Member Info for AllAtSea

What do you know about GNK that made you pick it as a stock?

Are you trying to balance a portfolio? If so what are your other stocks exposed to?

If GNK has failed to rise despite good news then it doesn't sound like a good bet maybe because it's tied to the UK economy facing brexit uncertainty. ALthough Av. is 50% in the UK market it does operate overseas and has the ability to diversify. That's just my take, others are possible.

"Buying opportunity at Ashtead, says Numis
Fears of a slowdown in US long-term project spending are overdone and creating a buying opportunity at equipment rental company Ashtead (AHT), says Numis.

Analyst Steve Woolf reiterated his ‘buy’ recommendation and target price of £28 on the shares, which rose 6.5p to £19.66 yesterday.

‘The broader trading environment remains supportive, and we expect Ashtead to continue to demonstrate further market share gains,’ he said.

‘We believe concerns of a rapid decline in its US end-markets are overdone. Trading at a significant discount to historic earnings valuations, the shares present a buying opportunity.’"

ET have you tried getting onto LSE's beta test version?

..expectations?

..I don't see how it is possible to view this stock as a buying opportunity at this point. It's impossible to understand the risks, given the heads up by the Woodford debacle.

How do we know that his misjudgement is an isolated matter? We don't, in my view. There are times when stocks are worth taking a risk on but I would suggest this isn't one of them. HL is a damaged brand.

Some big guns feel they have been spiked by Woodford.

A pretty large carpet will be needed to brush this under.

The snag is that legally Woodford looks pretty clean and little can be done.

Other than blame the EU obviously.

"The Bank of England is alert to the possibility of wider contagion and systemic issues and has a watching brief on the matter, according to a person familiar with the situation."

I guess it's not a Northern Rock situation but you can never be sure.

That has to be a good sign.

In theory maybe but in practice that's not how capitalism works.

And why only 10p? Gotta be worth more, Shirley?

"The poor performance of the Woodford was clear for some time clearly shown on the hl site.."

Whilst it remained on the HL 'best buy' list and senior figures in HL got out from under.

Hmmm..

Was also interested to read that Av. took a slice of St James Place last month at what is said to be a discount.

Also that St James Place took their £3.5bn away from Woodford on Wednesday.

..to read that HLs Dampier and Guardhouse sold out of Woodford at the top. Ditto Lansdown who co-founded HL

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-7113229/amp/High-flyers-cashed-weeks-Woodford-crisis-sent-stock-tumbling.html

Woodford's fund remained on their best-buy list. Now the issue is being watched by the FCA and BoE.

The old adage "if it looks too good to be true.."? And beware of the celebrity fund manager?

If you think Aviva is bad, was interested to read this morning that Hargreaves and Lansdown withdrew their money from Woodfords fund whilst at the same H&L kept the failing fund on their best buy list. They sold pretty near the top then watched the value plummet. Woodford has stopped his customers making withdrawals and at the same time is earning £100k per day from management fees. Hargreaves Lansdown shares have lost 16%.

The FCA and BoE are keeping a beady eye on the affair.

Keep it under the mattress?

I am entirely selfish and I can't help feeling I should get a few more in at this price.

How long can Trump go on bashing China anyway?

" Aviva intends to reduce expenses by £300 million per annum by 2022, net of inflation, at constant currency. Cost savings will be achieved through lower central costs, savings in contractor and consultant spend, reduction in project expenditure and other efficiencies. This will involve approximately 1,800 role reductions across the group over the next three years, out of a total workforce of around 30,000. Aviva will look to ensure that redundancies are kept to a minimum wherever possible, for example through natural turnover. Aviva has engaged with Unite and our employee representative bodies and will continue to consult on specific proposals.

· Aviva reiterates its commitment to a progressive dividend policy and debt reduction of at least £1.5 billion."

Pretty much when Boyer joined this show it occurred to me that SEE might be a target for absorption by TTG under his guidance.

It's odd that TTG shares took a dive lately after a strong performance. Might be coincidence of course, or it might not.

Luckily I took a third of my shares out of TTG at a good profit and shoved the proceeds under the mattress. No chance of that with SEE so I shall hang on grimly to see what the future holds.

That's one answer to my question.

Hope it is the right answer.

Reportedly he wants to cut costs:

"Mr Tulloch is also likely to announce a push to make Aviva more efficient. The company’s costs have been rising in recent years and the new chief executive told last week’s annual meeting that “our cost to income ratio is higher than it ought to be.”

In a note to clients last week, Citi analyst James Shuck said: “Central costs have grown in recent years and now represent 10 per cent of group operating earnings.. ?high in a sector context.”

Cutting £200m out of these costs would, said Mr Shuck, add 5 per cent to Aviva’s earnings per share."

It begs the question as to why costs have been allowed to rise when they should have been falling.

Have you seen what's happening to share prices today?

It's not pretty and in all likelihood due to one man and his social media usage. Now that's what I call de-ramping.

.. as part of shake-up.

"Observers said one option was to split the UK business — Aviva’s largest operation — into two parts. One would contain the life insurance division, the other would be non-life insurance, such as home and car cover.
..
The move to break up the group would reverse Aviva’s 2017 decision to merge its two main businesses.

..
Mr Tulloch is also likely to announce a push to make Aviva more efficient. The company’s costs have been rising in recent years and the new chief executive told last week’s annual meeting that “our cost to income ratio is higher than it ought to be.
Citi analyst James Shuck said: “Central costs have grown in recent years and now represent 10 per cent of group operating earnings?.?.?.?high in a sector context.

Cutting £200m out of these costs would, said Mr Shuck, add 5 per cent to Aviva’s earnings per share.

”

https://www.ft.com/content/986f1a4e-7e3a-11e9-81d2-f785092ab560

Separating business units would make acquisitions and disposals feasible too.

If you do a little research then you will discover that the funds managed by SLA for Lloyds were £100bn i.e. a considerably larger sum than £2.3bn. It is also reported that Lloyds acted illegally.

Other factors of interest also apply leading me to think the situations don't bear much comparison.