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It's a topsy turvy world. My father sailed on the Russian convoys , once to Murmansk and once to Archangel, his ship carried only three things, aviation fuel and munitions to keep the Russian airforce in the air (the UK desperately needed them to stay at war with Hitler) and lard to feed the Russian population ( Lard is the only thing that could fatten them up to survive the severe winters and they ate it in chunks).
incidentally, he was told before each voyage that if the ship was hit it would explode (all that fueland ammo) and there would be no survivors.One convoy lost 23 of 36 ships with virtually no survivors. Spoiler alert - he survived!!

I can see why SHEL are/were reluctant to abandon Russia, they hold a 25% stake in Sakhalin,which on the first estimates I found see
"The two fields contain an estimated 1,200 million barrels (190×106 m3) of crude oil and 500 billion cubic meters (18 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas; 9.6 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per year and about 180,000 barrels per day (29,000 m3/d) of oil will be produced."
It is an enormous resource and shell has already been screwed over by Russia when it ceded control see
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2007/apr/19/oilandpetrol.news
nevertheless, the misjudgments of the past (as seen with the hindsight now available)have to be dealt with and the compensation for SHEL and its shareholders is that extricating itself now is unavoidable and can be better dealt with financially in the light of shells substantial current profit cycle.
Even though Shel will have to book a significant cost in its next accounts(and who knows that might be a bonus if the "windfall tax" brigade don't come to their senses), as a holder I am more comfortable with my holding on both a moral and financial standpoint

The £500 mill buyback represents about 10% of the market cap. and should, all else equal, drive the SP up by that amount, if the divi is held in "cash terms " then in theory it should mean a 10% uplift in next year's divi. I have held these since the split and may add . I like boring profitable investments!

see this
https://www.fxempire.com/news/article/britain-to-start-approval-process-for-rolls-royce-mini-nuclear-reactor-925778
first baby steps towards formal approval for SMR's tho' still years away and niot yet relevant to SP.

LTI you should buy Ocado - the ticker would suit you!
and by the way, if you really follow the markets as closely as you claim you would have known from my running commentary on the presentation on 28 Feb that the GSK spin-off is called Haleon (and that due to the total ineptitude shown by the GSK management team I have sold!)

I have been buying these up for a few weeks now and added again today. My usual boring, predictable, profitable, preferred investment .For those who don't know this is a bet on rising commodity prices which IMVHO is almost a no-brainer in the light of the current "war". Even when/, if it ends the effects of the West's pivot away from Russia for oil, gas and grain, will force medium to long-term price rises, and hence appreciation here.

just added some a few mins ago at 88p. WHY ? Well as often stated I'm a long term holder and even tho' I know the SP might go down from here I firmly believe that at some time in the future (ie within a year or two)the SP will in all probability be above my buy price.The other factor to wiegh is volatility, RR has a beta of 1.6 , that means that over time it has demonstrated that the SP moves over one and a half times as fast as the FTSE 100. Given that its a near -ceratinty that the FTSE will be above its current levl in the future I expect that RR will provide a larger return than some of my more boring long term holds(some of which arte currentl up quite alot and which I have trimmed to fiance this purchase(and a few others).
LTH is not IMV a buy and forget strategy, it is a buy and manage , taking profits from your winners and reinvesting them in other potential winners,(at least thats the intention!!!)

I have sought to explain why almost ALL shares fall in a panic, some more than others and it's NOT to do with the intrinsic worth of a share, it's to do with the need for the major holders of assets , banks, insurance co's and investment managers to protect their positions by a judicious,but widespread rebalance , . There will be lots of shares sold to fund purchase of UK gilts , US bonds , particularly TIPSand in the current case to increase holdings in the few sectors where revenues will grow as a result of conflict eg oils and miners, defence stocks and maybe even healthcare.See my last few posts on this board for complementary analysis .

Falky .. before or after you were £ 40k down!

I posted the other day about the death of Shane Warne , a quite good aussie cricketer, who I met some years ago at the Sydney new years test.I was the guest of my son's father in law in a box and Warne was a " meet and greet" guy which meant he had to wander around the boxes chatting and getting free drinks at others expense.
Anyway the only repeatable story I remember is this.
"Warne spent a spell playing for Hampshire and one night in the middle of a four day match he went out for a few beers after the close. He met a group of nursing trainees in a local pub and "pulled "one of them . She invited him back to her residential accommmodation for "cocoa" . He got in to the back seat of the car with her and her mates, one of whom was driving them back, were in the front , they hadn't gone far when she unzipped him and began an anatomical examination , after a few minute in his words he was "in danger of spraying some ammo over the back of the drivers seat" so ever the gentleman he asked if they could stop the car as he needed to relieve himself .
They pulled over in a dark coutry road and he got out . There was a grass verge and a low stone wall , knowing he didn't really want to pee and aware that the cars headlight were illuminating the scene, he put one hand on the wall and hopped over. Unfortunately for him there was a six or seven foot drop on the far side and as he landed he turned his ankle .He gave himself a minute or so and clambered backover the wall and back to the car . They got to the nurses quarters and despite a now aching ankle he finally distributed his "ammo" - he claims three times - (we cannot be sure of the accuracy of this statement)
The following morning he woke up with a swollen ankle but no other anatomical swellings and politely took leave of his lady friend and got a taxi back to his flat , changed and went to the Hampshire ground (the rose bowl or the Ageas?)
on arrival he reported to the club physio that he had a swollen ankle and when asked how it happened he replied , " iI got when I twisted it getting out of bed " . The physio's response was "do you remember whose?"
He missed the days play and Hampshire lost.
He was a great cricketer and a real nice guy , his wife may a have a more jaundiced view, but perhaps we should all learn the capacity to forgive.
Ok, back to the petty bickering.

