Member Info for JohnLewis79

Very quiet start to trading, a few pis in/out early. The iis will wait for the HMRC.."will they won't they" appeal to the Supreme Court. Thence to any court that will entertain them. HMRC must be smarting at this reversal and if I was head prefect of this discredited outfit I'd be looking for blood! They have been badly advised. Imo they were extremely lucky to win round two and probably could not believe their luck pretty much knowing Spo would appeal. Oh well noone ever said HMRC was blessed with any brains which will probably be confirmed when the lodge an appeal. Hopefully the chief scout will tell them to get lost.

Jumping the gun here. So we will lose £15m (ebita) from the pools and the great cash flow. However our Racing & Digital should see increased revenues in years to come, currently c £8.2m (ebita) and the venues business which is expanding rapidly providing £2.8m (ebita). Nothing from our Bump lottery business or our stake in DraftDay, both will throw off lumps of cash in future. Post 13/5 when HMRC do the sensible thing and not appeal which should be considered frivolous and subject to severe penalties..... will we pull the sale of the Pools?

Well its a "guessing game" as ruled by the High Court so will HMRC appeal? Your guess, you won't be subject to vat....yet!

There are other matters to attend to after HMRC throw in the towel on 13/5. I hear the award will be subject to corporation tax of 20%? That costs will not be recoverable from HMRC......that seems odd since the victor takes the spoils and that the sum of £97m includes interest? Last time when we returned £93m to HMRC i don't remember reading we paid their legal fees or perhaps it was excused pending appeal? Somehow I think we will be liable for our own costs. A near 20% rise on the day was better than I thought (10max) on less than 500k traded which was disappointing. Perhaps after news comment in the Press this morning well see the shares heading up to 80's pre HMRC appeal decision?

Of course this potentially means we are cash rich and debt free to the tune of £25-30M (£97m + interest? Less debt c£63m less legal fees much of which has been allowed for i expect) and that's without worrying about the pools/spb sale. I think winning the vat or rather temporarily we are in a stronger position over the Pools division than had we lost as Hogg might have played hard ball over the price? Now we're not quite so desperate, if we ever were? So we can extract maximum value for holders. Be interesting to see what the city scribblers make of our windfall as I know from a couple of contacts that many thought HMRC was a shoe - in. Taking an appeal to the High Court with a unanimous verdict against you is high risk, as I hear the Court of Appeal are exceedingly prudent in which cases they will entertain.

From memory the shysters were on a no win no fee basis and I think at the last appeal were in line for £2.5m or thereabouts. Rumours of a £5m fee are wildly inaccurate. I should imagine we'll be getting simple interest on the principal not the compound we were all hoping for!! That might be a battle for another day?

Well its too early as the sale of the Pools is the next bit of news or as we're now a cash rich business assuming no appeal a bid for the entire Co? Whatever happens though I'm keen on the US side of our operations for potential future returns I'm not sure in the short term how much we can boost our Racing/bars/ & on line betting divisions? Much will depend on 13/5 and the sale of the football pools and how we treat our £60M debt...pay it off or continue as present which probably costs us 7-10% max? To be honest I'm not that bothered atm. I am mightily relieved the UT came to the decision it did which coincided with the view of most other common sense judges. Should get some good press tomorrow as long as Vodafone has not gone up a penny.......then it's the back pages for us! I rarely have a good word to say about Penrose and the Liverpool mafia but on this occasion....well done sir!

HMRC have been given till 13/5 to appeal. The court may not grant leave to appeal. In the meantime give us our money you robbin barstewards!

Happy days!! Think it's most unlikely HMRC will appeal now, losing 2-1 their position is very weak but I said that before!! Now for the Pools!

Perhaps not till late on as hearings don't start till 10.00am?

Agreed DD77 and $3.5m into income is a bonus. Turning out to be a lth for me which was not what I envisaged a year or so ago. Kinda stuck here but reasonably happy to be so.....stuck!

We'll know soon after 7.00am if the Tribunal have reached a decision. I think it's unlikely they will have going by the two previous long drawn out considerations. Strange how we're trading bang in the middle of our H (72)/L (50) and right on the 50DMA (63). Squiggly line chartists will no doubt have a view as to why? I prefer the more prosaic view which we're all well versed in! Fingers crossed but it's a false dawn imo for afterall the UT have to be seen to have carefully and fully considered the arguments and a quick decision might smack of a rush to judgement. Hope I'm wrong.

