Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
Nm
Https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-12469139/Direct-Line-set-pay-30m-overcharged-customers-thanks-FCA-price-walking-rules.html#:~:text=Direct%20Line%20has%20warned%20it,by%20the%20Financial%20Conduct%20Authority.
Car insurance. Some customers going to move all their insurances
I am long standing customer and my insurance renewal has been put 70%. I have battled it down to 30% but not renewed yet. Judging by comments from disgruntled customers who are jumping ship this company could go bust. Glad I sold shares in April 2022 for 278
Https://invezz.com/news/2023/07/11/is-the-jd-sports-share-price-an-outright-bargain/
Ha ha. Boost to sales though
https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/23000840/fashion-fans-asos-frankie-bridge-dress-bargain/
From BBC News
The maker of Dove soap and Cornetto ice cream has defended its decision to keep operating in Russia more than a year after the country invaded Ukraine.
Unilever said that exiting was "not straightforward" as its operations would be taken over by the Russian state if it abandoned them.
It comes after a campaign group estimated the firm is contributing £579m to the Russian economy annually.
The Moral Rating Agency accused the firm of facilitating Russia's invasion.
More bad news.
Sharecast News) - Vanquis Banking Group has named City veteran Sir Peter Estlin chair, the subprime lender confirmed on Friday.
The former acting chief financial officer of Barclays will succeed Patrick Snowball, who announced plans to step down as chair earlier in the year. Estlin joined the board of Vanquis, previously Provident Financial, as a non-executive director in April.
Andrea Blance, the senior independent director who led the recruitment process, called Estlin the "outstanding" candidate.
She continued: "His experience will be valuable to the board and the group as we continue to develop as the specialist banking group for customers who find it difficult to access mainstream lenders."
Chartered accountant Estlin, a former Lord Mayor, has spent his entire career in finance and banking, including lengthy stints at Citigroup and Barclays, where he worked for a decade until 2019.
Snowball will continue as chair until Estlin has regulatory approval to take up the role, Vanquis said.
Gary Greenwood, analyst at Shore Capital - which acts as joint broker to Vanquis - said: "[Estlin] has both the industry knowledge and political acumen to fit the role well. This announcement also removes key uncertainty around the board's leadership, ahead of the commencement of new chief executive Ian McLaughlin."
Current incumbent Malcolm Le May is leaving to become chief executive of Bank of Ireland UK.
Provident Financial announced in January that it was dropping its 140-year-old name, as it continued to distance itself from its previous business of high-cost door-to-door lending, which it closed in 2021. It now focuses on providing credit cards, motor finance and personal loans.
GBX 140.85
3.92%
-5.75 Today
Jun 27, 8:15:03
The DS Smith plc (LON: SMDS) share price has fallen 12.52% in the past week despite releasing upbeat full-year financial results for the 12 months that ended 30 April 2023. The company revealed that demand for its packaging products had declined substantially, triggering the selloff.
Still, despite the lower demand for its products, DS Smith reported improved revenues of £8,221 million, marking an 11% increase from the previous year’s figures. The company attributed its higher revenues to the higher prices of its products despite the lower demand.
HL COMMENT (22 JUNE 2023)
DS Smith reported full-year revenue of £8.2bn, up 11% when ignoring the effects of exchange rates. Higher prices were the key driver of growth, partially offset by a 5.8% decline in volumes as market demand was worse than expected.
Underlying operating profit rose 35% to £861m, driven by the benefit of higher prices which was slightly offset by higher costs and lower volumes.
Free cash flow fell 32% to £354m, impacted by higher capital expenditure. Net debt rose from £1.5bn to £1.6bn on higher capital expenditure, but higher cash profits meant the ratio of net debt to EBITDA improved from 1.6 to 1.3 times.
Trading in the new year is in line with management's expectations, despite box volumes remaining lower than normal.
The Board has proposed a final dividend of 12p, taking the total for the year to 18p - a 20% increase.
The shares were broadly flat in early trading.
Our view
DS Smith's resilience in tough conditions has continued to hold it in good stead. Despite falling sales volumes, it's delivered a second consecutive year of impressive double-digit profit growth. There are some DS Smith-specific reasons they've been able to pull this out the bag.
The group's a key supplier to e-commerce group, providing the cardboard boxes that are a familiar sight outside houses up and down the country. DS Smith also sells its boxes to consumer goods and food groups. These include many of the 'shelf-ready' cardboard boxes you'll find in the supermarkets.
Demand for these segments is benefitting from structural growth drivers - consumers are keen to shift away from plastic packaging, and reliance on e-commerce is a trend that's here to stay.
Input costs are on the rise, and to cope, DS Smith is increasing its own packaging price while deploying contracts to protect against unfavourable gas prices. It's working, and price hikes are now feeding through to the bottom line.
Volumes are another challenge, falling over the year just gone. It's important to note that the decline doesn't look to be related to price hikes, more a result of weaker demand from the end user and a tough market. That's important because pricing is a much bigger contributor to profits than volumes in the box industry.
The picture has started to improve in recent months, and compared to the year just gone we'd expect trends to improve over the year. But with tricky economic conditions, we see this as an ongoing challenge in the short term.
Looking at the balance sheet, the group's very well capitalised. There's probably scope for a buyback or bolt-on acquisitions, but the focus is organic growth and efficiency improvements - which makes sense. The forward prospective yield sits at an attractive 6.3%, which looks well covered currently. Nothing is guaranteed.
DS Smith is in a strong position with exposure to attractive end markets. The valuation sits a good way below the longer-term average, which we feel offers potential upside.
FL down another 3.5% tonight.
In last 5 days
Foot Locker Inc
$26.24 down 36.91%
JD Sports Fashion PLC
GBX 150.15m down 9.99%
FL went up slightly but have fallen a third since their news.
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We no longer allow investment in this stock