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This uses copper based QDs. Launched in late 2018, can't see how it qualifies as "first of it's kind" except by a ludicrously narrow definition, and with crop yields merely "in excess of 10%" it's hard to see how it pays for itself in less than a year unless it is extremely cheap. Hardly a world beating product, and not sure what the "just ran out of time" refers to. This is a fringe product for Nanoco, only of use in greenhouses, and of limited profitability. https://ubiqd.com/2018/11/27/ubiqd-launches-first-quantum-dot-product-ubigro-greenhouse-film/

Expected dividends are an Ordinary dividend of 11.92p and a special demerger dividend of 3.85p, giving a total of 15.77p

This information is from the Investor and Analyst presentation 26 September 2019 , available on the Prudential website

Good news, but presumably heavy dilution for existing holders?

In theory, the company is now being valued as a "growth" share. As such, they may be underperforming right now due to a sentiment of risk aversion? With steady Eddie MNG elbowed into Brexitland, Pru growth rates may prove eye-catching when markets are friskier.

Come off it Nostradamous JimJam, on 15th you predicted 1650 for "Friday", i.e. Friday 18th! Better late than never, and to be fair, you also said "prefer pru, expect mg to underperform", so you can have a small fist bump.

Regarding "doom mongers", not sure there were any. I think there was one commentary from Motley Fool questioning the timing of the demerger, and highlighting various risks, but it wasn't suggesting a "disaster". I suppose MNG will be disappointed at their first few days, but they have almost recovered to their opening price now, and some commenters see them as better value than Pru, which is something of a surprise.

Is the Avalon merger talk a myth, or is an announcement still expected?

M&G own 15.06% of OXB, probably distributed internally amongst various different investment vehicles, but the rns about them was irrelevant: it was just a technical requirement due to the transfer of ownership from Prudential as a consequence of the demerger, along with many other stocks. OXB are just a miniscule part of M&G's extensive holdings as an asset manager, and they will be reviewed from time to time, along with all the other stocks, by the fund managers. You may regard M&G's holding as a vote of confidence in OXB, but bear in mind that fund managers nearly always underperform the market.

OK Mornington, but DYOR and don't forget 5p would also be a big loss. There has been fantastic potential here for years, but don't underestimate the risk - if you look at the share chart, you can see a history of failing to live up to expectations, so only gamble money you can afford to lose: most long term holders here are currently underwater, but we're waving not drowning.

Doesn't sound quite right jatw: the special dividend for M&G is 3.85p, but the ordinary dividend is 11.92p, so the expected final dividend (March 2020) surely totals 15.77p? (figures from the Prudential Analyst Presentation, page 20, note 3).

The following year would probably not include a special dividend, but would include an interim (usually about 1/3rd of the final), and hopefully the progressive dividend policy means an annual increase of about 5%, so DBs projected figures for 2020/21 are highly credible, and the timescale is slightly less than 18 months too - a very tempting return over that period.

True value is either 5p, because they aren't currently selling anything much and come January they will just be burning 800K per month with less than that coming in, or it's about 35p, because the infrared QDs alone are worth that much with a single application and Apple are heavily involved, or it's £2+ because multiple applications, including mid-range TVs and IR for military drones, are on the cusp of explosion, and newer applications such as astronomy haven't even been thought about. imo

Thanks liquid, interesting. It's on Directors Talk, for anyone struggling with that link. Edelman says they have booked £3.5M in the current year, and cash burn is at £800K pcm. Asked why Nano is a buy, he said it's a "leader" in QDs, has opened up a new market in infrared QDs (what he vividly described as transforming light into data), and has a lead in Intellectual property with 750+ patent applications, almost 500 already granted.

I see what you mean jatw, about market efficiency: perhaps there were technical reasons why funds could not be moved before the demerger was complete? Share price moved up both before and after, but much swifter after completion: so far, so good! I think the projected yield on MNG is slightly lower than posted elsewhere - the expected div is 15.77p, so doesn't that work out at about 7.5%? Either way, it seems like a tremendous short term return.

jatw was presumably referring to the fact that the demerger hasn't yet produced the sort of spectacular re-rating that demergerphiles were hoping for? It's early days though, and at one point the net rise was about £1 before falling back. Disappointing to see M&G drop in the afternoon to slightly below it's opening price, but you can't really complain about a combined rise of about 78p, or roughly 5%, on day 1.

