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Hope BooHoo Group will widen their appeal over time to welcome understated, educated, classy women (curvy with natural eyebrows & no tan...not chubby, chavvy or impressed with Aston Martins) who will buy BH's repositioned, upmarket brands & get sales, profits & brand share moving upwards for serious investors.
Assimilating all the new brands into the BooHoo Group, getting rid of inherited old stock, generating cash short term & clearing decks, hiring talented new teams, agreeing individual & differentiated business plans forceach brand, creating new commercial designs & sourcing them takes time. Volume of shares traded recently has been tiny. The results & good leaking of positive stories by BooHoo's opinion formers has been excellent whilst the directors micromanage the new, enlarged Leviathan and gear it up for a tough but potentially very profitable future. As investors we are often guilty of thinking short term but BH offers opportunity for short, medium & long term investors. Stay informed & don't get too greedy as I've seen many brand leaders in many markets lose their way, overstretch themselves etc. This has happened since The South Sea Bubble, Wall Street Crash etc etc but it should be an exciting ride!
Am not in target market but Debenhams website looks designed to clear stock only as not full size ranges on footwear etc. Hope new website will have more style & appeal to ABC1s.
Like the idea of a creative hub in London as there will be cross-fertilisation of ideas which is needed for 13+ brands & finding enough creative talent.
Am looking to sell at £3.75 & hopefully buy back at £3.50/£3.60. Have decided to start selling property in time for when BooHoo takes off in 2 years making asset base more flexible for passing on wealth to family
Looking forward to PP1's 4000th post today. Have a range of bets covering time slots at very attractive odds from now till an unspecified time tomorrow....within 20 mins pays out. Just a bit of fun!
Surprised to see a Wednesday morning 3.33am post from PP1 saying exactly the same thing that was said in his/her posts of Tuesday at 11.18am & 11.19pm!
Something's not quite right....have discounted "insomniac"....."saddo"...."posting addiction"...."Billy-no-mates" & concluded that PP1 is working for the BooHoo Group drip-feeding favourable facts; in fact he/she might actually be in their PR department or have I been watching too many Veras/Midsomer Murders?
Interesting posting at 11.18am re: Freehold office space in Soho....thanks.
Just a tip re: your 11.19am post "I intend holding forever!" I wouldn't do it as a) you won't benefit from your investment and b) read Luke ch. 12 v 13-21
Looking forward to your 4000th posting. Out of interest you probably don't have the time to work & sound too young to be retired. Are you employed by BooHoo as one of their social media opinion formers because at times you are very effective & invariably entertaining. You've motivated me to try & learn how to "cut & paste".
Unfortunate the labelling but wish more BBC editors had a Private Sector background & lived in the real world where it's important to create wealth before distributing it. Affluent middle classes have always paid more for the same product as we were selling them confidence as well as a good product. Sainsbury own label cakes were same recipe as my branded cakes in the 1970s but they charged more from their ABC1 customers. Nike charged 3× my price on Mitre cross trainers in 1980s from same factory for same product. They were paying for the confidence & increased self-worth. "Fashion victims aka Early Adopters" were always more profitable to us. Phrases such as "Reassuringly Expensive" & Because you're worth it" work with many Brand Victims!"
Perceptive anaylsis Wydrum & one with which I concur. Surfaced at 11.47am & still catching up on accumulated comments. Thanks for the cut & paste PP1 on "business rates"...concise & to the point. Fancy Barratt Developments & Breedon Group but need to sell houses to generate cash & right now balance of power is with tenants however bad they are.
Meant "Barere in 1794"....senior moment!
Am quite excited by possibilities afforded by change & observations by Ragtrade & PeoplePower1 seem measured. We live in an era of accelerating change & perhaps now High Street landlords will be more realistic with rents, Councils will lower their expectations & become more imaginative re: "change of use" applications & business rate levels. Opportunity exists to convert shops to low cost accommodation for lower earners/key workers & a more interesting entrepreneurial independent retail sector could emerge such as I knew in the 1950s. Adam Smith in "Wealth of Nations" muted the notion of England as a "Nation of Shopkeepers" which was observed again by Barere in 1994 but I think the UK has a small but significant reservoir of educated, tech-savvy, young & creative risk-taking people who will see opportunities throughout the UK & abroad & act on them. Now in my 8th decade I am full of hope for the future!
Some good points there. PP has declared she wants to financially benefit strangers so you might have a chance there ("Ask & ye shall receive")....and she's spelling "Sanctimonious" correctly now so everyone's a winner!
Meant France to beat Scotland
France play Scotland tonight to decide who wins the "6 Nations Championship". All the talk has been about France needing a bonus point win & clear 21 points v France to pip Wales to the Championship. Scotland are angry as if they beat France in a bonus point win by 8 points scoring 4 tries they come senond in the Championship which would be their best result for years. Odds v Scotland winning are 5:1 as in a 2-horse race it's worth a punt. I remember the Scots winning in Paris in 1995 & 1999 so it's not impossible. Suspect the odds on them coming 2nd are even better! Wish I had the ICT skills & confidence to place 2 bets online....£50 on Scotland to upset the bookies and win covered by £50 that they win & come 2nd!
