Member Info for jds15

Double negative if you don't mind. Let me run it past you again in a more explicable format? If the SP does not begin to reflect the intrinsic future worth of MKS Stuart may feel the company is better appreciated outside the quoted sector. Does that clarify?

Please note Agreed deal

I will not be convinced that MKS is not a target for an agreed bid if the SP does not recover. If Stuart's efforts go unrecognised by the City then it makes sense for the company to go private. This is a superb company with an underserved low rating, From the Times today... "One adviser to US private equity companies put it more bluntly: “There’s absolutely going to be another raid on UK plc. The pound is way down against the dollar, which gives US companies a bargain on British companies… So I think, actually, it accelerates certain sectors of M&A.”

Exactly. One to hold just like Next

I am probably wrong but it's amazing how sentiment changes when the long dark days of winter gloom go. I really do feel if the SP does not reflect the prospects long term there will be predator interest.

So where do you see it? Me? 430 post results

How long is a piece of string? If it takes too long then the company comes in to play. The tough work has been done and unless the SP starts to reflect that institutions, already sitting on big gains, will listen to predators

Very sensible comment. Simon Wolfson has the same investor relations adviser for 30 years. This guy lives and breathes Next. He knows all the retail analysts and all the key investors. The business journalists know and trust him. He fines tunes communications with skill and knowledge. I agree with you. In an attempt to play straight Stuart frightened investors. In the next few weeks, things will normalise. Morningstar got it right by fluke. Poor comms and gilt pricing bought M&S low. The fundamentals of this business remain excellent

Yes, again...an agreed deal with the opportunity to make some serious dough!

If I were a US retailer looking for a sensible acquisition I would target M&S but only on an agreed bid basis with a bigger role for Stuart. Conditions have never been better. A fantastic proven team...a resurgent dollar/weak pound. What is the point in being listed with such a paltry PE. Stuart must get fed up with having to spend so much time keeping the City happy. At valuations around several billion this is just a canape

The PE route would stop Stuart and team from having to keep satisfying a hard-to-please stock market. Stuart is a victim of his own success!

Thanks Neil for steadying the ship. I am sure you are right.

Sadly, yes. I would feel that Blackrock a better hands off owner

Good post but if SP falls further....?

I agree. The idea of Reeves running the economy(into the ground) is terrifying. What is scary is the goodwill this government has squandered in so little time. Business gave Reeves and Starmer the benefit of the doubt. How wrong it was. I have to say you were right. I still feel(and others here will challenge) that MKS would be better off out the quoted arena.

Thanks David. You are correct. This could be a institutional play. I am not competent to have an opinion as to how spliting would work but I would assume that Stuart and Archie would see the sum of all the parts as where the future lies. Archie is still energised and is just the man to structure a PE backed buyout. He did this at Kingfisher(I think?) Also, it would allow him to go beyond the normal retirement age. The hard work is all but done and running a listed company these days is a job for masochists.

Yes, dire government but in a way MKS is a defensive stock. You have to eat and dress and the typical M&S customers well is insulated from economic woes. I don't imagine M&S customers feeling so impoverished they will run off to LIDL. All that Trendz says rings true to me though if I were Stuart and Archie I would be running off to Blackrock to take MKS private

EXactly!

Don't worry.In a year's time you will be very happy. Mks has a golden future. We will look back upon this as buying blip. If the price goes anywhere lower and I were Machin I would be talking to Blackrock about taking the company private. Blackrock already own several % and a pe backed deal like that could make Machin and team v seriously rich

The issue is a simple one. It's about competence and perception. When you select lightweights such as Rayner and Lammy to lead the country to the sunlit uplands sensible people get confused! This is not an enterprise friendly country. If you are one of the millions working directly or indirectly for central and local government or one of the other millions preferring not to work you have a friend in the government. It's as simple as that.