Member Info for devonplay

That makes it sound like it's not been very active?

Bargain hunters waiting for the last minute, classic strategy when buying distressed assets, seeing weak demand?

Added Talk Talk 3.875% 2025 to my fixed interest portfolio
YTM 4%

"Stay at Home" does that mean sales will reduce even further, from the 40%, now people are starting to go back to work....they sound behind the times. Maybe "Stay Alert", more discounts are coming down the track would be more en vogue.

"discounted " that's going to be the theme for the rest of the year, the longer you wait, the greater the discount..

The article also says;
"But revenues since the penultimate week of March, when the crisis intensified, are down by around 45% versus what was initially expected.
The higher end of the stamp market has seen a “more pronounced” impact from the current situation, the firm said."
I wonder how far "higher end of the stamp(s) " have fallen? It sounds much more than 45%.....ouch.
I

"going nowhere as usual."
Pretty much my view of the stock. Offers some short term speculative trading, but it's one to stick in the bottom draw for a few years and see what emerges. It might make it back, it could also just be hanging around paying it's debt holder back slowly.
That's where I'd prefer to be in if it was available - it's debt.
I suspect they only keep it listed for the potential of an easier exit or if they are forced to raise more equity and they don't want in. There's such little activity in it's trades. Wha is it it usually 3 or 4 a day? I can't see there'd be much support for any cash call, so it's probably going to be more debt if it's needed. Lower turnover, more debt and the usual blips in the share price. That aint all bad. Survival has to be it's main focus now.

Oh yes and Netflix. LOL

" a lot of other longer holding shareholders"
I am one, have been for a very long time. I just prefer reasoned argument to wild statements.
At the moment past trading counts for nothing, your assertion that buyers would be "pushing out the boat" turned out to be wildly inaccurate and was based on what? Premier Foods wasn't it? In fact there was that 45% decline when lockdown started.
If past performance is what a company should be measured against ("Past performance most definitely matters" )then the company has just experience a period with 45% fall in income.
"At the moment, we don't actually know what level of trading they have managed" agreed, but it doesn't stop you making predictions based on the consumption OK cakes does it?
"SG successfully went through such a tough turnaround" has it, or is it deep in the process now? Early in the process with a long way to go would be my take on it. As I've said plenty of times before, and the Management also, it's at anearly stage and and has a long journey ahead. So the "tough turnaround" is still work in progress, but now against the most difficult background for a very, very, very long time.
Really, if you are that bullish on cakes, may you should buy Premier.

"Perhaps as mentioned before, they were at last trading at a profit again by end of March?"
All water under the bridge now. It's not past performance that matters, but future.

LOL, always makes me laugh when you see on old film from the 70's and they are carrying loads of them.
I used to be in London a lot and would pick up the 50g bars from Hatton Garden and I seen to remember Spinks on occasion. I may be wrong abou Spinks. I've kept the paper work over the years, so I might check.
Now I use Baird & Co.

"I have a small advert on google"
That makes sense. I buy the silver rounds with a "silver bug" - he's buying for the end of the world, I'm buying for the utility if we ever go post-cash. and for the opportuntiy to pass some wealth to me heirs. The bars I buy for myself. I prefer the 50g bars as they are easy to put in a wallet/pocket and move around. I don't expect to ever sell them. It's long term hedge and estate planning thing for me. I have in the past traded gold ETF's, but not this time. Post 2009 I did quite a lot for a few years.

"Devon, what perplexes me is why coin collectors are still buying expensive coins "
As CarpeDiem1 says they are a more tangible assets. Stamp collecting, in relative terms, is a modern hobby, and may well have reached it's peek as investible asset decades ago, whereas coins have been collected for millenia. Many still consider them to be alternatives and there's a broad investment market for them. Wheresas again, the market for investment grade stamps is tiny in comparison.

As I mentioned below, I don't invest in stamps, but I do in bullion bars and rounds.

" I have bullion coins as well."
I prefer rounds for silver and bars for gold. Is there a reason you have a preference for bullion coins? Beyond the obvious one of them being more interesting?

"But this at least gives the company a bigger turnover base from which to go forward"
You mean from the 45% monthly decline?
And when lock down does happen, cash strapped millenials will be out first, so won't be, as you pointed out before, at home taking up new hobblies! I don't see older collectors doing anything different post lockdown, because if they aren't buying online now, hence that 45% decline, why would they buy online after lockdown? That just doesn't make any sense.
It's not the end of the world if they do have several months with t/o down, as you say "to keep things going for a while", as they've got that key shareholder, who's also the debt holder, and they can just load up a bit more debt to see them through.
More debt and lower turnover.

"March is down approximately 45% versus budget."
But weren't you saying that millenials and older stamp collectors are "pushing out the boat" in lockdown.
Where us "doomsayers" said that t/o is more likely to be closer to £500k to £1m a month going forward for a while.
The thing is, other luxury (non essential providers) have talked about declines of 10-20% and have been kicked, but 45% is a collapse.
The bit that really should be worrying is "The higher end of the stamp market has however seen a more pronounced impact from the current situation." that suggests well heeled buyers aren't seeing stamps as an investment, or hedge, in these difficult time.

"Lots of to’s and fro’s in the update which I suppose is unsurprising. Enough cash to keep things going for a while but clearly the lockdown needs to end soon"
So you've gone from customers "pushing out the boat" to investors "putting down the lifeboats"....just in case.

"March is down approximately 45% versus budget."

I'm still waiting for the comments about Mike Ashley coming to the rescue ;)

I wouldn't worry if t/o drops 20/30% over the next 12 months. As I've said loads of times, this is a turnaround and that can take a long time.
I've seen the article from the Guardian. It hardly gives you confidence that it's more than a fad.
There was an article 12 months ago "Does anyone under the age of 50 still collect postage stamps?" had a massive 48 responses and "dinosaur" and "disillusioned" seem to be the main comments.
I'm sure at the end of this Millennials will be the hardest hit and I seem to remember they were the focus of the April article in The Guardian.

"Pearls says the older generation of collectors is still spending on their collections. I am in that category but my retirement income has definately taken a hit of 20%. Aviva, Lloyds and others have suspended their dividends meaning I no longer have any spare cash for discretionaries like gold coins."
I'm a full time investor Carp and I'm in the same boat. Many of my holdings are debt, collective and defensive , but I've still had around 10% of my income hit and my "wealth" has fallen by hundreds of 000's. I also hedge using gold bullion, but I haven't added any more. I am spending money on other stuff, but frankly with a Prime, Disney, Netflix and Audible subscription - the lot costs less than £30 quid a month - there's little time left in the day. You can see where people are spending money in lockdown: food, booze, streaming and books. I've yet to see the BBC reporting on an explosion of stamp collecting! I suspect, most people have been hit one way or another, so spending will be on the simple cheap pleasures. Every bit of evidence suggest discretionary spending has been hit. I just don't believe people think they can't live without stamps, so they'll be curtailing their spending. How much income fall from £1m a month is anyone's guess, but I wouldn't be surprised if 20/21 it isn't closer to 500k than not.