Member Info for Fforestgwmp

I don't think we should ignore the power of the divi, there's plenty of investors where that's their driver. Agreed that should only be at the right time in a companies cycle, which is obviously not now for us. I'm think by 2027 it's not unreasonable, everything else being equal, for us to be push 1bln profit with the end in sight for the renewal project. Regardless of further investment there's a limit to how much market share we can take. Will we revist opening further stores, ones that we closed, home furnishing? Yes plenty of places for money to go before divis, buy our leaseholds, Ocado, share buy back for the staff scheme rather than new shares? Once alls done what then, what will our fair value be and what percentage of that will be because we pay a divi...not 1p!

You were meant to bounce off 350 like it was a trampoline. Gotten darn it, thought we might of even closed at 360 this week, my bag point. You have had a habit in the last week of dropping in the morning only to finish up, same today?

Always next week.

Gla

That's it our girl, slow and steady, will we see 340 this week, 350 next week and back to 370s by end of Feb?

Come on Fender, put the espresso down, have we turned a corner or I this a false dawn?

If you make one I'll arrange for you to get a Blue Peter badge.

Well said Chiltington, there's wider benefits that just what's delivered, it reminds me of the saying, 'would you rather have 1% of something or a 100% of nothing?

With JJs comment we've been saying this for years, Bot1, sorry jbs, as you've made contact with A why dont you pass on?

Just out of interest, too far for me to come

Clem wrote the article

Evening Fender, is your real name Clem?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2025/01/23/the-uks-ftse-is-on-the-brink-of-breaking-out/

Oh, and off topic, what type of restaurant do you have.

Jbs, there may be an accusation of you being a bot, check your last posts and you appear to be agreeing with yourself, twice ;-)

Good afternoon Mr Fender, as a resident ramper I shall rise to your challenge, although I should point out it wasn't a question Andy asked as there was no ? at the end, never the less. Andy, at this percise moment it is the market driving the narrative and therfore SP lower, however, at some point no matter how strong the desire they can't ignore the fundamentals, when they wish to acknowledge them again then the fundamentals will drive the narrative and SP and that will be to the up side / moon. Fender will give us the heads up when this occurs.

GLA, DYOR and not intended as investment advice as I'm not an analist, though there was that one time but I was very, very, drunk.

https://youtu.be/rh8CQRerBVA?si=FDw9OudKMryIq-vy

Morning just, although there's some logic to bot3's comment I'd suggest Amazon are on a completely different scale to what we need, equally, as with Ocado deliveries we need to see M&S branding going around to further the message. Some of the delivery drivers and vans we get are, I'd say, not in keeping with the brand, think Eddie Stobbart, when the driver steps out they need to represent us, staff uniform and the same customer service not just throw the package at you. Secondly, money isn't an issue, we have enough or have access to so to move faster with the renewal program but it needs to be overseen with key staff to ensure we get what we want, at a pace that we can keep up with.

But their not are they and kind of missed the point, I don't want M&S solely owned by a faceless international entity.

There's a pessimism pervading society that isnt a true reflection but people are buying in to it, yes things may not be the best but they certainly aren't that bad, we won't be bankrupt by spring.

I'm guessing you've sold Fender but 287 would put us below where we were before last year's results and this year we've improved again, profit will be higher even with the higher tax costs.

I'm blaming January, fairly standard, excess of Christmas impacting waists and wallets, concern for the year ahead means there isn't the same balance to counteract the sell on news brigade. Worry about impact from new shares and what staff will do with them, no news expected until May to spur price on. That in part why we've seen such a fall, nothing to do with fundamentals, why havent other comparable competitors fallen by the same when we're doing better than them?

Anyway, off to a funeral, Neil you'd have loved him, planted millions of trees perhaps even tens of.

Gla and keep the faith.

A pattern has formed on this bb.

Similar styles of presentation and content, long blobs of meaningless jabber.

Do we have an ai bot creeping around?

Just had an email from bank offering me a 4.25% fixed 12mth isa, to get the same here we need to see the dizzy heights of £3.50 again. At the same time the Clash, should I stay or should I go, popped in to my head...omen? Debating the line, And if I stay it will be double.

Must admit I don't know much about Cheryl and her background so what else does she may bring to the party. Looking at what we did know I was thinking two options, 1, is she here to raise money to speed up the renewal programme, we know the answer to that now and was obvious with our continued debt reduction. 2, to prep us for sale as discussed below. But is there a third option, was she brought in to put us in a defensive position against a takeover?

Though talk of a takeover is interesting, I have no doubt one isn't even close. What I know of those who could have an impact on SP is, they have very big sensitive ears, if there was even a faint murmour of someone thinking of looking in to what a bid might look like, then I'm sure the SP would have moved. I've not seen many takeover bids arrive where the market wasn't expecting it.

Depends on their investment strategy, I suspect there are plenty here just as a safe place thats better than a bank and with divis to come.

Morning, there's always speculation for a takeover when a company's apparnt value, sp, drops. Let's not forget here though the drop was not based on fundamentals, if anything theyve continued to improve, we're not a distressed stock, far from it. In terms of fair value, I look at it as what price would have to be offered to be accepted, £4.50 is less than 10% above the high of last month, wouldn't it need to be closer to £5 and that point is it still attractive? How does a bidder get their money back, massively increase debt to pay divi like Thames water or Asda?

Whether you expect an offer or not, at this price its a screaming buy, fill your boots as I have no doubt we'll be back at £4 by May.

Gla

It's a risk and real possibility, other then a personal short term gain would you real want it?

The biggest problem with this, in fact any government, are us voters, a big chunk of which shouldn't be allowed to tie their own shoelaces. Would we have voted for them if they said they were going to do the sensible thing and reverse the Tory NI cuts? Don't think so, even though it benefits us higher earners more.

I wouldnt vote for either of the two big parties but whatever you think of them this lot are the better choice over the previous clowns, give them and us a chance.

I think you have both detailed exactly why we don't want the likes of Blackrock anywhere near us. I'm not just invested here to make money but like our staff and customers I love the company. If we get taken private by them then I guarantee within 5years they'd have ripped the heart out and I'd doubt the company would survive. More importantly we don't need them, regardless of headwinds we will still make way over half a billon profit this year, debt is negligible and we are self funding the renewal.

Well, wasn't expecting this fall and nothing in the trading statement I read that justifies it, I'm sure read the correct one. Perhaps a rebound through the day or come back in May!

Well done Fender, you were both correct and lucky to miss that trade.

Good luck all, time to sit on our hands and wait it out, Spring's around the corner and days are getting longer.