Member Info for jds15

Chilting...a couple of things. Goldmans, the other day, forecast a series of rate cuts...did you not see it?. Also, I was struggling to see why you felt "Also our politics is likely to swing to the right." was a negative. I and most people think that a massive swing to the right is just what we do need.

Hahaha very good!

I forgot to say that if the analysts were concerned they would all be downgrading like crazy to stop egg on face situation

Fender, I feel you have an intuitive sense....and you are right at 400 it was silly. I would be comfortable at 370 until the results in May(which I hope won't disappoint....) Then, it will depend whether we have some of the interest rate cuts Goldmans forecast and Reeves doesn't introduce any further anti-business measures. My situation is that I want to get out of this country in a few years time and will be hoping by then the price has doubled and I can scuttle off.

David, I think you are right. Jan month for consumer sentiment. What sort of corporate activity?

The BRC research and Which is the cause. I am not too worried. Asking people how they feel about their finances in January is bound to beget a gloomy outlook. By the beginning of Spring people will feel more jaunty and MKS will be getting ready to produce great results. All will be well as long as Stuart stops being a prophet of gloom. In any case, MKS customers are pretty insulated from economic woes.

Https://www.tipranks.com/news/blurbs/marks-and-spencer-mks-receives-a-buy-from-barclays

We BOTs like Trans need protection. I propose Neil as President of the BOT protection society.

Really good points re branding

1ontheup makes an interesting speculation on Amazon.

When I mentioned this to my wife she said she wasn't sure she wanted Amazon delivering her M&S stuff. When I pointed out she loved Amazon as she did M&S she recanted and agreed it would not worry her. Picking up on 1ontheup's point about integration of the Amazon platform it makes perfect sense. Amazon would not even need to pay cash: all of us and institutions would take Amazon paper for tax and other reasons. Stuart and team would make a future fortune and have limitless capital to deploy

More upbeat research https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/1064741/marks-spencer-best-among-general-retail-as-market-share-grows-says-us-bank-1064741.html

Talking of wives...

I don't bother buying clothes. I have suits from years back. My wife is the decision maker in clothes and I suspect that is the same for millions of UK men. I really think MKS has done a great job in taking that factor into account. Whilst on one of my favourite bores....I would like to see Stuart take a higher profile as a retail guru. This is what Simon Wolfson does to great affect. I am not suggesting he embarks on this immediately but it is the sort of corporate profile raising that investors and decision makers like

So my wife was right all the time saying I talk to myself!

I agree with that you say courdelion .I will discuss our appointment with Fender!

For me, MKS occupies 'hallowed ground' in retailing so I have no issues with its future. It seems to get everything right and I see it as a Next in the making. I think Stuart frightened the horses by not qualifying his Scottish 'we are all doomed' with an enthusiastic exposition on how continuing cost efficiencies and price increases. In end 2026 we will all look back at the current SP in disbelief. As I have always said, Stuart got the tenor of remarks a bit wrong. As ever it is all about getting the tone of comunications right. courdelion sums it up well.

Neil, Fender has been on this site for ages: I have just joined. If you took the trouble to look back I was very rude to Fender when he correctly anticipated pullback. If we were one that would have been unlikely. I also apologised to Fender for my less than polite reaction to his perspicacity. You should have done the same. But, have a good day.

Neil, to paraphrase Voltaire you should carry on cultivating your garden. I am not a BOT. I, as do others, have a legitimate long term interest in this company. Discussing whether the company sits well in the quoted sector is a perfectly reasonable topic for discussion. Also, reasonable is how the company handles comms with the world. In the moist recent case many of us felt they could have been better managed. Throwing BOT around as an assault against anyone who disagrees with you is plain foolish. I reiterate my point that badly managed communications leads to SP gyrations and that provides fodder to the traders in this stock.

But they don't have to. They roll into a SPAC

Yes, but if they roll into a SPAC?

I live close to Battersea Power Station. Yes, very busy at weekends but quiet during weekdays. The Power Station sits in a sea of affluence with a captive audience. It is not symptomatic of retail UK wide. As Fender says Reeves has pulled the plug on consumer and business confidence. I have no idea as to whether Fender's 280 is likely. For me, I am there for the long haul but it is perfectly valid to question whether MKS is doing itself any favours by remaining quoted. It seems to me that that many of the 30% of retail investors see the stock as one to trade on an opportunistic basis rather than one they have a deep seated loyalty to. And, Neil, if you reply please drop the AI stuff. It really is puerile and reduces the discussion to the school room. I genuinely wonder whether the BOD should have to be spending all the time speaking to just 30% of small shareholders.

And one further point to those saying 'We don't want MKS bought by foreigners'. At the moment and on just cursory examination 70% of the institutions are foreign owned fund managers!

Could not agree more. Reeves is a blunderer.

I wanted to revisit my argument and see what you and 1ontheup felt.

There is no point in blaming Stuart for being too gloomy. it is a pity there could not have been a more positive spin on how the company would navigate the choppy waters ahead

Any bid for MKS would have to be agreed. The management team is superb any bidder would want not just to keep the team but massively motivate them.

The institutions own around 70%. I have no idea what their price average is but if the SP goes down to the level you prophesy then it just makes huge sense to consider whether MKS remains quoted.

Blackrock owns 5%. If it could motivate the other institutions it would massive sense to use a SPAC to take MKS private at say 370. Why would Stuart and Archie want to stay as a quoted company?