Member Info for getafgrip

Yes, we live in interesting times. The widows and orphans were unceremoniously chucked out of the boat late this afternoon! So some of them might be decent swimmers by now! Just a pity the swamp-rats that invaded the BB were not amongst them,

The only question now is whether I will be the only one in the Salvation Army Hostel at Christmas babbling on about having a raft of Darktrace shares when the market turned! Or whether I will be buying extra cans of beans, or caviar, for the foodbank!

I was definitely wrong-footed by Friday's after market news.

There are a lot of reasons why the Establishment do not want Dark in the FTSE 100, and certainly not too quickly! I just think this is blatant market manipulation. A great buying opportunity, but if you want to make money as a Trader, think like a conspiracy theorist, it explains everything. They cannot let a company into the FTSE 100 if it no longer qualifies!

The only interpretable bad news around is that Tesco's systems were penetrated so all cyber-security companies have nothing to offer! We all know this is simply not correct.

Grotty - I like the Castle analogy. Maybe with Zscaler protecting the Cloud above the Castle. Probably the best defence is something multi-faceted on the lines of a product that watches from the battlements and prevents attacks, but also combined with Darktrace dealing with anything that gets through the outer defences! Strategically a lot of these companies, with their sky high share prices are going to buy into each other or take over each other.

As you know Kape recently took over another company on this basis ExpressVPN. SentinelOne has partnered with Zscaler and Cloudflare. This is just the start. It is going to happen more and more. Great news for Darktrace.

I agree with the view that the SP will spike tomorrow. Certainly well over £10 and maybe touching £11. Then when the sales by investment banks & private investors have been smoked out, it will consolidate above £10, together with joining the FTSE 100, hopefully shaving some of the volatility associated with the share.

Well spotted by ChefMarco in the RNS - it completely wrong-footed me. Dark where just in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. A great week ahead.

It must be a record short stay in the FTSE 250. Amazing and congratulations to all!

It is very doubtful that Shell has just naively taken on the responsibility and losses associated with taking on the customer base of several failed energy supply companies, without there being a trade-off, direction or negotiation with Government. The terms of this will be highly politically sensitive and I would guess not in the public arena for some time yet. We have a Government that claims to understand industry and commerce, they were looking for a favour, and they fully understand that they cannot expect any company to take on losses without some form of compensation.

Or should that be the White Queen she met?

Was it Queen Elizabeth or the Queen of Hearts, that Poppy in Wonderland met the other day?

Looks like 2.5m customers for Octopus and 5m for Ovo, so Shell might be taking on further tranches of customers. In terms of seeking a profitability goal, presumably the more customers, the nearer they will get to what they perceive as the necessary critical mass.

I think the Investment Banks are a completely different animal to the various funds etc. The dynamic that drives them is invariably speed of gain. Many of them will be hard-wired to take a 3-400% gain made in only say 6-months!

The reasoning being that although Dark is a great company, great future, great investment as we have all discussed. For them the speed of gain has seismically changed. They are unlikely to forecast a share price hitting £30-£40 in the next 6-months. For them it is about maximising the capital growth from the value of the capital they have right now. There are a lot of competing investment alternatives available, often exclusively to them.

They are not long-term investors by nature, they are about extraordinary gains in a very short time. I think that a lot of their capital investment in Dark could easily walk on a strategically phased basis. I would be very surprised if they do not cause a dip in the SP.

These acquisitions enhance Shell's vertical integration of businesses & companies. They have saved the Government serious embarassment over the collapse of so many companies in the energy supply sector. Essentially they have won a lot of brownie points for pulling the Government's/Boris's nuts out of the fire!

They are taking on these companies strategically (& behind the smoke and mirrors), because the failures have been spread around a number of major players - British Gas etc, reliable, dependable, deep-pocketed compoanies. The Government can still argue that they have introduced competition to the energy supply companies. The Zombie companies are being shaken out! If the Government did not want this consolidation & restructuring in the market-place, they could simply lift the Cap!

