Member Info for Ejackson

I read the rns first thing this morning and then had to shoot off to a seminar before the market opened. I felt very positive in terms of the overall picture with the one exception of Education although this must be held in the context of its size v Express. I was also pleased to see Exceptionals seemingly capped off so I cant help but think that the market is behaving irrationally towards Findel given the mark down today and was very surprised and disappointed to see the price we are trading at only a few hours later. At this price we are dirt cheap by almost every measure and if we remain at these levels, corporate interest has to be inevitable but I suspect the offer price will be low too. I will read again tonight with the benefit of more time to consider and in the meantime cheerio to you Columbo, well done for your profit and best wishes for enjoying it.

If this proves to be correct Stevo51, it would have to be on the back of some excellent trading figures and for the board to be very comfortable with our level of debt. I really want to believe it is true but my gut feeling is that it remains aspirational rather than deliverable. Very, very happy to be proven wrong though as it will only have a strong and positive effect on the share price. Thank you for sharing this with us. Fingers and toes firmly crossed for news in our update next week!

Lots of good thoughts and very plausible ideas as to where we are headed in the next few weeks with regards our share price but until we hear from our board on all fronts it is open to us to only speculate. Last week's mark down was, in my opion, to do with Nbrown and their results with the broker recommendations that followed. This has always been the case as long as I can remember and they have traditionally always been ahead of us with the timing....I am not bothered as long as we we are doing better than them with the challenges that lay ahead..which we know will be revealed shortly. In the meantime I am enjoying a fabulous time with the kids for half term down in Cornwall with bbq's on the beach and a lot of swimming in the crystal clear water which they have suggested is a tad on the fresh side but are kayaking and paddle boarding to their hearts contents..all good for the soul when you see them having so much fun and enjoyment out of the simple things in life...back to the treadmill shortly!!

Just in case you missed my last post, it appears as though I had a fat fingered trading moment!.......sorry everyone!

I recall the 11.5m going back into the business and not paying down our debt, Skindle. It might have been an easier decision for them to make after they renegotiated our credit facilities on more favourable terms. I think everyone is waiting to get a handle on what the true figure that needs to be set aside is and until that happens, no one is going to trust our board. When you think of how much this should have been scrutinised and for it to slip through the way it has, it does rather beggar belief....we arent talking small numbers and to say effectively, Ooops, sorry, 2m might actually be 10m its not surprising the market isn't pushing the price up. Clarity is what we want as would any suitor too. Good to see final confirmation of who was buying the shares though and if I was being optimistic for a moment, I would like to think they put a call into our Chairman before their purchase. More patience required before a leak or RNS. It will be pivotal though.

I recall the 11.5m going back into the business and not paying down our debt, Skindle. It might have been an easier decision for them to make after they renegotiated our credit facilities on more favourable terms. I think everyone is waiting to get a handle on what the true figure that needs to be set aside is and until that happens, no one is going to trust our board. When you think of how much this should have been scrutinised and for it to slip through the way it has, it does rather beggar belief....we arent talking small numbers and to say effectively, Ooops, sorry, 2m might actually be 10m its not surprising the market isn't pushing the price up. Clarity is what we want as would any suitor too. Good to see final confirmation of who was buying the shares though and if I was being optimistic for a moment, I would like to think they put a call into our Chairman before their purchase. More patience required before a leak or RNS. It will be pivotal though.

Whilst I would love to see some movement from the 170-180p trading range we appear to be rooted to, I dont think anything will happen until we have clarity on our latest financial black hole. An update and soon would be appreciated.

I think you are right Eyeguy. What may possibly be holding us back are the loans made by our Chairman that need to be repaid at some point 'when we are on a sound financial footing'. If we continue in the direction we appear to be heading, there is no reason why significant and rapid growth cannot be delivered, which even with the requirement of repayment, we may well be reflecting on the very low market cap of PIP in the not too distant future.....

I am surprised we are not north of 4.5p and it appears the MM's are being harsh albeit they maybe adopting the approach of 'one Swallow not making a summer'. I am however, pleased to see the spread reduce from the ridiculous 0.75p not so long ago which might encourage more buying. If we continue to see a steady flow of good contract wins, which it has been suggested we will, then this should move very quickly.....

