Member Info for FJGooner

This dodgy character jedclampit has always been a negative poster on this share whilst pretending to be invested.

Now we have all seen his real position. Not only massively negative, but also completely thick as a plank. Doesn't even understand the difference between a share price and a market cap - and yet it still posts on this board - ludicrous!

Go away jedclampit, you've been rumbled and you are a complete joke. Not very clever at all.

From Interim results for the six months ended 31 July 2021:

"As at 31 July 2021, the Group has designated 317 forward currency contracts and 10 fuel oil swaps as hedges."

That is the opposite of what I hear from my contacts. Some staff may be a bit fed up of working from home, but employment opportunities in the area are very limited and most will be content to be in relatively secure jobs.

I also have a close friend that has applied for 4 IT jobs at Saga in the last 6 months and he has not even managed to get through to the interview stage despite having very strong and relevant experience for the roles offered. That suggests a healthy supply of applicants for the roles on offer.

I suppose it may just come down to who one's contacts are?

It was a really weak and lazy article - certainly not worth worrying about in full. They even used a picture of a Saga cruise ship that was 10 years out of date.

But here is some of it as requested.

Saga is cruising towards a strong recovery in demand

Strong demand for Saga’s cruise holidays has given the over-50s travel and insurance group hope that bookings have not been permanently damaged by the pandemic.

In a trading update for the six months to January 26, the company said that the load factor on its vessels was standing at 86 per cent for the first half of its new financial year.

It said that its cruise business had generated positive earnings on a load factor of 68 per cent, but ship depreciation and refinancing costs would mean that the division was likely to suffer an underlying pre-tax loss of between £45 million and £50 million.

Euan Sutherland, Saga’s chief executive, said that while the Omicron coronavirus variant had affected the company’s travel bookings in December and January, “our outlook for Cruise in 2022-23 and beyond is positive”.

Hi Banbury,

The Saga Contact Centre building in Ramsgate (which is in Thanet in north-east Kent) is still up for sale and has recently been used for the Covid-19 Booster vaccination program. It was visited by Boris a few weeks ago in between his parties at No 10.

Enbrook Park in Folkestone has been repurposed and revamped for the new model of remote working with hot-desk provisioning and team/group meeting attendance on site. Anyone attending this year's AGM will be really impressed with the site and its magnificent grounds which are fully open to the local people.

The 2 unused buildings in Folkestone - which are Middelburg and Cheriton Park - have now had Saga branding, logos etc completely removed. The former has definitely been sold (perhaps subject to contract and completion, I'm not entirely sure) and the latter I do not know but it does not appear to be for sale any longer.

The reduction in facilities management liabilities must be huge compared to the newly added technical costs associated with remote working. These must surely be starting to work through to the accounts soon, let alone the proceeds of the property sales.

I don't follow stocks as closely these days, but if I hear anything about these properties I will post back here.

All the best to all of you.

I'd prefer the Downing Street cat taking charge.

Yes, I'm talking about Stateside.

Carnival closed well over 10% up today.

Carnival up another 9% today.

Ditto from South Africa:

Https://www.cityam.com/coronavirus-blessing-in-the-sky-omicron-may-be-very-positive-news-for-the-world-if-new-covid-mutation-kills-off-more-lethal-delta-variant/

Blessing in disguise: Omicron variant may be ‘very positive’ news for the world if new Covid mutation kills off more lethal Delta coronavirus

TUESDAY 30 NOVEMBER 2021 10:45 AM MICHIEL WILLEMS

Extract

Hospitals and GPs across Southern Africa are increasingly reporting that the symptoms of the aggressive new Covid strain Omicron are “unusual but very mild,” according to various media in South Africa this weekend.

Around 90 per cent of all new infections in the Johannesburg region are now caused by the Omicron strain but, so far, the Covid death rate and even hospital admissions appear not to be increasing significantly, local media report.

Some experts are therefore cautiously optimistic that – if Omicron turns out to be less lethal but more contagious and dominant than the Delta variant – the new mutation may actually be a blessing in disguise.

Mild symptoms
Hundreds of infected people across Southern Africa reportedly complain of nausea, headaches, fatigue and a high pulse rate, but none seem to suffer from a loss of taste or smell, which has been the case with most other Covid mutations.

Moreover, more and more medics across Southern Africa are confirming that most Omicron-infected patients merely have a severe headache, nausea or dizziness.

Dr Angelique Coetzee told various newspapers in South Africa: “Symptoms are so different and so mild from [non-Omicron] Covid patients I have treated before.”

