Member Info for Bale64

It always surprises me that anyone puts any weight to this.

This is how it works (including in my own company)

Employees are given stock options as a part of their package (lets say £70,000). When the stocks go up by any percentage they get to keep profit when they sell within a Window (but not the original £70,000).

So for a share like Lloyds that doesn't do much, if the share has gone up and a window is open for you to sell then people will rush to sell to supplement their income.

£70,000 @ 40p = 175,000 shares. Sell them at 48p = £14,000 profit. - The employees will be given more options in the next year anyway so if the share keeps bouncing around they can keep taking £14k a year. - IT IS NOT A SIGN SOME DIRECTOR SEES SOMETHING COMING!

I think you're wrong, a quick google and Lloyds is buying up homes in new developments, not building homes....

This comment is a little all over the place, but I can't help but agree with the last line, that Lloyds shouldn't be entering the Rental Market. - With an Aim of owning 50,000 properties, that's a lot of properties taken off the market and lot of competition for regular buyers looking for a home for their families.

I've not got a crystal ball, but I'm not stupid, this is a scandal in the making and Lloyds will get backlash from this in a few years time.

I'm not an expert but,
https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/natural-gas

If you look at the figures, it look like maybe things are calming down? UK Gas for instance is still 82% up on the year but its also down 42% on the month....

I agree 67sam etc, I think the UK has a good balance between socialism and Capitalism. I was working in the US and a colleagues husband needed a 1 year check up after surviving cancer. Their insurance was already maxed out and the check up was $10k! which had to come out of their pockets (both working parents, normal jobs) - I just thought yikes ( I'm grateful we live in a society that takes some of the weight/burden from each other)

As a young 20 something I lost my hat to the banks share prices around 2008, however I've just bought back into Lloyds, They're apparently one of the biggest mortgage lenders https://www.statista.com/statistics/727348/uk-banks-gross-lending-market-share/ with 19.5% of the market and in a world with raising interest rates, surely it's share price is only going to go up. I have high hope for it over the coming year.

I've sold, I put almost 10k into this at 1.95 so was pretty depressed at 1.35. Didn't sell because it felt like Halfords was in a good position and, just got lucky. Sold with at 1,200 profit where I thought I was going to make a 2k loss at one stage.

This was positive (not sure if I'm as confident though);
(Sharecast News) - Investors' tepid response to Halfords' positive trading misses how the company is improving, Liberum said as it increased its share price target for the company.

Halfords' recent trading update was "very encouraging" and showed the company capitalising on current trends and improving the fundamentals of its business, Liberum analyst Adam Tomlinson said. He kept his 'buy' rating on the shares, increased his forecasts and upgraded his price target to 300p from 250p.

The company reported booming sales of cycling goods and car roof boxes on 8 September after Britons got on bikes and holidayed in the UK during the Covid-19 crisis. The government is also supporting cycling to get people back to work without using public transport.

Tomlinson revised his estimate for annual earnings to forecast a £44m pretax profit. He had previously expected a £6.8m loss. He also upped his estimates for later years and said the 2022 price to earnings ratio of 8.2 times was "far too cheap given the momentum and opportunity ahead".

He said the bike and car parts company was making the most of market tailwinds and was also on track to improve returns by increasing sales of car servicing and bike-related services, helped by the government's Fix Your Bike Voucher scheme.

Halfords is also improving margins for cycle sales with better buying terms, component rationalisation and better promotion. The company's improved website is helping to drive online business, Tomlinson said.

"The muted share price reaction to the update overlooks just how successfully management is repositioning the group," Tomlinson wrote in a note to clients. "Not only is this allowing the group to capitalise on the current market tailwinds, but importantly it continues to evolve the business towards a more service-led, higher margin, higher returns model, with a greater emphasis on motoring and a more profitable cycling category."

Halfords shares rose 4.9% to 191.80p at 12:47 BST.

Again CEOs comments about not knowing the future aside, the numbers of the present performance were good, I think he just likes to cover his back

The numbers were good, and actually I don't think we are seeing a return to normal, I think staycations will be around at least until the end of the year (at least more so then last year) as will prepping the car for long journeys to the countryside. I could imagine a lot of bike being christmas presents this year?....

I'm trying to work out what to do, I'm not sure this is going to drop massively like the last time, I think it might sit around the 170s 180s and then start to gradually climb again but from a better starting point then the 130s it hit last update, think this is a hold??? What do people think?

I thought the update came across very positive. I think the Ceo is just cautious by nature, but the figures themselves are solid for a time when almost every other business would have struggled

Not sure if anyone here uses this, but since covid started the Government has been doing daily updates on the percentage of transport that people are using compared to last year. Bike are up 160% cars are back to 100% Trains and buses still on 30%
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/transport-use-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic

...some trading software will still register this as a sale though and not spot the cancel. I'm no expert so not 100% possitive but if the figures didn't effect the share price I imagine thats whats happened here.

Hey Darton, I think these are people trying to manipulate the share price. They put in a big sell which other traders see using the Level 2 trading software (they aim to get others to sell their shares) then they cancel the order before it completes. Most professional traders can spot the attempts at manipulation so it tends not to effect the share price too much. - I watched a Youtube video on it

What I'm seeing from that article is;
Online bike sales in May more than doubled compared with last year.
and
people's urgent desire to revamp "dead bikes" that had been gathering dust before lockdown had contributed to a five-fold increase in spare part sales in May, compared with May 2019 - the "biggest growth we have ever had".
and
as the government has pumped money into cycling and walking infrastructure to encourage people to avoid public transport, it's likely that bikes will retain their gold-dust status for some time yet.

Yesterday this looked over sold, looks like people noticed

Whats everyones thoughts on the end of year results?

They only go until March ish right and they've already said they'll probably hit the higher end of their targets.

I guess the hope will be a good trading update from the last few months?

Surely the market could not be much more perfect for a company like Halfords then it is now right? (with the exception of the virus being around and the harm its doing)

People are hitting the bikes pretty hard. Record setting rentals from the last 10 years of stats with no signs of reducing demand.
https://www.harrowtimes.co.uk/news/18498727.london-bike-hires-surge-amid-coronavirus-pandemic/

I heard on the news that a smaller Bike shop had sold a years worth of inventory over the last month and now wasn't able to restock. If Halfords is doing the same then thats great. and lets not forget, because they own a number of smaller bike retail chains their orders with suppliers are going to be huge, and first in line from the factories.
My own companies asking people to aviod public transport when we open again (as is my partners) so that sort of thing will keep demand up for months (and demand for bike/car parts).
This, combined with an Olympic year next summer, is surely only a good thing for Halfords.