Much is made of these doomed companies being loss-making, but they are unlikely to remain so. However Shell might take them on anyway as part of a social responsibility charade, that distracts from their demonised mainstream products. As a side benefit these acquisitions arguably help many of the disadvantaged in society. Also a zero cost per customer acquisition is a pretty sound strategy, especially if and when those customers become profitable propositions! Plenty of new faces to sell sister products to. Shell

From Shell's perspective they are outlaying peanuts which accrue lots of benefits! Will it impact on decisions relating to Windfall Taxes - you bet!

A great opportunity to give away a few Darktrace freebies in return for becoming: "By Appointment to her Majesty..........."

The Queen will certainly appreciate the need for identifying and plugging leaks, as well as thwarting hacking journalists etc.

RDS taking on loss making companies, partly to save Government face, is quite an astute move from RDS's perspective. The Cap will have been discussed as part of the negotiations,also future routes to profitability in the energy supply market & the Cap is unlikely to be there forever. RDS immediately injects confidence, consistency and trust into the market.

And a few brownie points when windfall taxes get mentioned!

Seems to be bouncing around £18 - a thing of beauty really! And much further to go!

I was happy to buy at £8.50p/£8.60p this morning, but it didn't happen. Over £9 was not very enticing at all, and it looks like I was in good company! Previously sold all at around £6.50p & then bought back in slightly more @ £5.88p and have then just sat on them since.

Knowing my general behaviour patterns, I had exited Dark well ahead of the game. But, there was a gravitational pull drew me back, not least because there are some great analytical views put forward on this Board.

I think that there will still be very strong links between Dark and the UK security services. Not everything can be entrusted to the World of commerce, & based on historical events trusting Government with all aspects of security would have serious flaws. My feeling is that Dark is likely a blend of these two dynamics. Behind the scenes Government will for instance be heavily involved in who Dark sells to, or is ultimately sold to, or it certainly should be!

What amuses me with Dark is from ML's statements about the founding of Dark. Was he designing a cutting edge cyber security system to take on the evil and subversive criminals and hacker governments around the World? Initially the answer would be no! He was a Non-Exec Director of the BBC at the time. They were worried about staff leaks to the press etc. ML was one of the few people they knew with expertise in this technical area & he was asked to design a system that picked up on unusual BBC staff computer activity, essentially to pre-empt a potential leaker or identify them after the fact!

A bit like Fleming discovering penicillin rather than inventing it! Nobody suggests now as a major selling point that Dark systems are excellent performers in the staff surveillance arena, but doubtless they are even better now! Would the Government buy on this basis? Yes!

Probably from a similar age group, with a similar sense of humour & investing in similar shares - all very worrying! But, the good times are starting to roll & there is obviously going to be a spike in sales of glazing of all kinds, even goldfish might get some triple-glazing! Shell is the right share at exactly the right time - good luck all.

Jayne,

I have to confess that I had not been watching the trades yesterday so thank you for the background. Dark seems to have formed a strong trading pattern for me - a series of steady rises followed by a scary descent (for whatever reason), but always progressing upwards. A market-makers dream. Also I was a bit pre-occupied with Shell's sudden recent breakout progress.

I can feel a really good conspiracy theory coming on relating to the share price and induction in to the FTSE 100 hall of fame, but I hope that I am wrong!

And this does not even cover the companies & Governments/Government Departments that refuse to admit publicly that they have been hit! I think the published and recorded ransomeware attacks are just the tip of the iceberg!

I'm with ChefMarco on this. Behaviourally just like an imminent placing, but I think just a bit of altitude sickness for many with a target of around £10 before bailing out! Some serious gains around & it's never wrong to take one. On patterns of behaviour it should bottom out around £8.50-£8.60 was my feeling as well.

Certainly looking for how low we go before buying more & I had decided not to make any further purchases of Dark.

BE - Sound like German Eastern front tanks in the Second World War or a Yorkshire Summer from my childhood! Minus 45 was nothing, we didn't shut the windows until it was minus 50!