Member Info for LordAdam

Have a look at iWeb ... £5 per trade regardless of size etc, all sorts of different limit orders, free within an ISA, free outside (if they trade, £2 if they miss), quick cash in/out, really cheap drip like dividend reinvestment for low amounts (2% with a max of £5), no annual or monthly fees or costs. Very professional service all round. Only major downside is the £200 one off joining fee -- but if you're in for the long term it won't be long before you've made that back. Mike

Normally in the sort of market that we've had today the market makers won't take a chunk of 15,000 shares in one hit -- there's not enough liquidity around for them to guarantee selling them again. Unless that is they offer a price below the normal spread (they'll do anything for enough money I suppose). The way that I read this particular sale is that either they were starting to run short of stock (there was a buy of 10,000 not much earlier) or they anticipate an increase in demand next week and are laying up stock ready for that. I wouldn't read too much into it at this stage ... when this does start to move, past experience shows that it will move a long way and very quickly. Mike

OK ... got up early and played 'waht-if' in the market place ... Sold late yesterday for 361.5 this morning a couple of minutes in I was being offered 347. By about 8:10 the price had risen to 350. So on the face of it I could have tweaked a little more out of it by selling at 8:10 but in reality I would have sold at 8:03 for 347. CONCLUSION ... in this particular case selling at the peak the day before was the better choice -- but it seems to vary from occasion to occasion and I can't reliably predict what will happen :( Either way ... it's 7% in less than a week ... thanks. Mike

Can someone help me out here ... I have RDSB in my brokerage account and the latest dividend (for my holding *and* my converted BG shares) was paid electronically on time as I would expect. My aged mother, who owned only BG shares in paper form ... has received the cash element of the offer as a cheque by post ... but hasn't received anything for the dividend which was due on her newly issued RDSB shares. Have other folks received their dividend cheques by post already? Mike

Intended or not it was very opportune! I have some SL elsewhere in the portfolio for the longer term. But I had some cash from another trade that I could use over the short term. I got in at 336 ... the plan was to hold until the very start of trading on Thursday (ExDiv) and sell for the best I could get. In practice I sold at 361.5 this afternoon .... which gave me 7% after costs -- not bad for less than a week. Having said that I'm still going to do a what-if first thing tomorrow morning and see if I would have been better selling then after qualifying for the dividend. Mike

I think we are in for a Surprise come the results announcement ... and from past track record, this board have only produced good ones. They've consistently over delivered both in actual figures and in sentiment. Following events of the Christmas/New Year period the board have been understandably reluctant to post news, aiming to allow things to settle and to lead a quiet life away from the limelight. But every piece of 'periphery' news that relates to Trakm8 that appears in the trade press and elsewhere is both positive and, more importantly, expansive. Ultimately their business model, which prioritizes and secures both present and future cash flow ahead of unit products with a one-off profit margin, creates a strong company with great resilience and long-term dividend potential. Yes I think we are in for surprise ... Mike

Thanks Tune for the prompt ... DON'T FORGET that today is the last chance to buy SL if you want to get the dividend of 12.34p that goes ExDiv at the start of trade tomorrow. I decided to park some money from a recent trade here for the dividend, and thanks to your prompt it's already earnt the equivalent dividend in increased share price leading up to the close of today. Mike

So basically the Hope acquisition is going along according to plan with the CMA raising the issues that the board had already anticipated and (presummably) planned for ... no nasty surprises there then and things seem on schedule for completion later this summer. Meanwhile the Chief Executive has bought into the company at current market prices with about £105K of his own money -- shows confidence in the general direction of both the company and the direction of the share price! I'm already sitting on a tidy gain here ... but I'm holding for more later in the year. If you're not in yet, then now would be a good time, but as always, you have do your own research and tread your own path! Mike

Somewhere over the weekend I seem to remember reading a note posted by one commentator that they had telephoned the company and been told that the results would be about the 26th ... If that's the case we have a bracket of sometime during next or the following week. Good luck all. Mike

An EGM has been called for 14 April and it looks as though the main business is to be the creation of 175 million new shares ... the implication being that there is to be a placement. Does anyone know what this is actually about and what its implications are? I've seen comments that PIs needn't apply ... implying that its to be a private placement ... but its significant at 1:3 or 1:4 so unless the pricing is handled well there could be quite a dilution effect. Of course if the funds are destined for good projects it could easily be a sign of growth ... So what's the inside track on this one? Mike

Interesting RNS this afternoon ... We're in the close period between the end of the year (31 March) and the results being made public (probably week starting 18 April) ... which means that PDMRs (that's People Discharging Managerial Responsibility .... insiders to you and me) can't buy/sell shares unless they need a heart bypass operation sort of thing. Today's RNS talks of the creation of 100,000 shares for the options scheme to be admitted for trading on 13 April. Reading between the lines those option shares are going to be allocated either next week or just as the results come out ... Now 100,000 is not a lot of shares, so I'm not worried about dilution etc ... but it suggests that who ever is taking them thinks that the price is going to be a lot better after the results than before -- otherwise they would have taken their shares before the close period started. It's the best indication we have that the management (or someone in the management) thinks the price is going to lift come the results. (It also means that the results could be posted any time from 13 April onwards ...) It's starting to get exciting ... watch this space. Mike

