Member Info for buchanan101

No one should have their retirement pot in here. It seems more of a gamble than Bitcoin

Sold this morning at a small loss, may buy back in if it drops more

All Vets should say you can get meds elsewhere - they will charge for a prescription but that lasts a few months. OH (not @CVSG) always tells clients this

Close to being out of the red for me...

...just need a similar recovery with JOG where I am still 33% down. So much for all those BUY recommendations in IC

There's nothing "centre-right" about Reform UK CUPHALFULL. The whole point is that they have positioned themselves to the right of the Tories who are swinging way to the right themselves (after the fairly centrist, strange as it may seem, Johnson). A party -sorry, limited company - with Farage on the board isn't going to be "centre-right"

How independent are the CMA? I smell a bit of government direction here... to be seen to be doing something?

Of course the CMA should be allowed to investigate but it seems to me that they don't understand what has driven increases in vet prices - or they should at least have worked that out in the last 6 months... I find it strange that they announced an investigation 6 months ago, and are announcing it again now

So with 6 big vet groups there are just about as many groups as there are large supermarket chains...

Are the CMA suggesting that there are areas in the country where there isn't a choice of at least 3 vets?

So why was the price double only a few months ago; there's been no change in the underlyings since then? All that has happened is the CMA investigation

OH is just about as senior a vet you can get, and she is finally on something that a 6 year degree and almost 30 years of experience should result in. £70k, though this is for a 45 hour week. Still a fraction of what she'd be on as a doctor. Pre-pandemic she was on barely £50k. She is in one of the few industries to benefit from Brexit; if you voted Brexit and don't like higher vet fees... tough; supply and demand

The pressure on vet resources is only going to get more critical as the demand for pet care has increased - all those Covid pets starting to get to ages that need more care. And the number of dogs that are from care-intensive breeds; don't get a bulldog for example unless you have deep pockets

Indeed - it's the trade off; a bigger organisation will have more costs in the management hierarchy, but will also benefit from economies of scale

The SP dropped from 2100 to around 1700 on the original announcement about the investigation.

Oversold, again.

OH is a vet. At last she is being paid a reasonable salary - with 30 years experience. Her salary has gone up because of a shortage of vets, in large part due to Brexit (many EU vets have returned home). Practices have to pay more to attract vets, so the customer has to pay more. Also she says meds are increasing rapidly in price.

So, while I understand your point, I don't think that's the whole story; on vet (and nurse) salaries it's simple supply and demand.

(she doesn't work for CVSG, or Pets, or Lineas/Mars but for an RVC practice - their requirement is simply to break even; they are not a cash cow, but their prices are comparable with other practices)

Damn - I was thinking about selling Halfords only last week, but now I may have to buy the dip... wherever that bottoms. Surely it's a sound business and has been oversold?

A bid is more likely now. The fall is roughly in proportion to PBIT expectations, but that's only for one year and not the basis to judge a business (as it would mean a company with £0 profit is worth £0). Oversold?

Yesterday - their estimate 4.93p

I was late on these, so getting back towards breaking even.... only a small flutter; stung by putting a bit too much on to JOG recently

Be quite happy to get 18% a year - the main reason I bought some AA4

Maybe worth a top up though

@downbutnotout - how do Bollinger bands take account of major developments?

They don't - seems to be maths looking for an application but can't take in to account certain events

Indeed - diversification - there was someone whinging in the Telegraph that his nest egg had in large part been blown on Vodafone. And that's a relatively safe investment compared with PFC

My biggest holdings (relatively risky ones like JOG, CVSG and SMT) are each only about 5% of my portfolio. I'm not brave enough to commit any larger amounts. I will certainly miss out somewhere, but...

@OracleofOldham

There's a huge number of stocks on the FTSE that we are being repeatedly told are undervalued by a long way - a malaise of the FTSE in general. Due, we are told to pension funds investing globally and, recently, cash and bonds being more attractive (though there are now several FTSE stocks with yields over 8% if income is wanted).

I've been piling what I can in to (mainly) UK stocks over the last year - ISA maxxed out. It's a bit of a gamble but there are the first signs that it may pay off. I also like to try to find oversold stocks as an entry point - CVSG for example after the CMA investigation was announced. Hopefully AAL was similarly oversold (though I suspect not to the same extent)

@Retec

Chinese manufacture doesn't necessarily mean poor quality, and UK made doesn't necessarily mean high quality. It's a lazy old trope - plenty of excellent quality stuff comes out of China; if Doc Martens have poor quality then that's poor sourcing

iphones are mostly made in China - have you ever had one that has failed? (I haven't, though that's tempting fate given I access almost everything on there)

@Dive Centre - I thought that valuations at around 500p or more were after allowing for risk?