Here is something quite important.
https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/putin-seeks-to-avert-defaults-with-ruble-payments-to-creditors

Essentially Putin has defaulted on Russia's debt, anyone expecting payment in a stable currency whether that be dollars euros or pounds is being told they'll get roubles.Yeah that's the rouble which has fallen sharply against every major world currency in the last few days , he might as well offer to pay debts in jelly babies. I assume that tomorrow the rouble will collapse against all major currencies and all Russian companies and the funds which hold them will be uninvestable. As I have said lately, as an investing coward, I am heavily in cash at the mo.and will sit on the sidelines until the fan stops spraying the s**t around.
OK substantive business/financial news over, get back to petty squabbling
with (a little) love and affection
casa

fleccy I based that comment on the "beta" of BT which is pretty close to 1. which means that it tends to move about the same as the index of which it is part, unlike eg LLOY which has a beta of 1.5 so all else equal, it will move 1.5 times the moves in the FTSE 100, whether that be up or down. In other words BT is a less volatile share than many others in the index. the other factor that we are both aware of is , of course, Drahi's interest, but again we both know that he can't move now until June, I think?
So to rephrase my point, BT's stability is, in this case, a weakness rather than a strength.
I know as a committed holder here you can find counter arguments to any perceived negativity (and it is only perceived I still hold )here but I am comfortable with my analysis.

Fleccy see my post of 9.01 today, if you are a major holder in need of cash then BT is an obvious sell, you can reduce your position knowing the SP is very unlikely to soar even if the Ukraine situation is resolved tomorrow . You may need cash for day-to-day expenditure if you are a bank, insurance company, investment trust etc all of whom need substantial day to day funding. You may want to position yourself with resources to buy the higher beta stocks that will bounce more sharply ie airlines, holiday cos, etc . when matters calm down, as they eventually will .
As with all of us every buy or sell is a judgment as to where the best opportunities lie. There will be lots of II's sitting on substantial profits through BT holdings acquired in the last year or so who have decided to increase their cash position, just as I have done.
When you say "cash is trash " I must strongly disagree with you, without cash you risk missing many of the opportunities the markets frequently throw up.

Some years ago I was in a box at the SCG and Warne was doing the"meet and greet", along with Brian Lara. As you may imagine Warnie had a vast repertoire of stories - none of which I could repeat here, but he was just a natural,spontaneous character, as well as being one of the greatest cricketers of all time. Having said that he did help himself copiously to "our" free champagne!!! but his company was well worth it!

Falky as someone who (if you are reporting your positions accurately) is about £30k down on a £7k investment , don't you think you should refrain from making price guesses?

Brix. just to be clear the Gov. has NOT agreed to match your drink and fags bill pound for pound, Sunak said it would be too great a strain on the Exchequer.

Brix the DEC appeal is for a group of 15 major charities and the UK gov has agreed to match every donation pound for pound, so it is the most efficient way to contribute, if you chip in your drink and fags money for the week it should save many lives, maybe including yours!!

Off topic but I have just donated to the DEC appeal for Ukraine see
https://donation.dec.org.uk/ukraine-humanitarian-appeal/
All of us wealthy (?) shareholders can help those much poorer than ourselves and in much greater need.

Fleccy I fully accept the logic of a committed long-term holder and from your previous posts, I know that you know far more about BT than I do.
That said, there are a number of points to make, not to diss. your position but to facilitate intelligent discussion.
First, as divi investor you will note that today's fall wipes out a full year's divis in one swoop, yeah , the SP will recover, maybe this pm or tomorrow or next week/month/year. But I have learned over a few decades of investing that being a long-term investor is not just buy and forget ,it needs a certain degree of activism, it is to be aware of the markets and respond when it's necessary. That invariably means dealing with minor or major crises in a proactive manner . The current time is, without doubt, such a moment.
Over my investing life there have been half a dozen significant stock market shocks from the "dot com" bubble to the current day and I have also found that they offer the most significant way to enhance long term returns. My strategy has evolved to taking some profits (or even accepting some losses) to position myself to benefit from sharp oscillations in the market , it isn't necessary (or possible) to buy at the bottom and sell at the top , BUT IMV it is possible to buy somewhere on the downslope and sell later at a higher point on the upslope. That 's what I aim to do and have been able to do through most of the major market upheavals. I have said before that my base aim is Inflation +10% pa and I've done that every year bar three since the late 90's . Compounding has made that a significant long term gain , but the several years when I have made the largest profits have all been during or following a crisis, I hope this year will be another!
As I said at the outset we all have our strategies , and I repeat good luck with yours.

AA .. something else vital I should have mentioned. When the investment world is chaotic I cut down my caffeine intake and replace it with green tea!