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It appears that this morning's RNS has been replaced by another timed at 08.12. As the original appears to have been deleted, it's hard to tell what has been changed/corrected. It is worth noting, though, that the headline profit for the year is unchanged at £110 million from that quoted in August. That may be, in part, a contribution to the SP recovery at the moment.

STupmy Kroger has been selling groceries in the USA for 140 years and have 2,700 stores, I think they would very definitely be the senior partner when it comes to choosing locations. In the current situation, it is clearly Kroger who are choosing to close CFCs, so WADR I think your argument has little credence.

Two of the Kroger closure sites, Baltimore and Chicago, appear in the top ten of the latest list of the US's "shrinking cities"; Baltimore's rate of child births down 18% in the last two decades, and Chicago's down 31%. Fewer children, smaller families, less grocery shopping. I repeat my view that the problem is essentially Kroger's mismanagement.

Relatively muted SP reaction, things may change, but I suspect the worst is over for now, at least. The next major pinch point is who gets the CEO job. His/her status will be a measure of the company's prospects in the short to medium term.

Https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/SMWH/findings-following-the-independent-deloitte-review/17333669

On quick first reading, these are the key quotes

"The overstatement of supplier income identified in the North America division is substantially a timing rather than an existence issue, and relates to the application of accounting standards.

In North America, Headline trading profit1 is expected to be in the range of £5m-£15m, down from the revised expectation of around £25m announced on 21 August 2025 and previous market expectations of £55m."

It's an embarrassment and will lead to reduced profit figures this year, BUT , it could have been much worse. A full read of the RNS is HIGHLY recommended. The market's reaction is as unpredictable as ever, but I am happy to hold and should the now typical sharp fall following any news take place, I will add. SMWH is now a bet on the volume of air travel in the US and the spending propensity of the US traveller. I have faith that both will continue to rise.

Sangu

MS may not have seen the contract, but they DO know their way around the markets in the US and they will have alerted their investment bank customers who may hold stock in either or both of OCDO and Kroger, what they think the outcome will be. That's the sort of advice they get paid to offer.

The three closures are adjacent to the cities ranked 3rd , 30th and 58th by population in the US, and each of them occupies areas of several hundred square kilometres. I don't know what sort of volumes were expected by OCDO/KROGER, but it is clear that they have not been met. Whether the choice of three closures is a foretaste of more, we don't know and whether others are equally failing to meet projected targets. Whatever the outcome of this deal, I don't think it signals the end for OCDO , or indeed the end of its prospects in the US, which is why I have added to my holding today.

Sangi

"our expectation" is doing a lot of work in the RNS . So an expectation is not FALSE information, though it may be misleading. It pays to read ALL RNS's with a critical mindset. OCDO do not comment as to what, if any, legal commitments would lead them to "EXPECT" $250 Million, and as with anything subject to negotiation, you start with your most extreme hope and negotiate from there.

As it happens, Morgan Stanley has now gone public with the estimate of £17 million per site, which I quoted.

Time will tell.......

Ocado will clearly say what they hope to get, based on the contract, BUT that presupposes that the whole Kroger deal is abandoned. So far, there is NO suggestion that that will happen. MY source has based their cash value on the news which has been announced, NOT an assumption that the entire deal goes down. Indeed, there is still no suggestion from Kroger that they will abandon the whole project, though, of course, that may happen.

My source is a UK-based consultancy with knowledge of the contract, and they have said they will publish their findings very soon (ie once they' ve been checked for legal liability.......) I am unlikely to be prosecuted!

What false info?

I posted a while ago(5 Nov) about my concerns with Kroger's strategic approach to the rollout of the OCDO facilities, where I suggested that Kroger had chosen sites badly. It now transpires that the 3 closures are at

Frederick, about 50 km from Baltimore, Maryland

Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, 70km from Chicago, and

Groveland, Florida, roughly 50km from Orlando

Of these places, only Chicago is in the US's top twenty populous cities, and as you can see, the distances are significant.

It is therefore not too surprising that Kroger have found them not to operate profitably or generate the volume and intensity of demand they need.

Initial estimates from a UK-based source ( which I can't reveal)are for around £17million compensation for each closure ie £ 51 million in total to be paid to OCDO by Kroger. This comes on top of a $ 6oo million compensation they are due to pay Alberstons following the breakdown of that merger.

Once the initial hysteria dies down, I think the market might see today's news in a slightly (or markedly) better light.

I will follow up if I get any further insights.

GLA

I posted a while ago(5 Nov) about my concerns with Kroger's strategic approach to the rollout of the OCDO facilities, where I suggested that Kroger had chosen sites badly. It now transpires that the 3 closures are at

Frederick, about 50 km from Baltimore, Maryland

Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, 70km from Chicago, and

Groveland, Florida, roughly 50km from Orlando

Of these places, only Chicago is in the US's top twenty populous cities, and as you can see, the distances are significant.

