Member Info for Grayling

My feeling that the "mediation" would take up until Xmas to conclude was well founded if the following statement from RMG is accurate: "We will now make contact with the CWU as a matter of urgency to begin the process of external mediation. The mediation process will take close to Christmas to be completed, and may be longer. The first step is selecting a mediator acceptable to Royal Mail and the CWU from a panel that was agreed by both parties under the Agenda for Growth. I suspect it may take some time for both sides to agree on a suitable "mediator' from the panel.

My weightings are: BAE systems 5.2% GSK 8.6% Fairly happy at that. I am overweight on AZN (11.5%) and have been taking the dividends in cash and investing them elsewhere.

What on earth has happened here? Complete lack of transparency. Is it internal fraud? Misrepresentation of product quality (a la KOBE)? Price fixing? We should be told.

I do not think that RMG would have taken this course of action if it meant that strikes were more likely to occur over the busiest period of the year. They may not be the brightest bulbs in life's chandelier, but even they are not that stupid. They must know that they can delay the start of the formal 5 week period until it pushes the threat beyond the Xmas period now.

This is all getting a bit fraught and personal don't you think? I may already know how many houses he owns and what car he drives, but I have no desire to probe the murky depths of his educational record!

Nice fat divi payment in account today!

IK I think it may be because there is now a realistic possibility that someone (or both sides) will see sense and come to a mutually acceptable solution. Either that or the markets think that the legal injunction has a realistic chance of delaying any strike beyond the Xmas period when most of RMGs large volume business is conducted.

750 posts will go at the Warton and Samlesbury plants in Lancashire 400 in Brough and 245 across RAF Marham and Leeming 340 maritime jobs will be lost in Portsmouth and Solent 180 posts will go in London, Guildford and other locations So 1915 jobs in total (rounded up by the BBC tp 2K) and almost double yesterday's prediction.

So 2000 jobs to go and not 1000 as trailed yesterday. Normally, this kind of cost cutting bumps the price up but the market seems to be taking the announcement as an indication of future weakness in BAE's core markets.

According to that site everything I own is a screaming sell bar Oilers and AZN! I can understand CNA/SSE/RMG given current sentiment, but FEVR, Aviva, PHNX and BAE ?

If this is correct and the agreement signed by the CWU is legally binding and watertight, maybe Moya is not as stupid as she might seem?

Basis of court injunction is that RMG says the CWU have signed up to a legally-binding mediation process to resolve disputes, and has not followed this procedure. Royal Mail said: "We believe any strike action before the dispute resolution procedures have been followed would be unlawful strike action. "Royal Mail notes that, in a ballot in 2014 on all the provisions of the Agenda for Growth agreement including the dispute resolution procedures, 94.5% of CWU members that cast their votes voted Yes."

Oh I think you can. As of 2016 Unilever is bigger in terms of global revenue than CC. Stork = Unilever = Revenue �52.713 billion (2016) Schweppes = Coca Cola = Revenue US$41.863 billion (2016)

Not good news for the Northern economy at all following on from the loss of AZN to Cambridge. My old man used to work at Samlesbury back in the 1960s and it was a big site then.

Good luck with that. It's like Stork suddenly deciding they are going to make butter. You just would not trust them to get it right. My suspicion is that CC have seen a way of increasing margin by selling a premium product. Problem is if they launch this new range where they have to compete with FEVR/Fentiman, they run the risk of trashing their own market for the standard Schweppes tonic water, which will then be perceived as an inferior product. As for Britvic, their tonic water is so rank they don't deserve to be in the business at all.

Something of a recovery at VZC of late. Wish I could say the same about VOD!

Any thoughts on this investment by Aviva? Good, bad indifferent?

I have no idea if that figure is correct, but RMG represents such a small proportion of my portfolio I am prepared to stick this out "strike or no strike" and see what happens.

Let us hope so. It would certainly be a vindication of East's strategy in trimming the fat. I also regard this as (relatively) Brexit proof as they have a major presence overseas, which East has rapidly consolidated and expanded. Perhaps some upward movement on the dividend would be the trigger for a rise up to £10?

The big fat divi just dropped into the account today. Took the rights issue as a no-brainer to increase my holding and PHNX never disappoints. One of the best performers in my portfolio and no drama or roller coaster ride with this one.