Member Info for bendipa1

Sold the lot today. MARS has had a terrible sp performance over the years, and these rallies whenever they come never seem to last long. Nothing has changed fundamentally.

The only sensible thing they've done in the last 2 years is slash the div, although perhaps they should have passed it altogether. Otherwise it's yet another example of arrogant fools trying to run a companym and digging a bigger and bigger hole for themselves and shareholders. Inevitably I'm afraid, in the end highly unlikely to survive, let alone recover.

So did I. This was clearly a silly reaction. The company doesn't appear to be in any financial difficulty or hiding any skeletons in the cupboard as far as I can tell. Totally different business to CLLN or IRV.

Nice recovery developing here. Thought they looked rather cheap so decided to buy, even though wary of current management complacency. Don't see Argos as a problem.

Hi Mitch. I'll have a pop at your 2 questions.

Q1 - Food sales falling. Probably the mixture of a) impact of the tightening of belts by middle-class consumers in anticipation of a bad Brexit (no deal), b) the growing awareness of discounters like Aldi who offer food quality as good as MKS and a lot cheaper, and c) The footfall effect. If less customers are visiting the stores to buy clothes then it follows there will be less customers visiting the food departments there.

Clothing sales falling. Many reasons, the main ones being: a) The growth.in the 80s and 90s of clothing retailers like Primark and Next that became serious rivals to MKS who then dominated the clothing retailing market. Other rivals were supermarkets like ASDA who started to sell underwear and socks at cheaper prices than MKS stealing a substantial part of their market b) Serious decline in quality of MKS clothing over past decade or so. c) MKS pricing still at a big premium compared to rivals like Primark where nowadays the quality is not that much inferior. d) Stores look dingy and uninviting compared to rivals. e) The inertia or disregard in the idea of retail selling over the internet.They took up the idea far too late, allowing companies like Amazon, Next and others to steal a march on them.

r_h. MKS have been in trouble with their clothing side for many years. They've been forced to close 100 stores in the last year. That tells a big story. Now we're seeing the food side, the one strong prop to their business, starting to struggle for the first time. It isn't looking good for them.

If I had to back a retailer I'd probably invest in Next, but not right now.

And the last 2 CEOs before Wilson were dreadful and were responsible for near collapse of the company. There seem to be far more useless, overpaid CEOs around today biding their time than really decent ones. Mark Wilson was more of an exception who proved his worth. So if I was an AV shareholder I'd be concerned about his replacement.

There are fears around that the departure of CEO Mark Wilson, who saved AV. from near administration may lead to a return of incompetents put in charge. AV had been plagued by poor management who paid themselves huge salaries for failure before Wilson arrived, and the company was then on its knees in 2012, having seen its sp sink to well below £2, Wilson performed something of a miracle in reviving AV's fortunes.So, without Wilson's guiding hand will AV return to the bad old days?

The shorters must be getting roasted by this, yet they seem totally undeterred. Decided to sell half my holdings as I don't altogether trust this rally.

"I hope they all have to close out roasted!"

I think the shorters have been suffering a heavy 'roasting' since April yet it hardly seems to deter them.

As with yesterday large trading volumes > 7m, so something's happening. Don't think it's shorters suddenly unwinding, because why now?

Bought a few more on Friday afternoon. Have to say I did not expect these to collapse so fast - they were 216p less than 2 weeks ago. They are now down 33% over the past 12 months against a rise of 17% in the All-Share Index in the same period.

Cause for concern?

Heading for 2 year low, with no hard evidence to suggest why the sp is doing do poorly. This looks like another SAGA (which I also hold). May buy some more soon.

Bought my first small tranche today at 216p as these have been on my watchlist for a while, and they are being treated in the same way as SAGA, ie the market doesn't want to know, yet both companies are highly profitable. These may well fall below 200p which is my next buying target ftm. But at this level they look like decent value, regardless.