Member Info for Aucuba

Coaster
Good point in that we were not seeing any reduction in shorting at £4 last time around!
The decision from the competition authority is due 4th March at the latest and having been through a number of these in my career they will clear any hurdles required even if some conditions are placed upon them and/or Jacobs. Like you I am holding in there as I think they are making good progress on their strategy to improve margins and reduce debt filling the AFW acquisition. It was a huge acquisition for Wood and they inherited a very fragmented and diverse business which has taken a long time to sort through and consolidate.

Reluctant to give a view one way or the other on this one. The trading update showed good progress on debt reduction and there is still teh sale of the nuclear business to complete which they are confident will be done in Q1. Also intimated a couple of other non core business sell offs were on the cards in the not too distant future. I do however think they need to close on a couple of decent contracts. I think they said about 50% of 2020 revenue is secured at this time and i would have liked to have seen that higher.
As for the shorters part of your post - I have no idea. I expected some positions to close/reduce a week or so ago but that didn't happen so not sure what will happen now this is around the 4.00 mark

Yeah. No telling what he will do - it will not be anything rational thats for sure!

To be expected I suppose with oil being where it is although will be intersting to see what happens to the shorting at this level.

Don’t know. This share is crazy at the moment. The fact a large contract is coming to a close is not really news. It will have been factored in I would think. Winning new large contracts is obviously much better. Credit Suisse reduced their price target on this one today but I notice there is a large number of buys today.
The company gives a 2019 update on trading in two weeks time so that will be interesting as I suspect market is looking for debt reduction ahead of their sale of the nuclear business which they announced a few months back and is due to complete in Q1

alto1
This is a contract which is nearing completion -
"Wood Group , the service contractor building the facilities, said on its website last month it was conducting safety and quality checks as construction was near completion."

Trading update mid January is the next point of interest for me. I dont think teh nuclear sale will be completed until end Q1 next year - too many regulatory hoops to jumop through before completion.
I too am wary of the 8% shorts.

This one just cant seem to hold the high ground. Again a significant downward move from mid afternoon which always seems to follow a reasonable tick up in the morning. High selling volume today as well.
Overall though its better than it has been for a few weeks although somewhat surprised the shorts are still sitting at 8%. Must admit I really dont undertstand the whole shorting thing!!

Dark_Knight2020

Really cant see this hitting 420-450 regardless of oil price movement in the right direction. I would love for you to prove me wrong but ......

Always volatile movements over the last few months. Thats why I said lets see where it settles today. Having said all that its moving in the right direction this week so not complaining.

Will be interesting to see where this settles today and how the shorters raect

Upgrade by Citi to "buy" today had this moving in the opposite direction from the market

Going to be a bumpy couple of days I think - lots of unravelling with General Election polls affecting the pound and Trumps potential for yet more tarrifs

Pokerchips

I will of course take any day where the price is up but I’m not convinced this is out of the woods yet. Would of course be delighted to be proved wrong in the coming days/weeks

Pokerchips
I still cant believe the main reason for this continually tracking down is the Tariff situation. This is tracking lower almost every day. I got in with a small amount mid last week but staring to regret it :)

I would like to think this is stalling waiting on the OPEC meeting but that cant be the only reason this is in the position its in. This moves down almost daily evenm when there is a nice move upwards in the main market. This has got to be getting into the potential takeover territory. The dividend is sweet but its difficult to see them holding that at its current level.

Pokerchips

Does a reduction of shares on loan lead to a reduction in shorts? I'm still trying to get a grip on all this in regards to shorting etc.

ShrewdDude67
I agree - I dont see any correclation between WG and their peers (including PFC). I,ve got ot believe there is more to this tha trade wars and oil price. WG are also much less affected by oil price than a few years ago given their diversification following the AFW purchase. Also there must be room now for a dividend cut (to improve debt) given the high %age return at this share price.

Thans Pokerchips.

Worked for Wood for many many years until i retired recently. Decision to purchase AFW was I believe sound with the diversity of portfolio away from oil and gas. I do however belive the slowing of the market in general is making the disposal of non core assets harder and this in turn has affected their debt significantly in the short term. The sale of Nuclear was a bit of a surprise but I think this reflects the need to reduce debt and it gets them a long way with just one disposal thereby allowing them to focus on streamlining the business. Fundamentally a good company and hard to see their share price being "hacked" like this.

Pokerchips
I dont understand the "shorts are using this as a proxy". Can you explain a bit more please?