Very pleasing to see a good contract in the bag. Are we witnessing a departure from the 'jam tomorrow' company we have ben used to...? My gut feeling is that we might get some more positive news soon, particularly after reflecting on the Chairman's comments made back on the 23rd March. If I am right, we should see a surge of interest and buying pressure to take us past 10p

Good evening eveyone. I have been fortunate enough to recently share the company of a very senior lawyer who works on the global corporate finance side and I have been listening to his comments on how corporate activity has ground to a complete halt of late, echoing your thoughts on Brexit, Skindle. His clients are fretting over many issues and when so much is at stake, they are only going to sit on their hands and wait. In the meantime we can only be patient.....my apologies, I know I have stated this before and some are better at it than others (!) however, there is nothing more I would like to know than what agenda eveyone is working to, but what I believe we are all agreed upon, is that no one really knows what is actually going on. It is is frustratingly confusing (the lack of an rns with the recent change in shareholdings adding to this) but I remain confident in how the end game will be played out for what is a good etailer with an established business and the way commerce in the modern day is done, which, intriguingly, jars with MA's current approach to having taken a large investment in, to quote the Guardian (from memory) 'downmarket' end of Oxford Street whilst at the same time 'looking' at the preffered sites of BHS. The latter is even more facinating given that I believe the administrators of BHS are the same that handled USC. Take this to the next level when the only company reported in being interested, to date, in BHS has been SPD. I will leave you all (and I hope the Select Committee if they can ever get MA to appear) to dwell on this and how MA does business. I strongly suspect he used the situation to look closely at the books having purported to be interested, gave a load of hot air about the pension deficit as the reason for not pusuing anything and will now pounce very quickly to asset strip. I do hope the adninistrators act properly and seek realistic interest elsewhere and give eveyone a level playing field....time will tell.

Kind words Skindle, thank you, but what impresses me with this board is that we are all contributing a number of thought provoking comments that collectively try to help us unravel the situation. 1GW, your analogy of the trains is excellent and with all the recent shareholder activity, I cannot be anything more than convinced that behind the scenes our suitors are getting their duck in a row for the next move and this will not be too far away, but I can be patient.

Whilst any number of possibilities could be being played out and I agree with you Columbo, I haven't the foggiest either, I do have a hunch that it's not just SPD or their allies involved in all the buying and selling / equity swaps. MS's moves are very peculiar and they wouldn't have entered into something like this unless they were going to profit from it. Have they acted on behalf of another client and negotiated the 10% purchase from Toscafund? Just one more thought to conjure with in this evolving game of corporate poker but sometime soon, someone is going to have declare their hand.

One further question from someone who is lacking in knowledge of the workings of CFD's. Skindles calculations include the full SPD shareholding, being just below 30% in his cumlative total of their 'control' however, I dont believe the CFD element carrys voting rights. If this is correct, who holds those rights in these situations? Apologies for my naievety but in this situation it has be critical to what might be brewing.....

Good evening everyone. Hello to you in particular Skindle after your post on Friday and yes, thank you, all is well again at home. I haven't been posting of late as I don't believe I can either add to what is being said in the excelent posts nor what I have stated previously, that is, that much is going on behind the scenes and we are being sold. Clearly SPD are now making a move but with what agenda is anyones guess. The shareholding shenanigans is unfathomable to everyone bar those involved but I am convinced we will hear more soon which will give us an understanding of the investments made. As for our board, to be fair, they cannot comment on what is not officially known to them and to do otherwise would look like school ground gossip and an act of panic. Until someone speaks out we will have to continue to speculate as to who is doing what and siding with whom in this game of corporate poker but I am certain our friendly shareholders will not be selling themselves short, so whilst the sp has retreated back to where we were when the last RNS was issued telling us about our new financial black hole, I remain convinced we will be well north of here in the not too distant future. One final thought....I still find it strange how there has been no comment in the financial press particularly given how fashionable it has been recently to report on anything involving SPD and MA.