Wouldn't Sportech be mentioned in cases waiting a decision? Leads me to think that it's not on the list. When I last did jury service at the Old Bailey all cases scheduled to be heard that day were always mentioned on the noticeboard by name. Anyways we'll see on Wed how the land lies.

Cheers bags 1. We could be bundled in with others contesting vat rulings.....There's lots of them. I hope this is the end of the road and no further appeals are allowed in the UK. I read somewhere that the loser could still seek redress through the European Courts. Hopefully it won't come to that and both parties will abide by the UT decision and we can all go home to bed!!

From ii board a decision is expected on Wednesday 4th, May. Not sure as to the accuracy of said post but if it is the Judge has come to a decision remarkably quickly given that the wheels of British justice turn ever so slowly. Is this good news for us? Does a quick decision by the Tribunal suggest that they concur with Sportech's view on vat or that they are going to uphold HMRC appeal? Gut feeling? They are going to throw out HMRC's case. Trading after the Bank Holiday might give us some indication if the rumours are true?

Jumping in and out is never much of a strategy shows lack of focus or conviction about your trades. Not having a pop cos I've done it myself! Seems you acknowledge your sell trade was wrong and luckily got back in slightly cheaper....next time you might not be so fortunate? But a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do... As long as I have not bet the farm on one stock I tend to stick with it through thick and thin as long as the story/fundamentals stack up, as I believe is the case with Zam. This is the best policy as you smooth out any weird anomalies over the longterm and saves you making bum calls that mostly cost you money. You know all this but patience and discipline are two key attributes investors should try and acquire. A pal of mine has been in & out of one stock about 10 times, doing his brains I might add, convinced he'll call it right one day! The concept of a bottom drawer stock is beyond him and while he invests/punts like that I doubt he will ever make serious money. What I would like to do is start averaging up for a change at least I'll know my trades are increasing in value as opposed to falling in value (averaging down) which I'm an expert at! Thus Zam at 13-14 will consider if we ever get there? Speak soon JL.

Oh yes well aware of the Leic Tigers though Cardiff RFC are my team though they don't exist now and are a shadow of their former selves!! That of course was in the great days of Welsh rugby...of John Gareth Gerald the Ponty front row etc...when rugby was an exciting open game not the tedious crash bang wallop of international rugby, NZ accepted of course! I take it your a NC supporter so will you be on for next season? As I have lived in SL for many years C.Palace are my team but I do not to put money on them for obvious reasons! Though I missed the 4/1 that Man Who and Palace would make the FA Cup final.......still tbh I thought Everton would scupper the 4/1 double. OH well we continue to wait and wait and wait....who said this share game was exciting?....Fool!!

Don't know enough about teams that far down in football hierarchy! He'll do they even play out of Nottingham? Table talk says little chance of relegation this season, so your very unlikely to get Leic odds! If I knew more about NC I'd hazard a guess but I'd wait for the bookies to price up then bet if I thought they had been under/over priced. Shot in the dark 33-50's. I'd guess your better informed than me on footy matters since I don't even know where they play....so what would you take?

Leicester 1/20 ( last I looked) to take title which could be this week v Man Who. Weep, Sads, weep!! Wish I was one of those on at 5000/1 but saw the light at 11/4. Reportedly a £3M hit so no doubt the shares will rocket on Mon morning as Leic parade the trophy through the town! We have a bit of 'parading' to do but I'm getting fed up waiting around for Penrose to tap dance around Anfield, waving a large cheque!

Afternoon comeonvog I know how you feel biting the bullet and selling at a loss is the hardest thing to do in share investing. I've learnt my lesson I can tell you only recently selling an o....lie that had been murderously shorted from high 900's to low 70's. I bit the bullet and got out at 212 ish. Bought back in a few at 114 saw the stock crumble to 75ish but held as it was pretty much money I would have punted down Wimbledon dog track. Hope the loss was not too severe and your confidence hasn't been damaged. I hope you find a stock to at least recoup some of your losses. I'm at 14 and a tad here so ways to go for me but as I said atm it's bottom drawer money which hopefully I won't need to access just yet. Your in SM are you not? So speak there no doubt. Gluck!