Member Info for Ejackson

I really do hope no invoices are outstanding to us.... Frustrating that there continues to be a lack of updates on how our sale team are progressing....

Standard patter from Savills. True to form, the have managed shareholder expectations from the outset and then deliver a pre-close to announce results will be ahead of expectations with the only difference this time that there will be a change in leadership. Once again though, this has been clearly thought through and there will be a 12 month handover to ensure everything goes smoothly. The only possible fly in the ointment that I can see is the US operation which has not been mentioned in despatches and I note Jeremy Helsby will be staying on in an advisory capacity. This was his baby and my gut feel is that it hasn't quite gone as well as everyone anticipated, hence him taking a more active involvement in the future. I look forward to the RNS with the full results.

There is no doubt the market is looking to cane anything in the retail sector that disappoints at the moment, particularly if it involves the High Street. Conversely, I would echo Columbo's sentiment and believe we will soon have some very encouraging figures to digest and if they exceed expectations, which is not unreasonable to assume, we will see a sharp spike upwards in our SP to the levels I have previously predicted. Skindle, for as long as I can remember, the presence of activist shareholders on a company register has acted as a drag to the SP. In our case, add in Mike Ashley, although I am hopeful that with the huge increase in borrowing at SPD together with how badly his other strategic investments have worked out which are now costing him real money as the delivery dates on his CFD's mature, we may well see him sell out of FDL, which can only help act as a catalyst to pushing our SP higher.

Disappointing results and I would imagine Mike Ashley will be hurting as he was forced to buy his stake at the back end of last year following the expiry date of his CFD taken out with Goldmans. Liam Rowley as his Head of Strategic Investments must be a busy man.....

The level of who owns what has continued to puzzle me as we never received an RNS following the far lumpier trades back in December and to my mind, should have triggered an RNS. The only answer I could come up with was that it was a newbie keeping themselves below the disclosure threshold but the lack of a rise in the SP given how few shares are freely available, has been a surprise. MM's continuing to play games....surely not.

So, here come the start of the all important trading reports for the Christmas period and Next has confounded the shorters and produced a very respectable set of numbers, with strong reference to their online offering which bodes well for us. Looking back to last year we had to wait until the second week before we got to hear how well things had gone so if the numbers are good again, it would be nice to hear as soon as possible and I note NBrown's SP has jumped today without an RNS -possible leak of news to the chaps in bowler hats? One final annoyance is that if Next and others of similar size can advise the market so quickly, why should it take us notably longer?

Nope, don't like it Skindle, as its way below their target margin....close your eyes and press another button or two...!! Still puzzled as to why we haven't seen an RNS on the large trades of last week. I am not up on corporate governance enough to know what the maximum time from purchase/ sale is for a declaration of interest RNS. Anyone able to shed some light?

An increase of 300k to the customer base would be impressive Columbo as we can see from the half year numbers it would have a significant impact on the bottom line. My back of a cigarette packet calculation from the last RNS is: 230k new customers meant an uplift in revenue of 15.8% =£36m. This equates to an average spend of £156 per customer which projected forward equates to an increase in revenue of £47m. In the absence of any new exceptionals and we know the CAPEX costs are in place for the new distribution centre, internet offering etc, most, if not all of this must go straight to the bottom line. All a bit simplistic, I know, but not totally unrealistic. Did I hear someone say there might be a resumption of a dividend? No? Just me on the red wine a bit early then.....!! Would be nice though and send a very clear and positive message to the market that the future is bright.

I think it will bob around the £2 level Skindle. At the time of writing it is moving in the right direction and hopefully to the level I had hoped to see earlier than now i.e. £2.25-£2.50. The BOD will know in early January how the all important run up to Christmas went and if, as I expect it will be, the news is positive, I suspect there will be a leak of some sort, possibly via Edison, whereupon we should be trading c.£2.50 and set for a sustained rise to £3 when the RNS is released. That's my two penn'orth and any re-trace back to c.£1.75 is a good buying opportunity.

....are now on the website under Investor Relations. Broadly speaking, they read well. Breakeven for QM sits at c.£3.8m, potential pipeline sits at £10m with a c.35% conversion rate so bodes reasonably well and this doesn't take into account the recurring revenue of the servicing side which they have locked onto as being important to find the balance. Pipehawk's radar sales and training is looking better but still very small. They need to scale this up and appear to be a too reliant on a couple of big orders possibly coming in against a backdrop of CAPEX freeze due to economic uncertainty...same old excuse for a client that actually doesn't want to spend any money....move on. Still largely a jam tomorrow situation but appears to have some momentum, so I will continue to hold for now.

...appears to be no different to yesterday with a ridiculous spread and nothing on the website to update us. Whats the betting the spread shortens with the offer price coming down translating to a markdown and nothing is posted on the website until next week. Short odds being offered here..

There is reference to various presentations made after the process of the AGM was dealt with which would be on the company website shortly. I cant see anything listed and I am surprised they are being so slow in doing something so simple. Disappointing given how long we have been made to wait for anything meaningful. At least the SP hasnt retreated but Oxo's comments are echoed here. A near 30% spread is absurd.

Anyone attending todays meeting?

Almost certainly Columbo. The market will want confirmation that our last update wasnt a false dawn and until then it will bob about a bit. My gut feeling is that the next update will be positive but I had hoped to be c.£2.25-2.50 for the next move upwards towards £3.00

Almost certainly Columbo. The market will want confirmation that our last update wasnt a false dawn and until then it will bob about a bit. My gut feeling is that the next update will be positive but I had hoped to be c.£2.25-2.50 for the next move upwards towards £3.00

And as if to prove the point, a whopping sell to the value of £13.65 being the only trade today has taken our company down in value by 2.26%

Buys are good, my hope is that whoever is doing so has followed Edisons lead and spoken directly to the board and having done so decided we are heading in a very positive direction. 3m shares suggests they are confident. As for the lack of movement in the price, I am at a loss and can only think its MM's playing games to favour the investor. The rns will reveal who is doing what but I would be surprised if it were SPD buying as this would mean they are obliged to make a formal offer. Time will tell....

Well done 1GW. The reunion was short and brief but no one can ever knock someone that takes away a profit. Good luck to you.

I can't understand why they would sell down after such a positive RNS but they must have their reasons. They do still maintain a significant shareholding though. I am also intrigued as to who took up the slack? It can only be Schroders or a new investor building a stake....

Interesting to know who it was.....an RNS to follow if our main shareholders are buying and selling amongst themselves although sadly not big enough to warrant one if a new player is building a stake. Time will tell.