Come on Hocks ... get with it ... if you're going to play this game you've got to wise up to what's going on .... It's ExDividend day ... if you buy today you don't get the 26.7p dividend ... so the share price drops by roughly that amount at the start of trade. I'm not being critical, but if you don't get this Cum/Ex dividend thing sorted you're going to be losing money ... either income or capital! Mike

Trade figures released today show that March was the strongest car sales figures since 1999 ... it will be interesting to see how this converts into volumes on the forecourts and bottom line figures. Mike

I get the impression ... that there was an 'over-hang' of folk who want to get out at the £3 mark (or close-ish) from the January period. Maybe that was what today's spike was all about ... We saw something like this at the half-yearly last year, about 2-weeks before the results came out and the short-term buyers didn't trust what history and the RNS's were telling them. They bailed out and others took the profits that they should have had. Still, today's increasing volume and positive excursions are an indication of what is to come. Mike

Over the last couple of years the company has been getting quicker at posting updates and results etc. and the dates have been creeping forward. I wouldn't be surprised if the trading statement was issued a couple of weeks into April ... but as you say, historically the week starting the 18th is the favourite. Mike

A very interesting set of share price moves today .... volume up ... buying pressure almost continuous through the day (after a slow start). It made me wonder what might be behind it ... other than the anticipated confirmatory good results that is ... I came to the conclusion that with the end of the financial year being the 31 March (yesterday) and the close period starting today, there was probably a rumour going around that there would be some very favourable press comments this weekend. That being the case, considering how tightly held this is (and what a 15K share difference did today) hold on to your hats on Monday. Mike

You're right, they are not big contracts in respect of the overall market share of say the grocery business, but they are substantial in size in respect of RM and TRAK themselves. Plus its the overall sentiment and direction that count here. In addition the renewal of exisiting contracts (and their extensions) reflects the confidence that customers place in the new TRAK/RM combination and its board/direction in particular. In general I wouldn't see RM as aiming its market place at the 'major transporter' type market -- those companies are large enough to have specialist in house solutions to their planning problems. It's the 20-200 vehicle fleets that are the major potential. They are too small for specialist solutions and too big for effective manual planning. Plus the combination of route planning and telematic reporting is extremely attractive -- its a natural match. Mike

Thanks PJ ... a very positive article there on RM. At the time of the acquisition and placement there were those that questioned the wisdom of the move, but recent announcements of contract renewals and extensions and articles such as this one are painting a rather different picture. At the time the board said that it would be earnings enhancing in its first full year and its easy to see now that their confidence was not misplaced. Overall looking back over the last 18-24 months it's easy to see a very considered strategy being played out ... taking control of manufacturing in house (preserves IP, controls costs and cash flow), adding camera technologies and now route management and planning. When the results come out and confirm what is happening a lot of folk are going to want a slice of the action ... trouble is, they're not going to get my slice, or yours, or any of the other long term holders who believe the right price is more like twice the current levels! So the SP is going to rocket. It will be an interesting time to be sure. Mike

Au contraire ... I'm right ... and rather than post a link to a page that simply tells me the share price of SL and maybe confirms the exDiv date itself I'll give you a link to an appropriate article/definition ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dividend#Dividend_dates Where you will find the following, confirmatory, definition ... "In-dividend date — the last day, which is one trading day before the ex-dividend date, where the stock is said to be cum dividend ('with [including] dividend'). In other words, existing holders of the stock and anyone who buys it on this day will receive the dividend, whereas any holders selling the stock lose their right to the dividend. After this date the stock becomes ex dividend. Ex-dividend date — the day on which shares bought and sold no longer come attached with the right to be paid the most recently declared dividend. In the United States, it is typically 2 trading days before the record date. This is an important date for any company that has many stockholders, including those that trade on exchanges, to enable reconciliation of who is entitled to be paid the dividend. Existing holders of the stock will receive the dividend even if they sell the stock on or after that date, whereas anyone who bought the stock will not receive the dividend. It is relatively common for a stock's price to decrease on the ex-dividend date by an amount roughly equal to the dividend paid. This reflects the decrease in the company's assets resulting from the declaration of the dividend." As you will see the right to the dividend is dependant on a 'single point in time', the start of trade on the ExDiv day, and not a 'period of time' as you allude to in your posting ... put simply what you suggest is and would be totally unworkable. And the final acid test ... I've sold between the ExDiv day and the record date and STILL got the dividend ... BTW the record date is two days later to allow the company registrar to catch up with the trading that has occurred. ... and if you need any further clarification, talk to your broker ... here's what Barclays have to say ... "For example, if the ex dividend date for a stock is on 3rd March, then to be entitled for the dividend payment you must hold the stock as of midnight of 2nd March." (https://help.stockbrokers.barclays.co.uk/help/event-processing/entitled-to-dividend/) Mike

Just to clarify further the precise mechanism that is going on here regarding cum-dividend and ex-dividend ... The person owning the share at the start of trading (normally 8.00 am) on the ex-dividend date is the one who gets the dividend when it is paid ... even if they sell it at 8.01am! So for us mere mortals that don't have access to out of hours trading markets that means that you have to own the share from the close of business on the previous day to the opening on the ex-div date. If you buy at 4.29pm and sell at 8.01am you will get the dividend. In the UK the exDiv date is almost always a Thursday ... and the market makers, being nobody's fool, automatically mark the previous closing price down by the value of the dividend that the share has just lost. Of course the market may quickly adjust it differently! Hope that helps. Mike