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I suspect that middle management in SGC will be thankful they are not involved in South West Trains these days.

A balanced assessment from londoner7. One more point, if things do get gloomy Marstons array of breweries are well represented in the supermarkets in bottles and cans, and I think this is an aspect of the business which can be expanded. McEwans Champion ale seems to fly out in quantity from the shelves of Lidl, with whom they appear to do a lot of business, and I notice that Courage Best is a fixture in Morrisons at a discount price. The continuing drop in the share price is rather upsetting. I had thought it was levelling out at around 120p. We shall see.

If there is any truth in Amazon's interest, investors, both institutional and private, should hold out for a decent price. A nationwide chain of stores is one aspect, but with Morrisons' abattoirs, meat processing plants, fruit and vegetable packing depots, flower packing business, the fish processing plant at Grimsby, and the Rathbone bakeries as an in-house supply chain just think what Amazon could do online. Furthermore with Andrew Higginson and Dave Potts they get two managers who seem to know what they are doing; quite rare in these days of boardroom gadflies.

It's not just the company which has been silent. For two years up until 8th March of this year the Brokers' opinions were "Buy". Since 8th March not a word from any of them. It is to be devoutly wished that there is nothing nasty lurking in the bushes.

A very muted response to the news which was not even reported in some quarters. Initial dip now seems to be recovering. One of the under-used brands in the Wells portfolio is Courage. Initially they brewed this under licence from one of the big groups but were able to buy the brand outright. The McEwans brand is, I believe, held under licence. I hope this will be acquired outright, and with the brand the Caledonian Brewery where it is brewed. As an aside, Young's Bitter and Courage Best give Marstons two of the better session ales.

Unfortunately this company reminds me of the disastrous transformation of GEC into Marconi, and I have a bad feeling that there may be more bad news. Think I prefer Richard Clay & Co. to St Ives.

Gerry. Scroll down the last two pages of discussion and you'll find the links. I am against a merger, as I believe Sainsburys (and the City mafia) would be the dominant partner, with all the baggage they would bring - placemen, time-serving non-execs. At Morrisons we now have two career grocers in charge. Things are improving, and Morrisons appear to be more selective these days in their choice of non-execs. Please, no return to the days of Boland, Sir Ian Gibson, and Phillips. Beware the serpent tongues of the City slickers.

I think that any merger of Morrisons and Sainsburys would lead to a severe clash of current cultures. In recent months Sainsburys seem to have given up on matching the discounters. Their basics range prices have jumped to a level where I ask why continue? The only benefits I can see are in Morrisons manufacturing plants which strip out the middleman, and whose output would increase. Without a clear joint strategy a merger is not worth the bother. Do the people who write these hypothetical articles ever visit stores to observe ranges and pricing? Morrisons has had more than its share of City chattering classes in the past ten years.

Pension Fund said to be in surplus; there's a real positive note. 85% of the estate is Freehold, and we must thank Sir Ken for pursuing that policy from way-back. Does anyone know if Aldi and Lidl own the Freeholds of their stores? I rather suspect that they may do. in any downturn Leaseholds are a millstone, and just consider what happened to Woolworths after it sold its Freeholds. Some grounds for cautious optimism, I think. It would appear that we have Grocers in charge, rather than boardroom butterflies and expensively-suited dullards.

My Local chain, ex-Morrisons convenience stores is be placed in administration. Under the very wonderful arrangements made by our previous CEO, Morrisons is liable for about £20m of lease commitments. No doubt some of these will find new tenants, but there may well be a rump of unwanted sites. I wonder if the new team might be able to run some of these profitably?

It is difficult to read the state of play. Within FirstGroup, GWR do a decent job, especially with the Cornish branch lines, but elsewhere FirstGroup leaves much to be desired. Virgin East Coast (90% SGC) may have over-paid for the East Coast Main Line, where it is believed current loadings may be below forecasts. Both companies coming from a bus background have little appreciation of the value of non-essential excursion traffic. British Rail, for all the stick they took, recognised this, and each local Division had a "Special Services & Excursions Department". Part of their job was to get excursion passengers on board scheduled trains where traffic was light. Hello, Perth? Anyone there?

Not quite sure now about this one. Whoever wins the South West Trains franchise is going to have a hard time with infrastructure disruption, and probably fitful returns. Councils looking to save money are reducing bus subsidies, and the Local Government mafia of the large cities want to regulate bus operators and their returns. In the past when Stagecoach has encountered obstacles Sir Brian has always come to the rescue with recovery strategies, but I do wonder if his attention has been diverted to Alexander-Dennis and personal politics. I suppose there will always be a profit of sorts in bus services, but perhaps not as much as in the past. A great shame; long-term holders have done very well with Stagecoach.

A problem for Poundland will be any return of inflation, when much of the present range will be difficult to source to sell at £1. Therefore the introduction of differing prices is sensible. If and when inflation appears a change or modification of name may be necessary. I visit the Whitby Poundland once or twice a week and always come out with useful purchases.

Does anyone have any theories about the fall in share price? Is it connected to a fall-off in the tourist trade, particularly Chinese visitors? I had a prowl round Shaftesbury's areas of operation last Autumn. Carnaby Street impressively transformed from the seedy dump of some years ago, with plenty of people about, and busy shops, cafes and restaurants. Unless I am deluding myself, I think SHB has a good long-term business model, but should be pleased to hear any contradictory evidence.

A couple of very short but well-aimed Morrisons adverts on Channel 4 last night. Pushing items at £1 each. Possibly these will be more worthwhile than the lengthy and expensive ones with Ant and Dec, under the previous regime.

If I am correct the notice to holders indicates that further acquisitions, which will require more funding, may be necessary to put the company on a profitable basis. This could be very long term. As the late Samuel Goldwyn once observed, "Include me out".

Mr Potts is very wise to begin examining what is stocked at each store. I have often felt that some aisles offer a clutter of similar items, which could be sensibly weeded out to free up space for opportunistic buys. I was in London last Tuesday and had a bite at the cafe in the large Camden store. The car park was almost full, the store was very busy, and the cafe was busy. This was in complete contrast to my last visit three months ago when the store was very quiet, and the cafe deserted. Can anyone report any good or bad news from other stores around the country?

As a long-term holder of SGC I have always been concerned by the North American activities. From J. Arthur Rank to Tesco many, many British companies have fallen flat, at heavy cost, in the USA. Basically the Americans are insular tribalists who do not welcome interlopers, and it is a serious mistake to imagine that the USA represents a land of milk and honey for UK companies, and often these American excursions are vanity projects. The other side of the coin is that many lazy complacent UK boardrooms have sold out decent UK companies for a quick but meagre profit. My Hold Opinion is with the caveat, for the moment.

Many thanks for your information.

For the past 7 years i have been using an online "execution only" broker with my shares held in a Crest Account. This broker is selling up to another which does not permit Crest Account. This means I do not directly receive dividends, and there are other complications. My charges were roughly £50 per annum plus £14.50 per transaction. Can anyone recommend an online execution only broker which allows Crest Account with roughly similar charges? Many thanks for any help.