"The stock has partially reduced the discount versus UK electronics and international power converter peers but continues to trade at a discount of c 30% and c 40% respectively on a current year P/E basis while offering a strong dividend yield. The company has taken steps to mitigate the impact of trade tariffs between China and the US as well as preparing for Brexit; evidence that margins are benefiting from this self-help should support upside to the stock. A return to order growth from the semiconductor equipment sector would be a further trigger for upside."

https://www.investing.com/analysis/xp-power-q3-order-intake-encouraging-200472172

Edison's assessment looks like common sense: XPP are demonstrably cheap, the dividend is generous, and business is robust thanks to sound management, despite being at the bottom of the cycle. Can anyone discern Lombard Odier's rationale for shorting?

A wizened old man sat down next to Markparker at the fireplace and looked at him queerly "Shorts increased for a month, you say?" he barked, "well, to my eye they appear to have been increasing for about three, while the share price has steadily decreased over the same period. The price was too heady, I tell ye, attracting the beady gaze of bad mean shorters, and contemporaneously, sentiment had grown wary and fearful over the sputtering bull market, surely it was an endangered species, overdue for abrupt termination? So, sadly, noble handsome investors were persuaded they had to cut risk, and sold shares with tears running down their pretty flawless faces. The nasty shorters seeing their evil acts meet with immediate success, followed the money, crying out "Momentum! Momentum!" in harsh, unmusical voices. Truculent gits. But, courage, young radar enthusiast, because meanwhile, in offices and grottos all over Softwareland, the business was growing and prospering, the rebel alliance poised to strike back, so you gotta ask yourself: when and where will the freaking bounce occur?" Markparker looked into his beer glass, stared into the fire for a while, then turned to ask the mad old codger the answer to his riddle, but he had hobbled off to play strip skittles with the one-eyed barmaid.

Moody's say the outlook is stable, although a "no-deal" Brexit might cause them a mood swing:
https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-assigns-A2-issuer-rating-to-MG-Plc-stable-outlook--PR_1000001448

"Manduca joined the Prudential's board in 2010 and stepped up to be chairman in 2012. But he is now required to stand down by 2021 because of City governance rules."

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-7570271/Prudential-scours-globe-chairmans-successor-Paul-Manduca-steps-down.html

Doom laden? Well you're the one invoking WW3 RR!

Your mathematical meltdown was more likely caused by your excitement over last weeks short lived rally. That rally was due to the "24 hour news cycle", which you seem to think is a recent development, specifically the director buying, which I posted about as a positive fact. You predicted a steady rise, without giving any reason for it, which seems like a mere guess. Nothing wrong with a guess, but it doesn't really add much to a discussion.

The more fundamental issues affecting the Pru price are mostly related to a culture clash between Chinese state capitalism and western legal capitalism. This includes the trade war and Hong Kong's future beyond 2047, but it is also spilling out into other areas, like Chinese internet hacking, and censorship, even external censorship such as the cancellation of NBA games on Chinese TV and the expulsion of the gamer Blitzchung from an international esports tournament. Financially based in HK, Pru are figuratively operating in no mans land in this battle.

The prospects and the amount of risk involved with Pru shares can probably best be evaluated by considering and weighing the relevant facts, not ignoring them. Characterising discussion of these issues as "doom laden" and "predictions" seems to be missing the point completely.

Yes John, the new M&G is a kind of internal merger really, because M&G itself always operated as a separate entity within the group, so not sure how it will integrate the other parts. Might take a while to settle. The planned special dividend shows a bit of hedging about what sort of payouts are appropriate in the long run, but with profits down at H1, it's a sensible flexible approach. The Pru part will carry on as usual, hopefully invigorated by freedom from European regulation, but the Asian part may find adapting to new regulators quite challenging, in terms of workload, in the short term.

The suspended US tariffs lifted the mood a bit, but the US/China situation only seems slightly improved, and more increases are scheduled in December: we could really do with faster progress, but at least they are talking. A more measured regime in the US would probably help the Pru SP quite a bit. A more measured approach in HK, by both sides, would work wonders.

15p? Buy buy buy!
Since James Turner's bottom feeding frenzy the price is up £1.20 in two days.
Therefore next week: up another £3? That's just logical... captain.