A GP for over three decades, and chair of the South African Medical Association, she was the first African doctor to suggest to local authorities Covid had mutated into a new strain.

Coetzee reportedly said the symptoms “did not make immediate sense”, with patients including young people of different backgrounds and ethnicities with fatigue and a young child with a high pulse rate.

Blessing in disguise
Looking at the first data coming out of Southern Africa, virologist Marc van Ranst said this weekend that “if the omicron variant is less pathogenic but with greater infectivity, allowing Omicron to replace Delta, this would be very positive.”

....

Apologies for the wrong link in my previous post - here is the correct one and more of that article:

Https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59442141

...
Like Prof Semple, Prof Sir Andrew Pollard, the director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, expressed cautious optimism that existing vaccines could be effective at preventing serious disease from the Omicron variant.

He told the Today programme that while it would still be weeks until scientists properly understood the effects of Omicron's mutations, most of them were similar to those seen in other variants.

"Despite those mutations existing in other variants, the vaccines have continued to prevent serious disease as we've moved through Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta," he said.

"At least from a speculative point of view, we have some optimism that the vaccine should still work against a new variant for serious disease but really we need to wait several weeks to have that confirmed.

"It's extremely unlikely that a reboot of a pandemic in a vaccinated population like we saw last year is going to happen."

Asked whether it was possible to update the vaccines if deemed necessary, Prof Pollard added: "The processes of how one goes about developing a new vaccine are increasingly well oiled. So, if it's needed, that is something that could be moved very rapidly."

The UK currently has no known cases of the Omicron variant.

The travel ban for southern African countries is designed to maintain that for as long as possible, and Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the government "won't hesitate to act" if further measures are needed.

"One of the lessons of this pandemic has been that we must move quickly, and at the earliest possible moment," he told MPs on Friday. "We're heading into winter and our booster programme is still ongoing, so we must act with caution."

But asked whether the government could switch from its current, minimal Covid restrictions to its Plan B for winter, Mr Javid said the current rules "remain the policies that I think we need at this time".

As usual the media went way overboard - I'd expect markets to strongly rebound next week when the penny drops. And that enabled the scaremongers to go into overdrive yesterday maliciously posting thousands of panic posts across all bulletin boards.

Those shorters will need to rapidly cover their positions when a common sense re-evaluation lands next week.

Https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-59418127

Covid: New Omicron variant not a disaster, says Sage scientist

By Hamish Mackay
BBC News Published1 hour ago

The Omicron Covid variant is "not a disaster" and some people may be "hugely overstating the situation", a scientist advising the government says.

Omicron has been labelled "of concern" by the World Health Organization, and is causing alarm among some scientists.

But microbiologist Prof Calum Semple says vaccines are "still likely to protect you from severe disease".

Prof Semple does, however, support the new UK travel restrictions, saying they will allow more people to get jabbed.

Asked whether people should be fearful of the new variant, Prof Semple - who sits on the UK government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies - told BBC Breakfast: "This is not a disaster, and the headlines from some of my colleagues saying 'this is horrendous' I think are hugely overstating the situation.

"Immunity from the vaccination is still likely to protect you from severe disease. You might get a snuffle or a headache or a filthy cold but your chance of coming into hospital or intensive care or sadly dying are greatly diminished by the vaccine and still will be going into the future."

So far, more than 50 million people in the UK have had at least one dose of a Covid vaccine. More than 42 million have had two doses while almost 17 million have had a third or booster jab.

The new Omicron variant was first reported to the WHO from South Africa on 24 November and has also been identified in Botswana, Belgium, Hong Kong and Israel.

Countries around the world are currently racing to introduce travel bans and restrictions on southern African countries in an effort to contain Omicron's spread.

The UK has placed South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini on its travel red list, meaning, from Sunday at 04:00 GMT, all arrivals will have to quarantine in a hotel for 10 days.

Prof Semple said that while it may not be possible to stop the variant coming to the UK, it is still important to delay its arrival.

"If you can slow the virus coming into your country it gives you more time for your booster campaign to get ahead of it," he said.

"It also gives the scientists longer to understand more about the virus in case there is anything we really should be worrying about."

Asked what other measures he thought were advisable in the face of a new variant and the 50,091 new UK cases reported on Friday, Prof Semple said he was in favour of mask wearing in shops and on public transport, and hand washing.

So just off the 100% but almost there .... a few berths kept spare for medivax I'd assume.

No. Current max pax is 987.

Banbury,

Agreed - it's not perfect, but it showed one of the "missing" cruises, which made me think it may be suitable. But sadly not.

