Member Info for eccles04

Agreed and still slightly amazed that it was below 200 not so long ago. Yet another demonstration of just how nutty the market is on some occasions.

Yes, why can some folk not get used to the fact that everybody dies. My mum died and I did not get into a hissy fit, my dad did the same, well he was not going to be the first to live for ever was he.

Last time we had a significant market turn down and panic around early 2009, the FTSE was at 3800 and in just over a year it had climbed to 5800 - around 52% gain and I made a pile of money as a result. It will happen again and always does because practically nothing stops clever men from trying to make money and certainly not a virus which kills a few people.

Erm with so few deaths so far, about 0.6 percent of the population and most of them elderly, I doubt very much if the directors are shaking in their boots.

Yes I just knew I should have bought at 187 but had something else on my mind, WD Klutz

Having been involved in the insurance business in the past I can tell you that claims do not "vary significantly from year to year" on an overall basis and when they do vary a little there is no real problem because of the large reserves which all well managed companies hold. It's the size of the book which really matters which is why they have certain strategies such as advertising campaigns to try to manage it. If they make a mistake which affects the public image and a large number of customers go elsewhere, that is far more important.

I have finally realised that they are ignoring the "special" Steve but that again is misleading IMO especially as DLG have quite often paid "special's" in recent years and where do specials come from if not from profits, a hidden magic money tree? LOL

Hmm but that is quite misleading IMO Steve especially when it is shown as 7.84% currently on the yield tables which are published by the FT.

Can someone explain why despite the fat dividends which we all recently received, it is not apparently reflcted in the yield number appearing on this web site - has LSE not got it's eye on the ball?

So I ask myself why should the SP drop off so much when the first half results seem to be little affected by the current panicdemic and actual deaths are still relatively few. It can only be because the market is still in panic mode which as we all know eventually ceases and folk return to normal behaviour which I have seen many times in my now quite long life. Conclusion;- the yield is still far better than can be had from banks and bonds so I will be adding a few more shares to my holding.

But all equities "carry risk" because they can all have something unexpected arrive out of the blue and knock you for six. Insurance businesses especially know this and thus carry large reserves as well as laying off some of their book into the reinsurance market. How often do insurance companies fail - I don't know of any biggies in the last 25 yrs or so but there have been a fair few retailers and manufacturers in the same time period and one or two banks have had to be rescued.

Ah but their are better yields elsewhere. I am interested but need to see a price where the yield is above 6% before I buy.

I see the silly so called day traders are at it again rubbing their hands with glee every time they "make" £20/whatever. Obviously never read Warren's little books.

In fact practically back to where it was when I bought a chunk about a year ago with a lump of cash left over from a property transaction and had some nice fat divs in the meantime. Try getting a return like this from banks or bonds - no chance.

In my now quite long life I have seen this kind of behaviour many times. It's because contrary to popular belief human beings behave in line with their emotions rather than logically and one can see it happening every day. E.g. It was illogical for Trump to get into the somewhat cramped cabin of a helicopter with several of his entourage and none of them having tested recently for viruses (would you?) but he did and now the results are in......

Not many places one can get an almost certain 8% these days. My bro who has more dosh than I, is faffing about in the bond markets trying to find better than 2% when his 100K bond matures shortly.

Libero, You sold ex div!??? That seems a rather strange thing to do unless you have another bargain stock hiding in the wings?

Of course a lot of folk don't know that insurance businesses do not operate on purely annual results like most other businesses but tend work on three to five year cycles so to speak. They have to do this because of the amount of time that many claims can take to be finalised. In the case of dear old DLG it means that the so called first half results which we recently had will included some "results" which related to events which occured some years ago and they cannot take all the profit improvement which might have manifested from the lock down situation without making wise reserves for events not yet fully finalised.

Erm, the "Fisheries" represent about 0.12 % of the UK's GDP so how is it relevant to almost any economic situation one cares to cite?

OK but since when have the MM's been in control of the Financial Times?