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I think that the only way back for Truss is to get rid of Kwarteng and appoint Rishi Sunak as Chancellor with the brief of using his policies to repair the damage. That would calm the markets and heal political divisions.

Yes, the new PowerPoint presentation reinforces the way forward and MKS remains a firm hold.
Those of us who brought in just after Covid are still well in profit, despite the roller-coaster.

Nothing has really changed, it's just that the abysmal macro has wrecked the SP and short-term gains that would have given us a dividend are on hold waiting for the upturn.

For potential investors, now is a good time to start thinking about buying, but DYOR.

Valuplay
We have seen before just how good Ocado are at problem solving, I have no doubt they will be learning from this economic squeeze and will adapt strategies to combat it.

Personally, I prefer to take a longer-term view and look past the current problems to a time when Ocado Retail can enjoy better more profitable times with a larger network of CFC's to fully exploit the market.

Thankfully we don't just have to rely on the recovery of the UK market, other Ocado Solution partners will soon be providing income, and their economies may be quicker to recover than the UK economy, especially Kroger in the US.

Not sure if Bicester is open for business yet Neil but they are certainly ramping up for opening and seem to have recruited most of the staff, so I guess they will be open well in advance of Christmas.

Encouraging numbers for Ocado Retail from Kantar today - they have retained market share in a very difficult market and sales are also up over 5% compared to the 12 weeks up to the end of October 2021

Clearly M&S and Ocado Retail are winning this battle with Waitrose.

Waitrose are in free fall with market share down from 5.1% to 4.7% and sales down -3.1%.

The focus has to be the rivalry between M&S/Ocado Retail and Waitrose.

Clearly M&S and Ocado Retail are winning this battle and Waitrose are in free fall with market share down from 5.1% to 4.7% and sales down -3.1%.

Certainly, basket sizes are smaller - on my delivery today the driver had 25 drops, it was down to about 12 drops during the pandemic - but that is only to be expected in the current economic climate.
The clear advantage now is that Ocado Retail can quickly ramp up supply as demand increases - unlike the situation they were in during the Covid pandemic.

Ocado Retail is basically on hold until the economy improves - the problem is that we don't have a clear answer when that will be. The good news today is that they are holding their own regarding market share and certainly doing better than Waitrose, Morrisons, Sansbury's, Asda and Tesco who are losing market share.

Consolidation or disintegration of the rapid grocery delivery market - the jury's out on this one at the moment.

Interesting market share figures from Kantar this morning comparing the 12 weeks to the end of October with the equivalent period last year.
Ocado maintained their 1.6% market share and increased sales by 5.3% - the third largest increase in sales after Aldi and Lidl and level with Iceland.
Waitrose and Morrisons fared very badly losing market share and sales - sales down 3.1% and 3.9% respectively.

As expected, the discounters gained market share and sales were much higher, but it's not all about price, quality, range and convenience count for a lot, with customer loyalty also a big factor, even if customers are reducing their weekly spend.

SFH300
Russia and Saudi may try to control crude supply but in reality, they are unlikely to be successful. The US is ramping up supply and Iran and Venezuela are both likely to be let back into the market over the next 6 months or so.
This article is very credible -
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4545539-opec-plus-decision-wont-keep-oil-prices-high

Hello Neil
My guess is that M&S is performing better than most in this difficult market but that the HY update will be lackluster - much the same as Ocado Retail. So, short term the outlook is poor, and the SP will remain in the doldrums.

I do think that 2023 will be much better than expected because energy prices will fall - they always do in a recession - and inflation will also fall back. This will reset the world economy and when China starts to recover, we will see the prospect for growth again and share prices will improve substantially.

Ocado's problems lie with the bad macro, rather than anything the company has done.
So, what can we expect in 2023?

My view is that recessionary pressures will continue but the end result will be positive.

We will I think see a big drop in the price of crude and gas as well if the Ukrainian war ends - although that is less likely - the price of crude always fall dramatically in a recession.

A fall in the price of energy along with the Chinese economy still being in the doldrums will be the backdrop for recovery at the start of 2023 as China then turns the corner and the US and then Europe head back into growth later in 2023.

Crude prices fall back in times of recession much more dramatically than the fall in demand for crude.
So any assessment of the oil price in 2023 will clearly be more a question of how the world economy will perform.
With the Chinese economy and the war in Ukraine the main factors.

Its sentiment rather than supply that drives the price of crude - demand will always be satisfied because no one controls the market.

Clearly this proves that renewables can compete with carbon fuels on price and they are in fact a better option for consumers in the long term because they don't fluctuate in price like carbon fuels.

However, the best option at least in the short to medium term is a mix of different energy sources, including carbon, and it makes no sense to penalize consumers by linking renewable prices to gas - let the market sort that one out.

Increasing investment is an option now but maybe wait until the market settles.

Its slow progress but I think DP and Eqtec do have what it takes to make this business a success.

Growing a business listed on AIM is always messy with more downs than ups but the eventual rewards for the business and investors can be substantial.

The timing of last week's less than perfect interims built up the negative momentum.
This combined with the abysmal performance of the Chancellor has totally put the kybosh on the SP.
I guess though that for anyone who is prepared to take the plunge, that now would be a good time to buy, but DYOR.

It seems to me that Truss should sack Kwarteng and reappoint Sunak as Chancellor with the brief of working with the Bank of England to sort out the mess and then create long term economic stability using his policies.

It seems to me that Truss should sack Kwarteng and reappoint Sunak as Chancellor with the brief of working with the Bank of England to sort out the mess and create long term economic stability using his policies.

I guess that if Amazon did show interest other potential buyers would quickly emerge, including solution partners and other big tech companies.

It's actually a very good for our economy that Junior and Senior Directors of our PLC's move around and gain experience in multiple businesses and different sectors - just a few thousand or so high earners hold the key to success or failure of UK business, they need all the experience they can get.