I'll have a look tomorrow to see what I can find.

But here is the one final cruise missing from your specified date range:

Rhythm of the Caribbean from Southampton, 21 January 2022 (30 nights)

Https://www.iglucruise.com/spirit-of-discovery/21st-january-2022_c264658

Just checked and I think that will work for you.

Saga site:
May 16, 2022 An Irish Interlude 5 nights
June 22, 2022 An Exhibition of the Baltic 16 nights

Cruisemapper:
2022 May 16 5 days, round-trip An Irish Interlude
2022 May 21 32 days, round-trip Ancient Wonders of the Black Sea
2022 Jun 22 16 days, round-trip An Exhibition of the Baltic

Banbury,

Try this:

Https://www.cruisemapper.com/ships/Spirit-of-Adventure-2140?tab=itinerary

With the risk of hospitalisation or death cut by 89% and ZERO deaths in the experimental group versus the control group, this will redefine Covid's place in the wider scheme of things. Society will soon be able to push on with full normalisation in the knowledge that hospitals will no longer risk being flooded by Covid cases and can return to treating other conditions.

A truly great day to celebrate.

Https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-59178291

Covid: Pfizer says antiviral pill 89% effective in high risk cases

An experimental pill to treat Covid developed by the US company Pfizer cuts the risk of hospitalisation or death by 89% in vulnerable adults, clinical trial results suggest.

The drug - called Paxlovid - is aimed at the elderly and others at high risk of severe disease.

It comes a day after the UK medicines regulator approved a similar treatment from Merck Sharp and Dohme (MSD).

Pfizer says it stopped trials early as the initial results were so positive.

The UK has already ordered 250,000 courses of the new Pfizer treatment along with another 480,000 courses of the MSD pill.

The Pfizer drug, known as a protease inhibitor, is designed to block an enzyme the virus needs in order to multiply. It works slightly differently to the Merck pill which introduces errors into the genetic code of the virus.

Pfizer said it plans to submit interim trial results for its pill to the US medicines regulator, the FDA, as part of the emergency use application it started last month.

Anyone's opinion is worth as much as anyone's else. That is quite true.

However your posts are limited to repeating your "view" of "I want to buy at £2.50".

That's hardly informative, is it? However many times you post it.

Saga relaunches brand to celebrate ageing

Https://www.insurancewire.co.uk/news/business/global-insurance-pricing-up-15-in-q3/

CEO Euan Sutherland believes the campaign will broaden Saga’s appeal and more accurately reflect its positively-minded customer base and is part of a wider brand revitalisation tied to Saga’s transformation strategy

Lewis Catchpole - 22 hours ago

Saga, the UK’s specialist in products and services for people over 50, has announced a rebrand focused on changing the way people think about age and showing the “more positive side of getting older”.

The firm said the campaign is part of Saga’s wider data, digital and brand strategy, which champions what Saga is calling “Generation Experience” – celebrating over-50s who represent over a third of the UK population.

The integrated campaign, based on “deep customer insight”, will see the launch of new TV advertising and will lean into Saga’s digital channels.

Saga said that the over 50s are the fastest growing demographic in the UK, and one that holds the most spending power comparatively. 27.9 million people will be over the age of 50 by 2030 in the UK, and 63p of every £1 will be spent by people over 65 in 2040.

But despite the “significance of this group” – and rising awareness of the need for greater cultural representation of gender, race and disability – Saga said age is “often left out of the conversation and either invisible or marginalised in cultural content”. Only 29% of TV adverts feature characters over the age of 50, with just 12% in lead roles.

According to Saga data, on average its customers feel 14 years younger than they are, and 91% want to experience new things and enjoy an active, healthy lifestyle. Saga spoke to more than 2,000 over 50s in the last week and two thirds (67%) also said they were more likely to spend with a brand that embraced a positive view about life over 50, focused on experience rather than age.

Euan Sutherland, CEO of Saga Group said: “People are living longer than ever before; they are working longer; they are helping their families; they are contributing to society. We know our customers do not feel old – they feel as if they are experienced. They have lived full lives, have so much to give and fully intend to make the most of each and every day.

“Our new brand strategy champions what we are calling Generation Experience”– the discerning, sharp and savvy over-50s who represent over a third of the UK population. It’s time for businesses and organisations of all sizes to have a conversation about age. As a purpose-led business with over 70 years’ experience, it’s one that we think Saga is ideally placed to lead.”

Still spouting on your short clampit? So transparent talking your book with no useful information posted as always.