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Worth noting that Sage are in the middle of yet another round of share buybacks. Still over a billion in issue though!

It seems that buybacks in the US are like the wild West:
"Right now, companies are required to report monthly share repurchases on their Form 10-Q — a quarterly report. " https://www.marketplace.org/2021/09/23/do-insider-trading-rules-apply-to-corporate-stock-buybacks/
Quarterly! What big teeth you have, Uncle Sam

Pru still own just under 20% of JXN with the plan to sell down to 10%.
So the amount Pru intend to sell is almost exactly the same amount JXN intend to buy back ($300m).
What a coincidence ( :

Goldman Sachs downgrade a couple of months ago looking somewhat embarrassing! The results could arguably be interpreted as unimpressive in isolation, but it's the way the company is positioned for a phase of strong growth which is attracting buyers. It was unusual to see the price rising all day, rather than the typical surge and fade.

More or less a bullseye on the consensus for revenue, and it really looks like Sage have invested wisely in their future. Well positioned for a push upwards now in margins and revenue, hopefully EDITDA and SP too!

Dividend of 11.63p due 10th Feb, yield is about 2.3%

This is what my post yesterday was about, not sure why we need a new thread? Anyway, welcome ormondroyd! These are not actually new investors, all three simply increased their stakes in AMC.

I doubt if the company would be completely "divested" Paul, the plan is to float it, but the Bhartis would probably retain a majority stake, if history is anything to go by. Like I said yesterday, we might get a stake ourselves, but this is only of interest to long termers. The new CEO conspicuously refrained from mentioning a float in the RNS, so it's possible he may have different ideas anyway.

The effect on the SP of the new money should be positive, because it reduces debt and demonstrates confidence from big institutions. A reduction in the Bharti's majority stake also tends to improve liquidity slightly, in theory.

Jatw's last post was the best on this board for some time, imo. Credible explanation for the relatively low SP and the challenges M&G face. Signs of growth seem pretty hard to detect lately, but look key to understanding long term prospects. Thanks for the heads up Jatw, and candid for pertinent questions.

Last quarter was better than expected, this quarter was worse, but taken as a whole the underlying progress is impressive. Disappointing news about European distribution. The new distribution centres have not been running optimally, it seems it will take some time to hone them. Blame the politicians for short notice and bad deals. Analyst projections have pushed back growth by a few months, but another quarter will probably change their outlook again. Long term G4M look well placed in their markets

Amazing to see JXN cruising at $34. Pru looking for a new pilot, and M&G still stuck on the runway?

AAF have had considerable success this year selling minority stakes in AMC. The Texas Pacific Group (TPG) has Bono on board: he's found what he was looking for!

There is a previously announced intention of floating AMC "within four years". Wonder which market it would be on, and whether AAF investors would be allocated shares?

What about the small companies GHS invests in, now facing two years of depressed equity, under the cloud of forced sales, destroying both value and development capability. For incubating assets, that is pure poison. Published NAV probably cannot now be trusted, and neither can those who have seized control and sabotaged the company, just when it was starting to make great progress under Sinclair. None of this destruction was necessary or rational, imo, it is blatantly against shareholders interests.

Sage have consensus estimates on their website:
https://www.sage.com/investors/investor-centre/consensus-estimates/

Apologies for lack of clarity Candid. My "well over 6%" referred to a notional SHORT TERM yield for M&G based on assumptions about the final dividend. It's derived by dividing the predicted dividend by the current asking price. For example, assuming a 12.4p dividend next April, buying now at 199.45 would yield 6.2% when paid. To be absolutely clear, it is NOT the annual yield, which, as you say, is much higher. You might call it a five-and-a-half-month yield? ( :

Don't understand your enthusiasm about IMB, Thronegames ,"the next two quarterly dividends are over double the previous two". So what? They are also lower than they were 5 years ago. Is that relevant? The reason they are over double is similar to the reason M&Gs final was more than double it's interim - they simply chose to pay the bulk in the second half. We need actual dividend rates in order to compare against M&G not a meaningless internal ratio. Has the next IMB quarterly div even been announced yet, let alone the one after it, I thought it was due next week? Even assuming your assertion over future dividends is correct, by my calculation it only results in a short term yield of about 5.4% compared with well over 6% for M&G, admittedly over a slightly longer period. Over the longer term, M&Gs dividend seems more sustainable (better coverage), more consistent, more reliable, and more ethical.

candidinvestor is correct that the M&G policy is for the interim to be roughly a third of the previous years total, not the current years, however this years declared interim was actually more than one third of last years total. If the ability to progress the dividend was uncertain, the board could have held the interim, effectively delaying the decision until final results were known, but they chose to increase it, suggesting that ongoing progression of the total dividend is planned.

If we assume progression, we can deduce that the final divi this year must be greater than 18.23p (last years total) minus 6.1p (this years interim), i.e. more than 12.13p. Even a modest 1% progression of the total would bump the final up to 12.4p

DarkArches is correct, Bharti Airtel own 56%, the Bharti family own another 11% through another company, and possibly control a few more through other financial vehicles (?):
https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/airtel_africa-stock

Virtually zero chance of this being taken over, imo, more likely they will be the ones buying - they once tried to buy out their main rivals MTN: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airtel_Africa#Partial_sale_of_Airtel_Money

The drumbeat of positive research outcomes is getting louder, the FDA just needs to pick up the rhythm and snap those fingers

I think you've got one of the numbers wrong manfor - final increased from 11.92 to 12.23? That would give an even higher result using your reasoning, but it seems doubtful that they would use your method i.e. adding literally "the same" amount as last year. A percentage increase seems more consistent with the progressive dividend policy?

If the final dividend is increased by the same percentage as the interim (1.66%) it will be 12.43p, but interims are sometimes more conservative than finals, so arguably your conclusion is reasonable, even if your data and methodology are dodgy ( :

Regarding the Nucurrent case, the existence of "prior art" always seemed quite likely, according to this piece:
https://www.greyb.com/nucurrent-vs-samsung-us8680960/

The Nanoco tech seems to be in a much narrower field and probably has fewer potential examples of prior art available? So far Samsung seem like they are trying shift the goalposts rather than score a goal, imo.

Interesting comparison, but FDA approval speed is not affected by one, and is affected by the other, so it seems irrelevant to the discussion? Perhaps you are suggesting they classify all cancers combined as a "pandemic" and use it as a reason to reduce due diligence on associated new medicines and technology, fast-tracking promising drugs, and allowing emergency approvals?

Another reason currently supporting a 12.35p- ish "final" dividend is that the interim was 6.1p in September. The policy is that the interim will be roughly one-third of the total, suggesting a 12.2p final, but having increased the interim it seems logical to increase the final proportionately, from last year's 12.23p

By the way, payment of that "final" is now less than six months away. If the prediction is accurate that is a compelling rate of return, possibly unique on the market? The closer we get, and the lower the SP goes, the more compelling it becomes. One strategy could be to buy on speculation of a SP hike as the divi approaches, selling into the rise if it exceeds, say 7%, or else just holding to collect the divi. Nothing is risk free, but the downside here seems very limited?