Member Info for JohnLewis79

$79.40. US stocks gained - Asia mixed but trending higher. London flat to small loss at open. G closes 150 up on ytd (139%) and 285% off historic low. Yikes even I've doubled banged here....nearly. Wary one should be but looking for the next panic or crash is pointless...these events tend to find us and fear is your friend because mrkt declines throw up bargains galore. I missed out on the '87 recovery as i was broke but did quite well in the 2008/9 panic as I had some 'spare.' Does anyone track the trading vols? Be interesting to know the % of free float being churned. Was it 30m? That must be reducing / recycling at a fair clip if vols cont at 2m+ daily. The 150 rise ytd hasn't been achieved on penny ante buying. I'd guess the jobbers have been borrowing stock luckily for them its been rising! Morning all.

True Lem...sp rises rarely correlate to bod excesses. Check out Enron & World.com whose shares soared whilst the bods were raping the Companies. Not suggesting this is happening at Gkp but as per usual his freebies become more valuable as the stock rises for which he may not be wholly responsible for....only you as a holder can ascertain his worth to the Co and whether the bonus was legitimately earned. Still a rising share price covers up a multitude of sins of omission and commission.

It might interest Gkp holders having just swallowed a generous freebie to their CEO.. that probably the most famous Co in the world has a board whose each member has shares worth in excess of $4m (their families multiples of that) all bought in the market. No options free or otherwise have been issued. Thus the upside for all Directors is proportionately the same for other holders. In a nutshell you win they win big: you lose they lose big its called owner capitalism. You might like to tell that to Gkp's CEO.

Why do the majority of horse race trainers look like they should be doing 'security' on the Bellagio Casino's gaming floor?....Dark glasses, padded shoulders, you looking at me pal.....?

Afternoon H..yup fair comment but i really hope recent buyers are not punting on 'take over' hopes. I think they might be disappointed. Recent premiums don't fetch much over 25% which hardly takes into account our gas and I doubt many lths here would be interested at c.320p. I sure wouldn't. We are much more on the front page of investors stock pics that can only be good.

All sellers if you believe the lse nos...I dont. Don't pay a lot of attention to daily vols up or down. Focus on what Idea can earn 2--5 years down the line in increasing eps as the Co expands into the US market and beyond. Not sure if this is a "bottom drawer" stock but must be pretty damn near it.

I think G is going back up on 4 years of trashing! Ok the OP has helped this time around whereas prev it didn't. Whatever dont be short as recent sellers at 245-50 have discovered..and sentiment and presentation have changed markedly since TH was i/c.... Where is he now?

Two and a half trading days to go Could the 250's be out of the money come Fri close? Watch for trading vols post Agm tomorrow.

Of course shareholders can always kick up a fuss at the AGM...too late I assume for an EGM to oust the CEO which incidentally is next to almost impossible given that most of the Directors are there at his behest and they wouldn't be there unless they have rubber stamped every prev decision. Of course the iis are all for the quiet life and will back the bod willy nilly as will the NEDs supposedly there for their independent status but i often wonder if its clocking on for the cheque and a lunchtime jolly at a City luncheon house. Whatever if your ****ed off enough you'll attend.

Morning H......NO!!

All in favour of bods being awarded for above...and I stress above average performance. Whether the Gkp CEO deserves that % award I don't know. From reading the posts it seems few consider him worthy of such a fine VCP bonus. All too often the dishing out of nil cost options to Directors bear no relation to the underlying economic performance of the Co. Plus, ca change......

Well in the money those options!

Big jump in lumpy trading vols last wk and yesterday....fairly unusual here but I'm not reading anything into it.

Weak opening on back of US and Asia trading lower. Called 20 off at the bell. The ftse has recovered to c.0.47% up ytd. The 'Sell in May' strategy is not working out on the ftse or G.....so far. Early days I know.

Statement from Mfocus little changed. Debt equates to c.713pps or c.£3.1bn. Mrkt cap £5.5bn.

10 y T/bill yield tops 3% as growth is expected to pick up on the back of strong retail sales. Will the Fed quicken the pace of rate rises to cool the economy? Higher Co costs and investors forsaking equities for the security of bonds tanked the Dow yesterday as the S&P 500 yield fell below the 3 month t/bill rate. You will remember this is exactly the scenario that scuppered mrkts back in Feb.

Shocking....what Shocking? The MP's report into CLLN highlighting the 'rotten corporate culture', recklessness and greed, aggressive accounting techniques or as I prefer to say "making up the nos" and alleging that Co auditor had been complicit in certain dodgy practices with audits being of a cursory nature. Seems hardly a year goes by without some scandal surfacing in the Square Mile. A few rotten eggs should not be allowed to besmirch the citys reputation or what remains of it....for many think for every 'Rotter' exposed many go uncovered.

Lem your a holder in Gkp what's your take on the vitriol being spilled on the Gkp BB re: latest pigs in trough action by the bod? I'm reminded that one should invest in Cos whose Management you TRUST & admire. Seems there's very little of that over there.

$78.32. That's a gain of $12 on 1/1/18 price. The current £$ rate is (1.3502). In 2017 The £$ averaged (1.289) v ytd (1.391) So slightly worse off when converting. Should the $ weaken the oil price rise should more than compensate come year end if we average in the mid to high $70's. Q1 2018 av $68.66 with Q2 set to av over $70. Morning all.

As I said hydrogen the best of luck. I hope this stock is diametrically opposed to the 1000 to 70 that G suffered! I cannot get involved in long - term projects anymore however inviting they look on paper. At least your investing from a low base unlike the ridiculous £10 per share Genel IPO.