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NBC have picked up this (didn't see this before posting)

OpenAI announces it is shutting down video platform Sora

NBC News

11.9M subscribers

https://youtu.be/MIISc5gNRto

Still a way to go for results but not expecting much change for Q1 2026, there has been some marginal improvement in FX EUR/JPY/USD but this maybe more than offset by higher whey prices which have sky rocketed last few days..

That said, i think top line growth will be okay..

https://www.barchart.com/futures/quotes/DG*0/futures-prices

Look at how quickly these 'deals' unwind..

Disney had a full one page piece of this at the time, so did OpenAi..we are only in March, Dec this was announced.

'In December, Disney announced it would invest $1 billion in OpenAI and allow users to make videos with its copyrighted characters on Sora. However, the transaction never closed.'

The whole backdrop in which S4 operates is changing, Ai is more and more being seen as a tool to assist rather than replace existing companies, its limitations are becoming well defined.

Open Ai's complete U turn on Sora marks a significant shift, the amount of hype surrounding this app was staggering even though Open Ai used a traditional media company to produce their own launch ad instead of Sora.

That's not to say stand-alone one stop shops wont flourish, FB and so on with their large behemoth platforms but for serious ad production of quality traditional agencies will still play an important roll imo..

AI Age

OpenAI shutters short-form video app Sora as company reels in costs

Published Tue, Mar 24 20264:49 PM EDTUpdated Tue, Mar 24 20266:06 PM EDT

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/24/openai-shutters-short-form-video-app-sora-as-company-reels-in-costs.html

Pharma giant Merck is buying U.S. biotech firm Terns Pharmaceuticals for $6.7 billion, the company said Wednesday.

This is the third multibillion-dollar acquisition for Merck over the past year as the company looks to bulk up its portfolio ahead of its best-selling cancer drug Keytruda losing patent protection in 2028.

Merck will acquire Terns for $53 per share in cash for an equity value of about $6.7 billion. That marks a 6% premium to Tuesday’s closing price, according to CNBC’s calculations. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/25/merck-buy-terns-pharmaceuticals-mrk-stock-boost-cancer-pipeline.html

Excellent point, draws a line in the sand valuation wise..good comparable too.

Very pleased, just a case of holding and waiting it out made all the much easier with chunky dividend.

¤ Our targeted net debt range for 2026 is £60 million to £90 million. We now aim for leverage over the medium term to be under 1.0 times net debt to operational EBITDA, which is below our previous target range. Net finance costs are expected to reduce from £25.7 million in 2025 to circa £20 - 22 million in 2026. As a measure of confidence in the future the Board is proposing to pay a dividend of 1.1p per share, a 10% increase compared to the prior year.

¤ The Company's capital allocation policy is to prioritise dividends (currently 1.1p final dividend), then further debt repurchases and finally share repurchases as net debt falls further.

¤ Over the longer term we continue to expect our growth to outperform our markets and operational EBITDA margins to return to historic levels of around 20%.

Likewise, if you want to believe in fantasy posts, then that's entirely up to you 👍

Yes, the TU although good left a few questions, but net debt under $100m is certainly welcome..interested to see if there was any contribution from S4 Ventures by way of disposals.

Mentioned again in Third Ave news letter as a detractor, oh hum..

Sales by major holders are well documented, Chrysalis, Blackrock and so on, add in continued selling by trackers with little to no buying and it becomes very plausible indeed.

Surely its better to rely on known facts than just make something up, that doesn't help anyone least of all small investors.

It only exists on this forum though, there is no proof of any hedge fund involvement ?

However there is daily proof of trackers/etfs purchasing/selling stock which is almost universally rejected in favour of some fantasy explanation.

Name one hedge fund (not off short trackers as too small)

'Perversely enough the hedge funds are playing right into his hands as they have given him the opportunity to buy more shares on the cheap.'

APN are starting to go into CAPEX mode with a new factory, you know what that means ..

Free cash flow dropped, would need to dig a bit deeper as to why.

Commentary throughout the results puts me off looking any further, far too much talking up their own numbers...

Think it was last March that Third Ave published their newsletter commenting on the possibility of LLM's becoming commoditized.

'Huang was validating what the rest of the market has been witnessing. An independent developer, rather than a giant, richly valued lab like OpenAI or Anthropic, came up with the next big thing in AI and, in doing so, exposed a potential major flaw in the investment thesis behind the large language models: They may be getting commoditized.'

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/21/openclaw-chatgpt-moment-sparks-concern-ai-models-becoming-commodities.html

This was one of the tools sighted as being a threat to online businesses, now being rolled back in favour of apps that are controlled by the web site owners.

'OpenAI recently confirmed it’s ending Instant Checkout, a tool that let users check out directly in ChatGPT, in favor of working with retailers to create dedicated apps in its chatbot.'

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/20/open-ai-agentic-shopping-etsy-shopify-walmart-amazon.html

AstraZeneca said it would establish drug manufacturing facilities in Guangzhou and Shanghai as well as a separate innovation centre in Shanghai, joining a group of foreign players building new plants in China amid geopolitical tensions.

The moves are part of a US$15 billion commitment the British firm pledged to make in the world’s second-largest drug market through 2030, unveiled during UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s visit to Beijing in January.

https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3347266/global-drug-giants-double-down-china-amid-trend-build-self-reliant-supply-chains?

..doh!

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/21/glp-1-diets-restaurants-protein-fiber-weight-loss-drugs.html

Good overview of the current market, there's no doubt at all MyProtein are in the midst of a huge growth sector,.

I think the 'land grab' strategy is a good one on this climate of exponential growth, can always up the pricing when peak momentum achieved, 2027 (mid) should see several new protein plants coming online which should help too..

Its an interesting question, but some stocks are weaker than others for sure.

S4 spiked through 30p losing a third of its value since with good results, debt down and so on and a 1p dividend confirmed.

With S4 you have Sir Martin Sorrell, a well liked and respected individual who is much admired and constantly in the media - hasn't made a sausage of difference to the share price though, this dispels any notation that the city dislike Matt imo.

There is no doubt trackers/etfs are now running the show but investors have yet to catch on, we have daily updates from iShares which although lagging by a day are a good indication of whats happening.

Maybe investors are using phones to monitor whats going on, if so your unlikely to be keeping a detailed log of whats going on elsewhere.

IShares CD dropped to 8.96%

Short tracker only shows one side of the trade, no long positions are disclosed or options trades - big difference between being 'net' short and hedged.