Member Info for barchid

Ailie
It certainly seems that all the storm flies who were buzzing round this stocl last week have lost interest ?
FWIW I think we could be surprised in Feb when hopefully the results show some positive traction.
dyor

Mary
Very true, good riddance to her, but one thing to be aware of, as there was obviously a lack of re-insurance debate on the board as we have had 2 consecutive RNS announcements we could be well & truly "kitchen sinked" when the new boss arrives, (snow in January quelle surprise!).
At least with gilt yields dropping since the accounts, their loss making investments must have moved up a little that alone should make a positive difference in our favour.
But honestly, what an incompetent shower this board has proved to be...

Shabz/Mary
I read it the same way but wondering why ;
1) if both sides are going to make money from it what is in it for the re-insurer ?
2) if this is true why did they not buy re-insurance earlier, surely the BoD know all about re-insurance ?
3) is it just a cosmetic ploy to make their ratio look better but is worthwhile paying for now the ratio took a hit at end 2022, which is actually what I suspect.
Additionally about a year ago I wrote to the CFO enquiring about how their "investments", ie premiums taken from which to pay claims later, were being marked to market as they were largely short dated gilts/treasuries of up to 2 years, given that QE was stopping and if rates go from zero to even 2% it will make a value difference, negatively, on a 1 to 2 year security.
I received a very wafflish reply back which made me reduce my holding at the time as the CFO was possibly trying to snow me or worse, was not really au fait with short gilts.

Likewise !
Just dribbled a few more in this morning

Discharger
Rather than rely on your own enthusiasm articulated at 02.00a.m. you would do better to read Shore Capital's comments as it is not at all bullish on the 40% stake in the brewery.
Rather than continually pump your own opinion it is often wiser to look at other peoples, even sceptically, especially those with knowledge and then hope to come to a considered viewpoint.
Particularly relevant as you last started this round of pumping when MARS were circa 80p !!!
Still a nice loss to carry forward in the current tax year as our CGT allowance reduces by halfish in April & halves again next year too, although most people would prefer to pay cgt after taking profits rather than defray losses to c/f !
BTW anyone looking at City AM now may not now see the Shore report, as they presently have an afternoon edition up, but it is still on the Citywire site and is really informative, imho.

FD
If super discharger did his homework better he could have reported that Shore Capital today have re-assessed MARS and are now more bullish, but nothing like S/discharge's usual pump, pump, pump.
It is worth a read and is one of the top stories on the City AM site today

Dartron
Correct
As I posted before the FT gives a free float of this stock as only about 48%, which is a bit higher than yours but who knows when their calculation was done, the point is the same.
The management have a lot of skin in the game and the institutional holders are all very good names.
I made my first purchase in the quiet week between Xmas and New Year, having watched it for some weeks before and it really was "trade by appointment only". Early in New Year it just took off, first in volume & then in price (apparently on a story that Singers had given it a target of 72p).
Results last year were end Feb I seem to recall and since then have had some good contracts, the one which caught my eye initially was 15 Nov 2022 with the Home Office for £10m.
Doubtless, if the numbers for the year are good in February we will have a bit more to bite on, but at present I see nothing other to do than buy them on weak days.
As ever dyor

Malafuster
It would appear so but I have a friend who did this sort of work who told me that even for something very trivial it probably meant it was a fault in their programming and to correct and thoroughly check that all is now OK takes time.
Add to that the fact that most of these people are self employed and are paid by the hour speed, to them, is not really of the essence.
I am not saying that this is the case here but it is very possibly similar.
One would hope to hear something soon though, I certainly agree on that.

Gobbling ?
140,000@25p ?
That is all of £35,000
More like sipping I'd say if you want to see the price better

Just to be clear I am talking about Amati being long on the PR puffs, certainly can't accuse POLX of that !

PYUECK
I share your sentiments entirely !
Being a fellow long term holder they have over the past couple of years certainly, been long on PR puffs and very short on performance.

AJ Bell have good figures, their SP slips.
Jarvis a bit firmer again today against the trend, when we know where we are with the trusted person we will hopefully see the blue sky again.
It would take very little buying to put this up to 200p, imho, so we wait for an announcement.

Old
Good to hear that more brokers are now starting to look at MERC, one of the issues, imho, was that we have been too much under the radar so we were almost invisible yet there is, I firmly believe, strong value in this company which goes unappreciated.

Scharn/Oldbut
A very pleasing RNS & although I rarely make forecasts on SP movement I suspect we should see a slow but steady improvement as they look very cheap still to me.
Do we know if Dibs has updated his prediction yet ?

Easi
Honestly I don't think it was badly worded, what ever way you look at it the BoD decided that if they paid the promised (expected) divi they might struggle to pay their claims, given that would have finished them as a business they decided to break their "promise", all this because of a 7 day cold snap which is hardly a black swan like 9/11 was it ?
It does raise serious issues over a home insurance company who are caught out by a cold snap. Do listen to the AJ Bell podcast as the laaughing in it when discussing DLG says it all...

eccles
I don't actually think that Easi was talking economic theory but talking what actually happened, imho if you buy shares for over £3 and a few months later those same shares are only worth £1.60 say, I find it hard to see how the company has added value to the shareholders ?
As it also happens, if there are less shares on the market "dividends per share will increase", in theory perhaps you are correct, but in practice in this case you are not, for as we all know their is no divi at present.
These were the points Easi seemed to be making and I don't believe he has misled anyone.

Dale
Agreed, or as they used to say in the stock market, she is P44-46 & trading in the middle...

Mary
Not wishing to be a wet rag but if you google "insurance companies that have gone insolvent" and click on the PWC heading you'll see they are currently involved in 33 insolvent insurance companies, including previously venerable names such as AA Mutual which was similar to DLG who they do 50% motor.
Across the pond AIG needed to be bailed out you might recall and they were massive.
Closer to home asbestosis almost caused Corp of Lloyds to close but they restructured at huge cost.
So it is not only "win win win".

Well with 787,000 shares traded in the first 45 minutes today and the offer now at 25.5 something is still going on.
Looking at the charts it is easy to get greedy but when we see their numbers (about 6 weeks away if timing is same as last year), it really could be pay day !
Do remember too that the management have a lot of skin in this game, & at much higher prices than this.

We are seeing some serious volumes here, especially when I first bought some just after Christmas, 29 Dec, they had been for some time a "trades by appointment" stock, today we are currently at over 9.5mill trading, which what ever way you cut it, is major for a stock with a free float (according to the FT) of only just over 71mill.
Someone has to know something !
The biggest II is Premier with over 10mill, Cannacord have 4.8mill, Chelverton, Berenberg, Independent IT & M&G also all have over 4mill each so a decent looking holding list. They are now up 7.6% on the day, may we have a few more days like today...