The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma has just been released. Listen here.
Oligarch I assumed your comment re CWU being supportive of the bid was sarcasm as they as have expected started trumpeting the renationalisation call to Labour and their vision for what the business model should be. I am no expert on the details of making a bid for a company but I thought it was the business who turned down the offer. I don't think any shareholders have had a say at this point although of course VESA could be influencing in the background. In my head I thought 75% acceptance was required. Hopefully someone can confirm or put me right. Bck to the football. GLA
Darbo the answer is sitting on my favourite chair watching the football. Very funny re holidays and we are actually away on Tuesday for a week. Need to get away from the rain and get some sun. I've just been reading the comments for the last couple of days and didnt feel the need to add to the mix.
Not surprised at the bid and DK is playing a very smart game IMO. It will play out and no doubt there will be lots of twists and turns. I am happy to stay invested but will continue to review.
Oligarch I agree retention of new starts is an issue faced by many companies but 85% if correct is a major issue and needs fixing. It does appear to be that many people now see jumping from job to job as the norm. You can see the staff turnaround in local shops, restaurants, deliveries etc etc. I recall seeing the overall attrition rate being reported a few years ago around the 6% mark from memory hopefully we might get a view in end of year reports, Interesting that the business say if the changes to delivery spec is agreed by Ofcom it could result in 1000 voluntary redundancies and the CWU say 6000 perhaps when you do the maths it equates to 6k and the business are going to redeploy the 5k in achieving QoS and into parcel deliveries.
DerekR your absolutely right I do miss the small and feel of a damp electricity bill red reminder landing on the mat. When I asked my provider to reinstate they said paperless only and payment by DD. LoL I agree there is still a significant but declining letter market and we may be able to grow in some areas but generally around small delivery items be they prescriptions or DM. Ask anyone under the age of 25 when they last posted a letter other than a birthday card perhaps or look at what all major institutions do in terms of communications and the reasons for the decline are obvious. I draw a parallel with newspapers, youngsters could even name you 2 broad sheets. Will we even get back to 8 billion with all sorts of initiatives I doubt it. We need to focus on excelling in the markets we have remaining and build the growing streams. AIMO
Ive just finished watching the CWU session and IMO I thought both DW/MW seemed fairly accepting of the general need for the changes although still saying they have some differing opinions to the business. Looking to tie in some changes to T&C's for New starters and also suggesting up to 40% of delivery staff could be off on a Saturday.
Still mentioned their 50 page proposals which includes new work for delivery staff. I find that a bit strange when saying staff cant currently finish their current workloads. Lets sort out the current issues including as stated by DW/MW QoS etc etc.
DW/MW did mention some interesting stats including only 14% of all traffic is now included in the USO and some 85% of new starters have left if that is the case this needs looking at urgently as part of the whole recruitment/staffing process.
Seems a very sensible approach that could have been written 12 months ago. Will be interesting how it plays out in the press. As Simx says can proceed without legislation so removes what some rightly saw as a hurdle.
I was just checking the attached report for another company and noticed details for COPL. This information may already be known but thought I would share in case it ties in with other dates etc.
I am not invested here but have read what has been going on and hope justice prevails for all.
https://shorttracker.co.uk/
Redceo I was of a similar mind but think it is prudent to wait a few days. I agree with what Oligarch has said about performance and I personally don't expect any improvement on FY results.
Based on that I think we will little in the way of any dividend, perhaps a few pence underpinned by GLS. The RMG business seems to be a state of limbo at the moment and as we know no news results generally in a steady drift downwards. As far as I can see no major sell offs just that drip drip effect. We have of course seen the shorters come into play when in this mode so worth watching for any changes there.
Going up again.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68447820
Oligarch you are absolutely right about the chain gang my wife and I both went WTF is that? Pretty sure it didn't comply with H&S and making them all walk with one each wouldn't have cost much more in terms of time. They certainly didn't look hard pushed or any sense of urgency. Unfortunately it looked real and hopefully the managers in the unit will find a better process.
I watched the programme and although many of the findings were disappointing it was IMO just a rehash of everything we already know and confirmed many of the concerns the business is trying to put right. It did highlight the issues around recruitment in some areas. I thought the whole production was very weak as were contributions from most.
What on earth was Rico B saying? Dave W said absolutely nothing new. I dont think anyone with a business/commercial head on would not understand the need to focus on profitable parts of the business but I recognise the need to deliver an acceptable level of service for letter items.
IMO it just reinforced the need to improve QoS and the requirement for change. Ofcom and the business need to progress the issues as quickly as possible and improve the current situation which feels more and more like a state of limbo.
Broch that's great you are happy with your times. The CWU have done a good job in getting these agreed with the business. It obviously varies by unit with some significantly later finishes up to 75 minutes with the aspiration that most will eventually be no more than 60 minutes.
- 1000 Delivery Units under 60 minutes
- 368 Delivery Units with less than 15 minutes impact
- 618 Delivery Units less than 30 minutes.
- 84% of Delivery units to be finished before 15:30
- 96% of Delivery Units finished before 16:00
- 240 units over 60 minutes with now a mitigation which caps this at a maximum of 75 minutes.
DerekR was that price including the security costs as it was a rucksack full of gold bars.......I didn't know anything about Shift but read they took over Tufnell's obviously see a future profitable model. They talk about using AI and sounds like they plan to be around for a while. Be interesting to see what their pricing structure looks like moving forward.
DerekR you are correct re Barclay Bros I have watched that closely as my son works in Newspaper industry and interested to see who ends up buying what titles etc and where they will be printed. There have been many name changes for the Shop Direct Group but still involves a lot of traffic is it now branded as The Very Group which was previously Littlewoods/ Grattons etc. The investment in their hub must have cost a few bob that's why someone may pick it up for a price. Would it be of any interest to IDS?
A mix of factors IMO, competition, escalating costs and poor reputation/performance. Possible someone may buy it, but we may find some traffic does come our way. It may also help with recruitment in certain areas. An ill wind and all that but tough environment for most at present.
Redceo fully awake now after a couple of weeks in the sunshine. I caught up on the few posts that have been made saw the news on Ofcom and resultant comments. It will take its own course and will trundle on for some time but at least recognition from the regulator that change is required.