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US macro is going to be more favourable next year starting with plans to give the current Fed chair the old heave ho, new bloke can't wait to drop rates which maybe the market knows and is heading for, cheap cash once again.

Americans need something as their car payment are huge.

Watched a CNBC video yesterday on the demise of Teslas cybertruck with the upshot being Ford and GM EV pickups now surpassing by some margin, I think Tesla sold just 6k last quarter or something around that number.

Only throwing it out there as like many things it was all da thing ..until well..err it wasn't

Sticker price is much cheaper too..

https://www.wilsonchevyok.com/searchnew.aspx?ModelAndTrim=Silverado%20EV

Lower interest rates across the pond should help loosen purse strings, never had a Fed Chair respond directly to the president, should be interesting.

Yup, there's 3/4 of these indexes possibly more all linked in some way or other, just as impressive is the MSCI China Health Care Index (HKD) which has now caught up the base line MSCI China index.

https://www.msci.com/documents/10199/53d45d8e-28a9-4a1f-8f91-c9dfddaf10bc

Although it looks like a big move its hardly moved in comparison to historical trends.

I think thats splitting hairs, its a non event either way.

What would be good is if it brought out a proper bid to the table, things are starting to settle down with rates coming back slowly.

Storm in a tea cup, props will use any excuse to shake a few out with a timely drop.

Don't forget it was S4 that was proposing to buy MSQ, not the other way around.

As a beer I always thought Bud tasted like acorns, but in the US a few years ago it was everywhere, every bar had it on tap or Miller draft.

Its just companies trying to impose their views on the consumer rather than making something they want, completely out of touch which has cost them everything, literally.

Imagine how much was spent on advertising over the years accumulatively to put Bud were it is (or was), starting to waffle now back to S4

Looks like props throwing everything at it, we wait ..

Its gonna be great, mixing together two controversial ideas/themes ..lets see what happens, what can possibly go wrong..

Jaguar is the other one to take a chop following its disastrous Pink Jaguar pitch in Miami, CEO gone..

Classic case of consumers voting with their dollars, fed up with being dictated to by large companies..

Chickens coming home to roost..

'CoreWeave’s stock sank 20% after the renter of artificial intelligence data centers reported a bigger-than-expected loss'

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/13/coreweave-stock-loss-lockup.html

Here's a great example of creativity first mentioned by Poker, this is not something Ai will ever create or even come close to, the epic story of jeans or should I say genes ..

This clever campaign has taken on a life of its own propelling a pretty hum drum jeans brand American Eagle off the charts, Sidney Sweeney is now being head hunted to save the ailing Budweiser brand, that is truly sensational ..

This is what advertising is all about, there is no way in a million years any computer based on '0's and '1's is going to emulate that.

Its about life experiences, not about cutting corners ..

Quality post Go, but you may have to change your handle soon ..

I've done my bit on the buying front, cant add another line to my spreadsheet..I dare not look lol

I think thats a very good summary Jatw, my valuation was also based on current revenue which conservatively puts HCM at break-even for the full year, if however things improve moderately then obviously profitable, a lot does depend on cost of sales, R & D..

Very undervalued by any metric imo.

Amazing the biotech index is currently up 4.29% with the rabbit as a constituent

https://www.hsi.com.hk/eng/indexes/all-indexes/hshkbio

Ditto, but I think we are not alone with the price being held where it is to complete an order of size, just a guess of course but lets see what pops up on Fintel (eventually)..

So basically scale is what one/both would be after should they get together in some form or other, we're not the only ones to think S4 is on the cheap side..

---------------------------------

It also lacks the muscle of S4, which counts almost three times as many employees. “They would benefit from scale,” said Michael Seidler, founder and CEO of Madison Alley, an M&A consultancy that has advised on deals involving both S4 and MSQ in the past.

This deal could be a canny way for MSQ to attain that scale; given S4’s recent share price , Seidler noted, the company “is arguably highly undervalued.”

Some background info, looks to be well run operation having made a come back from debt, under performance.

