing wrong or push faster than demand/market then it could prove to be a drag on the SP.

@fender, I wrote 2 weeks ago that it would finish the week below 350 and Retirement reminded me of it on the Friday when it was above 350 and said "fail". I said yes I got it wrong so I said it would be the end of last week instead, which is why I wrote 1-1 jokingly.

@Retirment, I'm far from negative. I just give my perspective. I know people only want to read the positive but there's always room for balance as long as it's constructive (the best traders see both sides and draw a conclusion). As I've wrote many times, I sold all mine at 407 and I'm waiting to get back in but my gut feeling is that there will be a bad news moment and I will be buying exactly on that. If I'm wrong then so be it, I haven't lost anything.

I have a cap on how much money I invest. Last year I made 20% net profit. Yes, net profit (actually sold and realised not what it says on the screen when they're still invested - big difference!). At the moment I have 60% of this pot invested and so far this year I've realised 14% net profit. I'm happy to go in and out with the 40% for now (my pot always fluctuates because I trade the most part of it).

Anyway, good luck and keep smiling 😉. GLA, DYOR and don't believe everything you read on here!

And my prediction for the end of next week is below 340, yours?

@retirement 1-1 :-p

Good luck Fender, I’m still waiting and likely to sit it out throughout September. My previous M&S investment with find it’s way back in there but not just yet. Not just for the obvious reasons but also due to September being a risky month. I asked to ChatGpt & Copilot what they thought and they came up with the same conclusion on September. Below is ChatGpt:

September and Retail Stocks

• The “September Effect” applies strongly to UK equities, including retail names.

• Over decades of data, the FTSE 100 averages a ~0.9% decline in September. Consumer/retail stocks — being cyclical and sentiment-driven — tend to underperform even more sharply.

• This is partly psychological (investors returning from summer, repositioning portfolios), and partly structural (fund managers harvesting tax losses or trimming cyclical names).

⸻

🛍️ UK Retail Stocks Specifically

• Retail sector stocks (Next, M&S, JD Sports, supermarkets, etc.) often lag in September because:

• It’s the pre-Christmas lull: back-to-school spend is already reflected in prices, while Christmas trading updates aren’t yet in play.

• Investor focus shifts to cost pressures (rents, wages, energy bills) instead of top-line growth.

• Broader market weakness in September tends to hit discretionary retail harder than defensive names like food retail.

• Historical data (FTSE Retail Index & individual shares):

• September ranks among the weakest months for discretionary retail (fashion, apparel).

• Supermarkets (Tesco, Sainsbury’s) are less volatile, but still show seasonal dips

The only news I can find today is O'Leary saying that Boeing will start delivering his planes earlier than planned - surely that should be good news!!!!