Member Info for Laughton

OK - I know this is being simplistic - but for £250M we're going to end up with 5 times the capacity - and in three years time!

I'm sure many of us were expecting another Bessemer sized operation next door to the existing site. I wonder if the 5GW is going to be spread out a bit (Australia/Americas etc.)

I rather think a lot of people in government do - and that's the point.

"Should do away with any more placements"

Why? The way I read it is that Blackstone are investing in the Management company (not SONG) so if and when they come up with great catalogues to buy then if we want to participate we may well need further placings (once what remains from the last placing is all used up).

Or maybe I misunderstand.

Hmmm. Not sure about MM acting as an advisor to a third party effectively doing the same as SONG.

OK, SONG has the right to co-invest in any catalogues that MM gets for Blackstone and Blackstone's $1B gives him a lot of firepower but still.....

Yes, I think I realised that. What I meant was that "just in time supply chains" are now dead in the water so don't rely on supplies coming when you need them. Get plenty of stock in when it is available and then continue ordering as normal so that you have a meaningful buffer for those weeks when supplies are a problem.

Yes, I'm sure they are doing that but the past year or so has proven that people don't always do what is obvious.

Oh well - we can't all like everyone.

No idea if it will come to anything but I've emailed ITM, essentially with the same info as in my earlier post.

Perhaps Bellers can keep an eagle eye out for him.

Listened in to a podcast of interview with Jacob Rees Mogg earlier today and he was very big advocate of hydrogen. If they haven't already, ITM should invite him up to take a tour of the factory.

He surely mixes in the right circles to push the message.

Many thanks for taking the trouble FJGooner.

Nice 16 page advertising booklet in Saturday's Daily Telegraph - first half promoting cruising and second half detailing their cruises from October 24 to July 8 2022.

I know it's been explained before but, sorry, I can't remember the answer. All the featured cruises flag up savings - "save up to £700" "save up to 25%" etc. etc. I know that those people who have booked early benefit from these discounts being applied to their existing bookings but, assuming that some of these cruises might be heavily booked already, how is this offer a good idea as far as Saga is concerned?

For example, if a particular grade of cabin is already 80% booked then as soon as someone takes advantage of this discount then all the existing bookings for that grade also ge the benefit of a discount.

I'm sure that Saga must know that it makes financial sense but would be interested to learn reasoning from those that understand.

Interestingly, all the Single Suites on all the featured sailings are sold out.

Big holding for me - and increased yesterday on Update so should be really giving all the bull points - but being realistic:

“One week we have a problem with fresh fruit and veg – the next it’s ‘is all the vodka turning up?’”

OK maybe the fresh fruit and veg is an excusable problem - but "vodka"?? You've got loads of cash and cashflow so bulk order and hold in stock! Please don't come back to us in January and tell us that some outlets ran out of spirits.

More from MM:-

https://www.musicweek.com/publishing/read/merck-mercuriadis-on-his-mission-for-songwriters/084291

They rasied a lot of money (£156M) at the beginning of July since when they have announced purchase of Christine McVie's catalogue. Would be good to hear of more purchases given that they said at the time they intended "deploying immediately into the pipeline".

Surely they can't have spent all that money on the one catalogue? (that's not a serious question).

I assume (could wll be wrong) that investors are dumping anything that relies on shipping stuff into the country (shipping rates went up extortionately but are now starting to come down a little), getting stuff from ports to their wharehouses (now HGV drivers) and then delivering the same stuff out to customers (no fuel and surely courier charges must start going up soon to account for increasing fuel costs).

I had a look at the website for that company they've just bought (AV Online) and almost every product I looked at they tagged as being "GUARANTEED IN STOCK" - sounds positive to me.

Before anyone else gets there, I realise that it might be me that's stupid rather than the share price.

I thought these were cheap yesterday so bought some more.
Today they're stupidly cheap. Could have saved myself nearly £500 waiting another day.
All that cash sitting on the balance sheet (half the market cap)!

Petrol rationing
Energy suppliers going out of business daily
Electricity Prices soaring
Gas Prices soaring
Christmas going to be cancelled - no HGV drivers to deliver the crackers

Please book me on a year long cruise. Maybe it things will all have settled down by the time we return.

Disappointing. If I wasn't already an investor this wouldn't make me become one.

"What I hear is no hydrogen car." - I'm afraid that you're right (clear but, in my view, not so sensible).

Sorry, short notice (I forgot to post here a few days ago) but SAGA is doing a presentation on InvestorMeetCompany at 11:30 today. Free to register and attend - https://www.investormeetcompany.com/

Saga (SAGA) has broken even in the first half of the year, putting an end to a difficult period for the over-50s group.

Analyst Andreas van Embden retained his ‘hold’ recommendation and target price of 400p on the company, which specialises in insurance and travel for people over the age of 50.

The good results were ‘supported by good insurance results, which offset the loss-making travel business’, said the analyst. Travel losses were in line with his estimates, as cruises only restarted recently but are ‘already bringing in positive cash’.

In other good travel news, cruise bookings for 2022 are now back to pre-pandemic levels.

The refinancing of the company’s debt and strong results in insurance means there is £175m of cash on the balance sheet, and van Embden said there was ‘sufficient [cash] available to support any further travel disruptions if necessary’.

The shares were up 0.1% at 352p on Wednesday, with the shares having doubled in the last year.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/german-auto-giants-place-their-bets-hydrogen-cars-2021-09-22/