-----------------------------

Back in 2011, the firm was $28 million in debt and had ceased trading on the London AIM stock market after negotiations for emergency funds from Lloyds fell through. That year, chief executive Peter Reid and chairman Roger Parry led a management buyout of the business, then branded Media Square.

Fast forward to the end of the decade, and the company was one of the first agency groups to be picked up by private equity money in a 2019 deal with LDC that valued it at $50.3 million.

MSQ came out of the pandemic a transformed business, acquiring agencies like MMT, Freemaven, MBA, Brave Spark, Elmwood, Be Heard and Agenda21 while gunning for the kinds of mid-sized clients left out of the sunshine by holding company leviathans. The strategy worked. By 2021, it boasted revenues of $132 million and had secured a foothold in the United States.

In 2023, U.S.-based One Equity Partners — formerly the merchant banking arm of JPMorgan Chase — took a controlling stake in the group valued at $228.2 million (LDC retained its minority stake). The deal gave MSQ a brief to expand further across the pond and build what CEO Reid described as “a next-generation, international marketing group that’s fit for the digital age.”

https://digiday.com/media-buying/with-s4-approach-londons-msq-partners-emerges-as-dark-horse-in-the-agency-race/

Yup, agreed, hopefully they can redeem themselves in H2.

I would guess the hedgies used it as a 'get out of hail' card, noticed the stock on loan dropping back last couple of updates.

If they can maintain the drop in admin , R & D costs combined with even a small uptick in revenue it still leaves them profitable, and thats without the bumper cash pile which could used to enhance earnings further, still looks very cheap with almost two thirds of market cap in cash.

Would you have criticised THG in its early days starting out trying to gain traction, maybe but you have the strategy spelled out in black and white, no guessing.

· This opportunistic pricing approach is in line with prior discussions with shareholders and will underpin market share growth and operating leverage for the full financial year 2026.

The people that matter voted for matt along with this strategy..

Something else to consider from an acquires point of view is the free float, depending on how you tot up the firm holders its sits around the £50-60m mark which is tiny, and very fragmented being mostly trackers/ETF's.

Its very hard to get a foot hold without convincing the core holders what is being proposed is indeed a good idea, this is not dissimilar to THG (cue GoCPI :)

Myprotein has the brand, this will undoubtedly squeeze out a lot of smaller competitors over time who don't have the economies of scale, or resources to go the extra mile.

Lots of companies entering the market, better imo to have a smaller percentage of a growing and bigger pie than v versa.

Maybe some of the thin margins on whey based can be evened out with clothing, up 30% at last full count..

I don't know in this particular case, but often or not these things are leaked into the market in order to get shareholder responses, for example if the board are on the receiving end of bid interest but are these are being rejected out of hand then potential suitors may choose another route.

Mark K reported on THG which turned out to be largely correct.

In my opinion we are at the bottom of the market. SMS is arguably one of the most seasoned CEO's out there in terms of M & A, I can't see him selling outright but a possible merger yes, if it brings unparalleled synergies, or as with today a possible acquisition.

The key giveaway for some time has been the absence of director purchases when there were plenty much higher up and recently at 40 +

Patience is key while orders get completed, can take a while on small caps without large single fund sellers..

This is right up Third Ave funds modus operandi having had several business acquired already.

It wouldn't surprise me at all given their track record with S4 they are increasing again, only time will tell of course and by the time we get to see SEC notifications all of this fuss will be long forgotten.

Reading their quarterly fact sheets they are deep value investors and do not flinch from a falling or low share price, quite the opposite.

Got to be in it to win it..and all that.

It wouldn't surprise me if they announce an acquisition, my thoughts are they already have on lined up hence sitting on cash, its also alluded to in the presentation.

Perhaps spending to complement the new ATTC platform with other combination products, listening to Dr Su there is a palpable change almost upbeat when he is talking about the potential.

Jatw, mentioned your impression was to close down asap the call, but in fact in ran over with questions remaining.