Good evening everyone. Good to read the various posts and if I admire you 1GW for dipping in again. I think it makes sense but I am quite exposed as it is, so will continue to hold whilst this plays out. The Guardian seemed to be behind the notion that MA is looking to bid for us citing analysts as a source of confirmation that he is keen on Express Gifts -something that others have discussed here before. I am not into CFD as an investment tool (far to racey for a chap like me!) so understand little about them but I believe they have a cut off point where there is a need to close the position, not dissimilar to a spread bet although this can be rolled over? Digressing for a moment, many years ago I got involved with Moss Bros and a shadey character called Shami Ahmed took a similar position...some of what is going on here is not dissimilar to how this has shaped up so far, strangely enough. Back to present day though, and any informed comment on the workings of a CFD would be appreciated... Assuming for a moment that the time factor is correct and putting SPD agreed new financing package in the mix with the comment that they (forgive my misquote here but it was something very similar) fully expected to make use of it in the coming months and you can't help but conclude that the clock is ticking. Price and how its funded will be revealed but offering us shares in SPD wouldnt be a shock. You only need to look at what the MM's have done to SPD's shareprice in the last couple of days and where we are to see what may well be being financially massaged. This has been discussed previously when the suppressed shareprice was a topic of discussion.....however I would suggest that this is when the competition may well arrive and prove to be a game changer for us. What we are witnessing is a game of corporate poker....who is going to blink first? Thank you Skindle for your kind thoughts post 'Katie' The builders are booked and everything should be sorted soon.

Well, well, so Mr Ashley just wont let go then. Taking his shareholding to just shy of 30% stops him from having to make a bid. Four thoughts come to mind. Firstly, he does want to buy Findel so he took the opportunity to buy the shares at what he believes are a cheap price and average down what he ultimately has to pay. Shrewd if it's the case. Secondly, he knows there is other interest and wants to push the price as high as possible for a return on his investment which given he has 30% he is well positioned to do. Again shrewd but surely he has bigger problems on his plate than to get involved in this scenario. Thirdly, he is playing games, granted its an expensive one but he has a history of gambling so this is relatively small beer to him. Of a more sinister nature, he may be wanting another crack at destabilising the board with a view to devaluing our company so he can asset strip it, which is what he does best after all. Ugly but very possible. Lastly he is just taking a position as he has done elsewhere, such as JD Sports, and will sell when the shareprice rises. A happy ending for all of us in this event. I am sure there are other possibilities but I dont expect him to sit quietly as he is under attack from lots of angles at the moment and he strikes me as the sort of individual that will try and fight his way back and doesn't give two hoots as to who he tramples on along the way. Skindles question of who sold to him is perhaps the most interesting and telling -a further RNS should help us understand. Its interesting that all the shareprice did today was slip back to where the bulk of the action took place on Thursday towards close of play bar one trade that went through at the high of the day. What I am clear about is Mr Sugdens last update in that it was broadly upbeat but at the same time getting the bad news of the exceptionals out there. If there was ever a time to express interest in buying us then now is a good one.

I meant Tuesday of course...its been a long weekend (literally!) clearing up the damage and keeping the kids Happy! Apologies...

Good evening eveyone. I have been watching the press for some guidance as to what might be happening but to no avail. Interesting in it's own way and given the top of the leader board/ price fluctuation, I do find that strange..? Excellent observations 1GW in what was an extraordinary day though. Monday will help us understand what has happened and we can then focus our opinions but for the moment we are still fumbling around in the dark. It's always dangerous to predict exactly what will happen next but, as I do believe, something behind the scenes is going on as I have previously alluded to, but it's only my personal belief, given past and recent developments. Skindle, I have a significant investment by my standards and have not sold down, to answer your concerns/ question...tomorrow could be a significant drop or rise in the share price but in all honesty I am here to realise the full potential of what I believe to be a very good etailing company that I have seen go through a a massive transformation I the past few years under the guidance of an excellent turnaround specialist and it may take a few twists and turns to get there but I am willing to be patient. I hope eveyone has had a lovely Easter and not been blown away too much by Storm Katie as we were...

I am not sure where to begin and poor ohaire must be exhausted after his early doors post! A facinating day and an RNS explaining who has done what will help us understand today's swings in the share price. With Easter upon us we may well read more in the press before then but too much occurred today for any number of scenarios to be viable. All will be revealed soon though and in the meantime let's raise a glass to being above £2 for the first time in a number of months....it certainly didnt look possible at 7.01am this morning! Happy Easter all.