Member Info for chilting

One hidden cost saving for retailers who don't have tills is that they are not expected to take cash.
As a retailer, we have done our best to eliminate cash and the Covid pandemic has certainly helped, we are now down to less than 5% of turnover.
The problem isn't just handling it, but the cost of paying in.
Banks have adjusted their charges to favour everything digital so it now costs about £35 in charges to take 5k in cards and £78.40 to pay in 5k in cash.
Its these hidden charges that make all the difference to the bottom line.

It certainly looks like the SP here is being pulled up by the Morrisons bidding war.
Crazy over there at the moment with over six million shares traded in the first ten minutes and SP up around 11%.

I am not quite sure what to make of the news that John Lewis is to build 10,000 rental properties on some sites it owns and on entirely new sites.

The idea of utilising surplus property for residential use is excellent and certainly something that M&S should do by simply selling the site to a developer.

But the rest of the John Lewis plan is frankly a bit weird.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57712618

The last time I was involved in a successful takeover - It eventually becomes a formal process with a timetable, including the shareholders vote.

After it became obvious that the successful bid would proceed, there were two options.
The first was to sell before the shares were suspended - this was at a very small discount to the offer price.
The second was to wait for the full payout - maybe up to a couple of weeks after the shares were suspended.

Sorry - that should read should not accept...

Shareholders here certainly should accept that the Fortress offer is the final offer - CD&R haven't even made a comment yet, so they could easily come back with a higher counterbid or someone else might make a bid - its never over until the shareholders have voted.

L3
I have every confidence in AB and that he will get the job done - its always the oil market that is my concern, not Enquest, and now that looks good we have two green lights for the first time since the Autumn of 2018.

If you look to closely at the what ifs you will always reach a negative conclusion, so just concentrate on the big picture.

Yep, Brent's going to be kicking on towards $80 by tomorrow evening or falling back to $70 - OPEC+ firmly in the driving seat.

Assuming they do a deal, its great news for the SP - it will be the first time since I invested in Enquest - about 5-6 years ago - that we can be sure that Brent will remain high for a prolonged period - well into 2022.

Good news towards OPEC's aim of balancing supply and demand.

https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/oil/070421-global-oil-markets-need-more-crude-than-opec-planning-to-add-vitol-asias-muller

This is an opportunistic deal to purchase the property assets of Morrisons - I guess shareholders will get what the highest bidder is willing to pay for these and their is certainly scope for a higher bid.

If its Fortress who win they also have the added incentive of incorporating their Majestic Wine supply chain and warehousing with Morrisons - probably why they will pay more.

As for Morrisons on a day to day basis, I guess the existing board and CEO will carry on as normal with the same freedom of operation - just bigger personal bank balances.

Yes, there is certainly the potential to repurpose natural gas grids to nitrogen and this can be a gradual process as the percentage of nitrogen to gas is increased. This will I think become common practice around the world.

Using these hydrogen grids for anything other than what the existing natural gas grids are used for is a much bigger step because it requires so much infrastructure and collaboration between Governments and manufacturers.

If id did happen it could for example be used to power a city's buses or a train network but beyond that the cost becomes a insurmountable barrier, especially as the costs relating to EV's fall as global economies of scale kick in. The Citroen Ami at under 5k shows what can be achieved.

HGV's powered by hydrogen would I think only become a reality, if battery power isn't a viable option but advances in battery technology seem to indicate that this won't be the case.

So I think that transport won't be hydrogen powered but the electricity that powers the EV's and fabricates them will defiantly benefit from hydrogen - this is what make Ceres SOEC tech so exciting.

And don't forget M&S have their 50% stake in Ocado Retail - any big player would value that as a way to get into the UK grocery market - Kroger with an Investment Company partner for example - that would be a massive blow to the big four.

Kroger have launched their home delivery partnership with Ocado in Florida - a state where they don't even have any stores.

Neil
Fortress Investment Group also own Majestic Wine, so they have some experience of UK retail.
My guess is that the present directors will stay with Morrisons and it will be business as usual, unless they want out.

Fortress are already active in the UK retail sector - they own Majestic Wine.

From the Ocado board - both links curtesy of Valueplay.

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/britains-morrisons-agrees-87-bln-offer-fortress-investment-group-2021-07-03/

https://www.theguardian.com/gnm-press-office/2021/jul/02/the-guardian-partners-with-ocado-to-create-a-ground-breaking-shoppable-experience-that-helps-readers-get-the-most-from-its-recipes

Now that is brilliant marketing!!!

Now is certainly not the time to sell - take advantage of the OO, if you have the opportunity - profit will come as the SP rises with Brent - then top slice all the way up to just leave profit - after that its a gamble but don't get left with the Bear.

mrc
It most certainly is - at the moment - but anyone who played the card came Pit as a child will realise that if you are left with the Bear, then you are stuffed.

I guess that if the current management team remain in place that we will see little difference in the relationship between Ocado and Morrisons and with an investment group financing the deal that's the most likely outcome.

Growth shares like Ocado should only be considered as a long term investment.
In the short term there may be pain, but carry on adding to your investment in the dips and in the long term you will be richly rewarded.
I was down 95% with ITX - now up nearly 500%.