Member Info for chilting

The idea that Ocado furloughed any staff is ludicrous - they were so busy over the lockdown that they needed every one of their staff and then some.

John Lewis seem to be flaying about in the wind - I think that it is the Department Stores that are their biggest short term problem but loosing the Ocado listing has to be a devastating blow for Waitrose and will certainly undermine their profitability.

I do think, though that Waitrose is in a much better position than the big four - they have well located stores in many affluent market towns and a good chain of convenience stores and like M&S their customer base will cover the higher margins.

Delivery is the problem - even Amazon don't have a delivery solution that is profitable or practical for perishable goods.

All the big four are struggling with online - it is just an extra tier of expense - look at Tesco with an extra 16000 jobs for online.
The more customers go online the less the bricks and mortar supermarkets are used - long term this is a disaster - look at the way Debenhams went down. Taken to a logical conclusion all that is left is online and convenience stores.

Only Ocado have the answer - delivery direct from the warehouse with orders picked by robots - very profitable!

And that brings us back to the other 50% of Ocado Retail - the quick and profitable route to online and bigger market share for any of the players.

The deal for Ocado has to be the one who will commit to build the most CFC's in the UK and around the world - probably Amazon or Tesco. Maybe Kroger would fancy an entry into the UK market???

I guess if the corvid restrictions stay in place then winter flu will also be supressed.

Valueplay
Don't forget MKS is a contrarian investment at the moment and it won't be until market conditions stabilise and Ocado Retail starts to make an impact that things change.
Ocado Solutions is anything but contrarian and will continue to fly.
At the end of the day both companies will win out and in my view give both sets of investors excellent gains but in totally different time frames.

I see that you are back in black and white mode again Valueplay.
It may take a while but grey will win out in the end.

It takes a lot to turn round a contrarian investment like M&S but when it does start to move we should see a very good rebound but the spark isn't there yet - huge patience will be required.
Ocado on the other hand is a darling tech stock that I think will just carry on going up and up - the latest rise has been without any news stimulus. Don't underestimate the potential Ocado has on the world stage - it has far better tech than Amazon.

MKS Marks & Spencer Group PLC JP Morgan Cazenove Neutral Neutral 170
MKS Marks & Spencer Group PLC Barclays Capital Overweight Overweight 140

Another potential customer for Ocado Solutions that also fits in well with this thread.
Maybe a good investment as well.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53908475

The super tanker Front Savannah is now on her way to Port Said with the last two Kraken loads showing a massive draught of 16.7m - that's a lot of crude, that will probably end up in Singapore.

Fancy calling his Education Minister a mutant algorithm!

There are extremely high margins on mail order plants with very little price competition but the market is fairly small.
Customers get far less for their money from mail order compared to buying in the garden centre and carriage costs are high.
This year off course mail order plant sales have been frenetic and are still at high levels - in fact the whole of the garden trade is exceptionally buoyant as a result of the lockdown.
In general plants and flowers are not good items to send via carrier, although many flowers are sent out in this way - the customer experience is generally not a good one and complaints are high.
We just use the internet to gather orders for plants and garden sundries - this was exceptionally successful during the lockdown - and do our own local deliveries or click and collect but would not consider mail order.

It looks to me that the fall in the market cap is mainly down to a devaluation in the property portfolio due to coronavirus and the impact that has covering the level of debt - in other words its technical and temporary - SP will fly when coronavirus is sorted.

Jimjam
They borrow the money then print more = quantitative easing.
In June the Bank of England added £475 billion in quantitative easing.
Globally the figure for 2020 is expected to reach $6 trillion.
Increasing interest rates won't help because it will bankrupt nations - only way out is inflation, simply to devalue the amount borrowed.
Its not a good time to hold Bank shares - note Warren Buffett is selling.

Hello londoner
Ye, I brought some last night just before close, I brought at the bid price 77.00, so I guess all those late trades last night were buys.
Like Enquest, Breedon seem to be a very well run company with high quality assets, they have obviously suffered since March but seem to have come back strongly and have plenty in the Bank and with better market conditions should do well.
Also, they are in a market that can dictate price - that will help if we do get higher inflation.
As for Bitumen my view is that that will remain at its present price level for the foreseeable future.
I guess that CMA post was deleted because it looked like insider information - it was also a first time post from an account created yesterday. As you say, it looks like Breedon anticipated the CMA report and have a remedy.

No drama - all as expected by Breedon and the market.

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/BREE/cma-s-review-of-proposed-acquisition/14665889

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/construction-materials-deal-raises-competition-concerns

26/08/2021
Logic says that oil supply will be tight but with so many sources of supply will that be the case?
So many questions - so many variables - no clear answers - yet.
Bull or Bear???

26/08/2022
Logic says that oil supply will be tight but with so many sources of supply will that be the case?
So many questions - so many variables - no clear answers - yet.
Bull or Bear???

En attendant Godot....