Member Info for hardup

bethdsa.....the share price has not dropped more than the dividend cut? The share price fell 9.3p on Thursday, the dividend cut is 15.4p? Question is, will it fall further from here, or can this be considered the final low, where it may hover around for some time, before eventually starting a slow and sustained increase?

fleccy......Thanks for reply......I take it then that there is a regulation that prevents directors from buying or selling shares in their company 2 months before the results are due? If so, I apologise for the inaccuracy of my comments. I am new to investing but hoping to gain some knowledge from these boards as I have quite a large amount of cash that I want to invest but am being very cautious in the current climate.

Laptop15......If BT is performing well and is considered cheap surly the directors would be making big buys before the results on Thursday morning?

Theosus - I have actually already looked at the Nakedtrader.co.uk yesterday as I saw this was recommended for someone to read on one of the boards (can't remember which). I found it a very interesting read and would love to do the same; I am in a **** job and would love to call it a day now as I only have 5 years to retirement anyway. He did have one major advantage though, he was already a very seasoned and experienced investor from the profession he worked in before he stopped work so really it was just a continuation of what he had done for years but on a self employed basis. I did not get dividends from any of my previous investments as I had stop losses placed and all were triggered before x-dividend dates came around. I would say by definition I am a long only investor as long as the SP is going up. Ideally I want to invest in one or more companies that pay a good dividend to live of the natural yield without touching the capital. There appear to be some good opportunities now to get in with a good dividend yield but it is worrying the number of companies which have already cancelled dividends, and some of them after going ex-dividend as well. I suspect there will be more to come. Everyone quotes Warren Buffet "be fearful when others are greedy, be greedy when others are fearful" but I find it hard to follow through with this sentiment. Of the ones that have not yet cancelled their dividends, BT, BP, RDSB, IMB, BAT, L&G, SSE to name some, look tempting. I know I am going to have to take the plunge at some time, I just need to be confident, and with the volatility in markets just now I am finding it hard to be confident.

Theosus - At the moment I am sitting on the sidelines 100% cash. I have only been investing direct in shares briefly for 2 years so I don't think I can say there is any sector in particular that I favour. I would say that I am a long only investor although my trading history doe's not reflect this. I briefly invested in Lloyds in 2018. Bought at 63.3 and sold for 61. In 2019 I briefly invested in Aviva, bought for 407 and sold for 403, and RMG bought for 203 and sold for 205. I was very tempted in January after the General Election and Brexit concerns eased, and then Corona Virus appeared and started to become an issue so have sat tight. Glad I did, if I had stayed invested with any of my investments mentioned previously the value would have gone down by 50%. I would need to gain a considerable amount of experience and knowledge to be confident to dabble at trading as opposed to investing.

Theosus - I've had a good read of the information at the link you sent. I don't think I am in the category of investor to use such strategies. Think that strategy is more for the "city wide boy traders" who are streetwise to that method of trading.

Theosus - Thanks for the link, very much appreciated.

Asperger1 - Can you please explain to a novice investor what is the relevance of Gap Watch? How does it work and what useful information can be derived from it?

With the Dividend cancelled, the current SP now looks like a reasonable entry point...………...BUT there is still a potential big banana skin to slip up on with Industrial Action looming. With no potential time frame being given for beginning the Industrial Action, or what the Industrial Action will be in the form of there is to much risk there just now so I think I will just stay on the side-lines for now and see what develops with the Industrial Action. I cannot see much improvement in SP until Industrial Action has been taken or cancelled.

After the ballot on 17th March in which 95% overwhelmingly voted for Industrial Action, what are the next steps in this process now? When is it likely any Industrial Action would start?

bluetigeruk; thank you so much for taking the time to answer my query, it is very much appreciated. I have already stated I am a novice investor and with the volatility in the markets over the last few weeks am treading very carefully before I commit any money.

bluetigeruk; thanks for your explanation. Can you break it down a bit more for me? Which is the relevant EPS figure to use to calculate dividend cover as using Basic/Diluted EPS gives a dividend cover of 1.69 which is reasonable, but if using Adjusted EPS this gives dividend cover of 0.8375 so the dividend is not covered by earnings. I am a novice investor and thinking twice about investing if the dividend is not covered by earnings...……...or am I looking to deep?

Will the BOD use this as an excuse to rebase the dividend to a lower level when dividends eventually do get reinstated?

Can someone please explain what is the difference between the 3 different EPS categories listed under the fundamentals tab? EPS Basic, EPS Diluted and EPS Adjusted. The EPS Basic and Diluted both 135.2, but the EPS Adjusted is 67.1? Which of these is the correct one to apply to the full year dividend figure to derive the Dividend Cover figure? I believe full year dividend this year will be 80p so If using EPS Basic/Diluted 135.2 then dividend cover would be 1.69 which is reasonable. However if using EPS Adjusted 67.1 then the dividend cover is only 0.8375, which is not good? Which EPS figure is the correct one to use?

Can anyone advise what is the current status of the SFO investigation? All seems to have gone quite and fallen of the radar screen?

Just been there and says there are no short positions open on Barclays?

Where do you get your information that Barclays is a heavily shorted stock? All the information I can find, including this website, says there are no short positions open on Barclays?

It was announced yesterday that Aviva has lost the contract to manage 2.3 billion worth of funds for RBS. Is this likely to have a negative impact on SP driving it lower? Just looking at a similar situation when Lloyds dumped SLA as their investment managers which drove SLA SP lower.

Nuri: I kind of messed this up yesterday! I bought in Thursday last week at 203.2. After the small bounce on Friday I set a stop loss at 207 before markets opened yesterday. Got home from work last night and saw that this was activated and my holding sold for 205.6! If I had a little more confidence I would have set the stop loss limit lower but after seeing some of Falklands comments I kind of convinced myself that Fridays increase was maybe down to a "dead cat bounce" so wanted to ensure I kept some of the gains! I am a novice investor and learning as I go. At least I made a small gain which is better than a loss. Wondering now whether I should bite the bullet and jump straight back in or sit on the sidelines for a while as I am a bit concerned about the size of the after hours sell trade at 16:35, it was a massive sell? Don't know if I should read anything into that? Is it possible that could have been attributable to someone opening up a new short position? Also considering Vodafone, Aviva, BT, Lloyds, IAG?

What is the more feasible within 5 years; RMG SP 400, or Aviva SP 800? Or are both absolute fantasy?