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If shorts are closing then this will rocket... there are a lot of shares to buy back with very few sellers
Could we be seeing the long awaited shorts starting to close out...
I took a stroll along Oxofrd Street and called into Debenhams. Now, after the packed Christmas and heavy discounting I was execting a moderately full store... no it was packed with shoppers... absolutely heaving! One thing I have noticed this year is a big increase in Middle Eastern and Chinese/Japanese shoppers in London, and they are hitting the stores big time. I think the weak pond has become very attractive to foreign tourists who must be shopping in the larger Debenhams stores in Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh etc... I see this back up to 8p in a few weeks.
I took a walk down Oxford Street London this afternoon, and it was packed. In Debenhams there were long queues of 15 odd people that remained steady, I have never seen it so busy. Now I know that this is not an indicator of how Debenhams will do, but it certainly did not look like a company on the brink. All depratments were well stocked and seemed to be selling very well.
I agree Pearls, I think their Christmas sales will be good. Debenhams winter menswear looks good and seems to be selling well.
Definite computerised trading going on today. Trances of sells of around £400 followed by buys of around £500 ?
so Debenhams has a debt of around £320m .... Marks and Spensers is around £1.8bn!! My money would be on marks going bust first! I believe Debenhams can and will survive. The shops are currently very busy with decent Christmas trade. If this was going bust you would see shorts closing rapidly.
Saitoman - I believe the answer is "No". Mike Ashley can launch a bid to take his holding over 30% and trigger a take over bid, but this goes to the vote of every shareholder (oh...help could be Brexit mark II). If 50% reject his offer then Mike walks away, or can up his offer again.
I went into Debenhams Oxford Street last night and there were big queues for click and collect. There were healthy queues at the tills and goods were selling very well. Interestingly they have stocked a lot of consumable items like chocolate and alcohol which we're selling well. I think their Christmas turn over will be big.... but almost every item was on some sale discount. I think they will post decent results in January and there will be a mini rally to 8p.
As a large Carillion share holder I can assure you the shareholders get no say, vote or money if it collapses into administration. However, I believe Debenhams can ride this one out (go google m&s debt level... you will be shocked!). The concern is what Mike Ashley is planning... would a low offer of 10p per share be accepted by most ? I'm long on Debenhams and need 21p to break even!
Buys are outweighing sells... and the price goes down. So...so rigged. I have little option but to ride this out. Good luck all those long.
I believe Debenhams will have a decent Christmas update on 4th January. It's getting ridiculous when the news is saying "Saturdays footfall was down 9%"... yeah it was snowing in lots of places! They are not going into administration as their debt cap is £500m, so they still have a potential £140m to burn through first.
you may be... SPD's turn over is a little over half Debenhams, yet their profit (£75m) was double Debenhams (£34m).
Hi Pokerchips,
I fully agree. I believe Debenhams will have a great Christmas, and issue decent result early January, but the real tough time will be Jan/Feb/March. People can not ignore the uncertanty over Brexit. I think many people will hold off buying things they do not really need.
Debenhams board must issue a reponse to this. It must say they are currently in a healthy financial situation and can pay suppliers. Debenhams borrowing limit is still another £160million....so very solvent currently. The BOD must start fighting back!
Just back from the Oxford street, London store on the way home from work. The store was rammed busy!.. for some reason "black friday" seems to be a big thing now. At first I was concerned by almost every item being on some "reduction/sale" deal, but then came round to the fact this is probably why the store is very busy. Selling is what the business does and it looks good to me in their flagship store. I expect very good Christmas results this year.
Shorts down to 9.7%... Christmas trading looks great to me. I'm hoping for a rise to 10p by march
Predictive text doh!! "Kong". = KPMG or who ever it was they called in ?
I think a CVA would help Debenhams longer term. Short term the shorters would punish it big time... possible leak in Kong to a friend of Odey's about what's coming ?
I called into Oxford Street branch on the way home, and thought the store looked great. I spent £260 and really enjoyed the store. Check the online bedding deals (yes I bought a new duvet!.. total bargain at £90 :-) ). This store is certainly doing very well, and the Christmas lines looked good. Lots of very good little gift packs and seem to be big on mens grooming... Hey it's what they do!