It is therefore not too surprising that Kroger have found them not to operate profitably or generate the volume and intensity of demand they need.

Initial estimates from a UK-based source ( which I can't reveal)are for around £15million compensation for each closure ie £ 51 million in total to be paid to OCDO by Kroger. This comes on top of a $ 6oo million compensation they are due to pay Alberstons following the breakdown of that merger.

Once the initial hysteria dies down, I think the market might see today's news in a slightly (or markedly) better light.

I will follow up if I get any further insights.

GLA

I've just added substantially(though my broker struggled to get a price). The Kroger news is, as I posted a while ago, more a function of that company's ineptitude in implementation, rather than the OCDO product. Though the market takes note of the cash hit and the doubts about the technology, the upside is the possibility of a cash settlement, although US courts ALMOST NEVER find against an American entity in a dispute with a foreign one, regardless of the evidence. A greater benefit might be that a link with an alternative grocery chain in the US is now possible.

I retain my view that OCDO's future is bright, and I have effectively doubled down on that view.

No, not the SP, BUT almost as significant, on this page I have 12 filtered posts, that's a new record for me.................

Jet 2 currently has 133 aircraft in service and has orders for 129 more; clearly, some will be replaced, but it is a reasonable assumption that the fleet will grow significantly( the average age of their fleet is fourteen years, with a normal lifespan of about 20 years).AFAIK, they plan to base 6 planes at Gatwick, and they always aim for near 100% loading. I haven't seen anything from the company detailing their overall fleet growth, but a reasonable guess would be that the fleet grows toward 200 in the medium term. Extrapolating that to revenues would take them beyond £10 billion, with profits at ~£700m all else equal. From memory, Jet2's P/E has been in single digits for some time, and so accepting that gets us to an SP comfortably above £20.

All speculation and assumptions, and unforeseen events may have a major impact. BUT I am hovering over the buy button again, delaying more because of Government chaos and the looming budget. I have limit buys set for 1275, 1250, and 1200and would expect at least one of those to be triggered in the near future, perhaps on or around budget day!

Mallen yes, that's true, and so, on that basis, the JV had an implied value of £770 million last June.Following significant volume growth, I think that its value will have climbed sharply

I would hesitate to imply any ulterior motive(but not for long!), and so it seems entirely possible that it was more about trying to reduce the settlement needed to resolve the dispute about bonus payments estimated at £191 million referred to earlier. IF MKs had simply accepted the carrying value of the JV , then their argument that it had failed to meet targets, and hence the royalty payments are not due, is weakened.

It is also the case that the JV is to be incorporated in MKS accounts WEF the next FY, and a sudden bounce in its value post that date would enhance MKS accounts!.

Call me cynical (many do), but IMV recent events here seem much more favourable than the markets seem willing to accept. I will hold until that view changes.

MKS intend to consolidate the JV into their accounts WEF 25/25 reporting year

The terms of the contract were obviously commercial in confidence, but we do know this.

Stuff in quotes is from official docs , the other stuff is my take

"Financials: M&S invested £750 million for its 50% stake. Payments were structured with an upfront portion and performance-based elements tied to the JV's growth up to and including 2023. The total value of the JV was estimated at £1.5 billion at launch."

Note the date, it is clear that the expected volumes (whatever they were) were NOT achieved by that date, and that is the subject of the ongoing dispute over this para

Payments were structured with an upfront portion and performance-based elements tied to the JV's growth up to and including 2023.

The date repeated is 2023. What we don't know is what the expected volumes were, but even though they weren't achieved by 2023, unless they were enormous, it seems highly probable that the JV is NOW hitting those targets and is growing rapidly.

Assuming the targets are now being hit or very nearly and are growing, I can't believe that both parties won't reach a settlement soon.

As the value of the JV was assumed to be £1.5 billion at the outset, it's reasonable to assume that, fully proven, it is worth at least that, if not substantially more.

As I have said previously, that makes it's value almost as much as OCDO's current market cap, and it's still appreciating.

Https://ondonstockexchange.com/news-article/III/director-pdmr-shareholding/17326952

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/III/director-pdmr-shareholding/17328254

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/III/director-pdmr-shareholding/17328311

Director 's have bought 59000 shares at a cost of almost £2million

That $ sign should be a four.

I have recently dabbled in buying when IMV, the market reaction to moderately negative results is way overdone. I did so here yesterday and again today, to now have a fair few at an average of just under 3500. I must be honest, as I saw the SP continue to plunge, I thought I'd picked the one stock where a sharp market recovery might not happen. I don't know what the future holds here, but I am reassured that the bleeding looks to have stopped and a recovery, of sorts, is now at least a possibility. I don't see the dizzy heights of $000+ for a while, but I do think I might be in profit in the short term.

We'll see!