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Todays filing suggests buyback may have ended as been 70k shares like clockwork then just 9k yesterday.

I sold a chunk at 210p I bought recently at 190-195 but still have a long term holding. Reckon we might drift between 190-220 until full year results, unless we see big news come.

Haha well I look silly, it started back up as I wrote it seems :D

For those, perhasp yourself, who know this company far better than I. What key mistakes or missteps has the CEO made? I assume broadly the shift and the M&A are seen as good for long term investors? Is the synergies taking longer? Not showing up at all compare to what you thought?

On initial glance the buyback looked a mistake, but I see it was tied to the business sale so less of a discretionary buyback and just a automatic return to share holders.

I havent invested in T&L before, but they are on my radar as it has go to an interesting price. 5.5% divided which management seems to have said won't be cut, still well covered by cashflow.

Downside from here is only if cashflow declines, as even if flat (which would be a failure after M&A) or slightly up then that means dividend well supported and can reduce debt. If they can get FCF to 180-200m next couple of years then that means debt is down to their buyback leverage within 2 years too.

What am I missing from a price of 365p here?

I am pretty sure based on share count and rough price purchased that their current tranche of buyback hasn't finished, I assumed maybe took a break over Christmas and new year but would have seen a RNS this morning if started again on Friday 2nd. Also in a previous year (think 2 Christmases ago) we were buying back in between new year and Christmas.

So is this a negative signal on cashflow wise of the festive period? Or just while the new CEO bed's in an assess? it only had about £5-6m to run but just curious.

Good list of companies she has worked for, Unilever, Tesco, Pepsico, Diageo, PZ Cussons, and Nomad Foods.

Only question is seems most relevant for the retail side, more than the Vets side but as that is where we are struggling it makes sense. Those companies are much bigger than Pets and hopefully can help bring efficiency and change.

Hi All,

Aware the drop today is on ex dividend, but as a price alert popped I thought I havent looked at Phoenix for a while, anyone here or link to article get me up to speed on current good or bad news recently and any significant events coming up business wise.

Context is I am trying to trim down a list of high dividend UK stocks (think Polar Capital, Legal and General etc, so insurers and asset manager mostly) and Phoenix is one I am less knowledgeable on. Thanks in advance.

"We will invest c£3m in a new, capital-light insurance proposition which will leverage our best-in-class consumer data, large customer base and leading brand."

Many will just focus on PBT and profit warnings. But they have 8.1m members, new digital platform and insurance is a VERY effective way to make money especially when you have a large Vet footprint...

Take in the premiums each month, hold it in interest bearing places and as long as you have written them effectively you will make money from others money. Not easy, not simple, but done right and at right moderate pace it can be VERY accretive.

None of that should be a suprise though? its been down at 7000p ish due to these, as the trading statement(s) pre announced this rev decline.

Key things I noticed was cash conversions up to 122%, my figures has assumed a 90-100% (rebounding after low conversions 1H24) so cash flow came in a touch higher than I expected which was nice.

Also the coring expedition/revenue will be interesting, so we should be back to growth in the top line this year unless other segments do very badly.

I may have missed some key other parts as I am new shareholder just this week prior to earnings at 7000p, after following for a few years but it beeing a bit high for me

Well I dont believe they can buy 30 days prior to results. So since mid Feb not been able to buy, however end jan and feb it was similar levels to now, we did see one director buy. But yes we didnt see those who sold at £10-11 buyback lower.

They probably impost some restrictions prior to trading update internally too, so likely only been a small window for people to buy this year.

Once earnings drop they can buy again I believe. So question is, for us, to buy prior or post earnings.

Bid rumours due to this company opened yesterday it seems... director being part of team who took Petsmart over in the US.:

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/16271741

Buyout incoming?

Broadly speaking it would be good for PSH holders I believe, we will get a modest reduction in fees on the HHH holding (as under current deal they would get fees from HHH), and if successful the HHH value would be a lot higher in time, leading to higher NAV for PSH.

But it is a long game, not a short term one I believe in terms of benefit to PSH.

I would say a 3.5-4% yield on a company like Unilever is good, they also buyback another couple of % in shares on average.

The key element short/med term is Ice cream spin off, means higher margin and higher growth remaining segments. I would have preferred a PE buyout of the ice cream so we got an injection of say £10-15bn in which to reinvest, buyback etc.

Lets hope the spin off is successful and the remaining company pushes on.

Yes, 10-20% if an 'ok' so slightly dtremental to PETS CMA result, if seen as neutral or no impact then much more. Assuming no profit warnings prior to FY24 result sin May then 300p is on at some point this year I would think.

At risk of getting insulted, what would you profit had been if you hadnt shorted at 200p and 211p again? As those I did say were obviously times to go loong or not short. Your short down from mid high 200ps would have done well.

Whereas 18% with that much risk is barely better than us who went more long at 195-200p to now? As I say just genuinely curious as I rarely see the risk/reward in shorting companies, but especially when this was a single digit P/E and FCF multiple it seemed very odd.

Yep I meant new buybacks, that £85m is referring to around £60m for dividend (~13p a share at 459m shares) and the already completed £25m buyback end of last calendar year. Obviously happy with that but would like to see more buybacks of £25-50m now and coming months, but as we proably have say £80-100m FCF I appreciate it would need to be debt funded, but I feel worth it as so undervalued here sub 230-240p

I think the update today is solid, compared to the broader economic climate and other retailers. My only issue is I assumed they were waiting for TU to announce a buyback as we heard nothing in recent weeks when stock plummeted below 200p.

I feel like even a £25m buyback would both be very accretive at these (and lower) levels, and would probably help buoy the share price too, close out the bears/shorts.

So I can only deduce cash will be tight after maintaining the dividend and capex this year. However I would probably borrow (up to £50m) this year to fund some buybacks for as long as we are in low/mid 200s.

I think their Vets business is successful because it is in store, and they rolled up a large chunk of industry before a boom in pet ownership and now presumably have some economies of scale too.

For example if they have a store that is say 100% retail, they could likely carve out say 20-30% of the store footprint for a vet and that would probably out earn the retail. Certain be more profitable for PAH as margins on vet business are way higher than the retail. But the retail increases the vets business i think so its not so easy as to say well lets just do vets etc.

They could also in higher demand areas then decide to give some extra space to vets too, so say expand another 10% of store footprint or whatever. This has also been mentioned by management that many places they can potentiall add a mezzazine level or half level which I believe doesnt add to their rent, further they have negotiated down many rents due to them being a key member of any retail park.

They also run many vets as JV venture, so 50% PAH and 50% Vet owned, so the operator will run it like their own business as they can make good money if its successful and have a fairly captive audience or a good stream of potential customers who come to the store for retail or grooming.

Not saying it will impact things, but with govt wanting pro growth regulation stance and clearly removing obstacles as they view it then could mean CMA less likely to bring the hammer down on the vets industry.

I still maintain CMA accounts for a large chunk of this recent decline.