My wife has just pointed out that my Beano/ Guardian post has resulted in 2 aggressive posts from you and for that my apologies if it has disturbed your peace. I understand that you believe me to be "an a***hole who likes the sound of his own voice" which is an odd observation as I have made just 17 posts...are you getting me mixed up with yourself (3760 posts & rising)? My wife tells me you have £1.1 m in Boohoo shares & are looking forward to a huge bonus in the future so the "greed" comment again seems more relevant turned inward. By the way "conservatism" & "sanctimonius" are the correct ways to spell those words..we have a responsibilty to level up do we not? Can I recommend a reading of Proverbs ch 29 v 11? It's only one verse but the wisdom of Solomon but will help you in your posting career. As an aside I support various charities, support children, tithe my income and am gradually giving away my assets being in my 73rd year & have never been so content but then my faith is not in my paypacket. I will pray for you that you will find peace but the pursuit of money & assets is a sad way of building your self worth..."Seek to build, not to destroy!"
I love occasionally dipping into observations from this little family of "posters" which like some of our irresponsible or biased media post good advice at times together with barmy comments but it just reflects the wide variety of experience & fragmented society we live in. Don't feel guilty about occasionally criticizing the Guardian as they are trying to make a living out of fashionable causes & I suspect their writers don't have the life experiences that most working people actually have. We overstate The Guardian's influence. With an average circulation of around 110,000. The lowest circulation of any national paper bar the Financial Times & having to beg for finance from just over 500,000 "one-off" donors they don't know how to run a business...thank God Jeremy & Diane Abbot never got to "run" the country. Even The Beano in 1950 had a 2,000,000 circulation & did more for the working class in so many ways than this newspaper with"The Bash StreetKids, Lord Snooty et al" showing what was possible in society. Paradoxically the Sunday Times (3rd highest Sunday circulation) is probably the most balanced read of the week & most representative of that third of the old aspirational WC who always voted Conservative. To that extent Disraeli's "One Nation" Conservatism is a dream worth pursuing.
I think it's time to fight back against The Guardian in the interests of balanced reporting & encourage readers, whether signed up or not, to ignore their persistent pleas for financial support & encourage them, like Corbyn, on the inexorable downward path to well-deserved obscurity. They have served the old working class & generations of school children ill. The aspirational working class realise this & generations of children have left school handicapped by poor grammar, spelling, punctuation, little knowledge of their history or culture & it is almost impossible to sack bad teachers. Having spent 9 years teaching after a lifetime in business it's time to fight back. Thank God for Andrew Neil, Rod Liddle & similar with guts & intelligence. Expext Boohoo to grow but need to protect that bottom line percentage PBT which is too slim for my liking.
Fully expect The Guardian, BBC, other organisations not dependent on profits to fund their operations & armchair socialists to keep up the pressure on BooHoo. Having worked in the State Sector & Private Sector I wish these groups could understand that over 76% of British employment is generated by the Private Sector making profits that generate the grants & resources that fund the State Sector & provide jobs for people....some of whom wouldn't be employable in the Private Sector which I have found to be more efficient & productive on balance if less PC & compassionate.
As an investor I am really interested to analyse the next few BH reports. Part of their future likes in attracting the ABC1 markets (Times, Telegraph, Guardian, Mail, Express readers) who over the last 30 years have been more "brand loyal". Times change & whether it's Heinz beans, Fairy Liquid, Levis, Ford or M &S the consumer is more price/value savvy if less quality demanding & "brands" have continued to see their market shares hammered as more innovative competitors get their total "marketing mix" together. April/May are crucial months for BH re: repositioning of their better quality brands, setting of quality & design standards, understanding "price elasticity" & the consumer/profitability equation & creating/consolidating a reliable/speedy supply chain for the new brands. As an investor I'm nervous but hopeful.
Have some empathy with your comment on taking seriously people with bad English. I struggle with "your" (which is a possessive) when writer really meant "you're" (you are) . I dealt with 6 major London advertising agencies in a long career & it was fashionable to have poorly educated East Enders in media buying departments as they supposedly had most of the negotiating/ best price skills. It was b*****ks then & is now. Listen to advice, do your own research, look at the situation, set your objectives, develop a sound strategy, vary your tactics, don't be too greedy & back yourself. If your faith isn't solely in your pay packet you should do well!
Reflecting on recent Card Factory comments which is my main port of call when going to France for 5 months. Range of "humour" cards & prices excellent so buy ahead & in bulk with friends & family in mind as supermarkets offering in UK or France is safe, expensive & boring. Thing I've missed the boat on this one as money tied up in properrty, BH & Orioleczresources which bombed soon after I bought at 7p. Made me think how crucial timing is. Did well buying apartments in Cyprus just before EC entry & BH has contributed well but Burtons & Dorothy Perkins probably in latter stages of Product Life Cycle & like Robin Starch, Kiwi shoe polish probably unrecoverable so am being tempted to go back into Breedon Group (Aggregates & Quarries) with capital projects & house building revival in mind. Timing is important in life & remember lessons from 34 years in rugby as a 2nd row/no. 8 where better to get in early & encourage your opponents not to mess you about. If sorted at the beginning then life became easier & more enjoyable. Happy hunting!