Member Info for Maddog59

That's 3.7pence not 0.035p, goes ex divi 28 May, with a smaller Dividend expected late September. Surely the Maths isn't beyond you?

So BB who decides who are and are not the feckless? Have you got a view on Lloyds or have you lost your way from Facebook and can't find your way back!

Anyone on this board talking about shares or are you all wrapped up in your political prejudices. Anyone a view on Why Lloyds are bucking the trend and staying low when Barc's and HSB are steadily climbing? Yup I know Barc's are in the middle of a buy back, but Lloyds are doggedly in the doldrums. Nothing to do with Fracking, gas imports, Syrian refugees or boat people is my guess!

Anyone have any idea why I cannot buy these in my Barclays account?

That's a fair analogy for there being no such thing as 'common sense', the mere fact that it isn't common to all! Having the knowledge and foresight to be able to predict an outcome, relies very much on those two properties 'knowledge' and 'foresight' often predicated by experience or witnessing a lack of 'common sense' i.e. learning by direct or indirect experience. I would suggest that reliance on 'common sense', ones own or that of others is certainly a journey of learning from unforeseen outcomes!

No one under the age of 18 is looking for work because no one leaves education at the age of 16 anymore. According to research 18% of 18 year olds leave education without a decent basic level of education. Back in the day these people went to work at the age of 16 and many learned practical skills provided by their employer at the expense of their employer not the state, others just trollied along filling basic jobs without aspiration or ambition but what does two years more in the classroom do for those people anyway at least many of them were in the work force. Now a very significant portion of our school leavers also go on into full time education at Universities (many of these 'universities' were the tech collages of my youth where we went for day release at the expense of our employers to enhance our skills) before coming to the work force at twenty one, with little more to offer the world than debt. Those of us who have the resources to not be looking for work in their sixties contributed to their own pension funds, AVC's and saved their money so that they can enjoy early retirement. At sixty with personal pension you don't get anything from the Government until you are 66 in a few years to be 67 and by the way if you are getting a pension decent enough to take early retirement you are still paying income tax, further many of us contribute in voluntary services to our communities using the skill we developed in the workplace and given for free. Rather than worrying about why wealthy sixty year olds are not picking asparagus or filling shelves, lets allow our disenchanted sixteen year olds who do not value their expensive education to enter the work force with their youth and vigour and start learning the ways of the grown up world. Many of them will thrive with training related to earnings, rather than an academic education, stop encouraging eighteen year olds to have three years of fun at Uni coming out with debt but no transferable skills. There is no lack of labour in the UK there is however a significant lack of realism in our national aspiration, some of need to get our hands dirty we can't all be the MD!

Certainly is buggered, I am showing old share volume and new price, if only! Not often you wake up a million pounds up over night, best I have managed before was 'Morrisons' get a bit excited and sold out for a decent profit but missed a bucket load. Still I'm hopeful for DEC and decent DIV helps when holding long term.

I have also sold a few other shares to top up on fall after ex Div now over £60k in Isa and standard Trading account my original target was anything below 72 so current price is a draw for me. Happy to wait and take regular div as it stands, I am pretty confident I'll show a decent return over time.

So casually opening my Barc's account this morning suddenly find I am a millionaire, knowing I am not that lucky have a quick look and DEC has gone up nearly two thousand percent, check on LSE and showing same rise! I might just take a screen shot and see if I can spend my new found wealth before someone spoils my day and sorts it all out. Pity Barcs can't sell them for me at that price!

Still waiting mine with Barc, since Barc took their Div payment dates off the share account I have noticed they are getting very lax with paying dividends in a timely manner.

Yield down, 900mil additional set aside for bad debt, poor Div again! Not sure the market is seeing these as good results given the increase in interest rates. However, a nearly seven percent drop in price first thing this morning was a great place to top up particularly as it goes Ex Div on the 10th August by which time it will have recovered todays drop IMO. Extra few bob in my pocket I think.

Sumer or Sumeria is in Sothern Iraq, not high on the average tourist itinerary I would suggest! Egypt may be full of history but it's not the friendliest of places at the moment, albeit I have been there and enjoyed it immensely. However, the pound is not falling because of a lack of tourists, surely the value of the pound makes us even more attractive to Europeans Americans, Japanese and Chinese against who's currencies the pound has fallen as they get more bang fore their Buck, Euro,, Yen, Yuan. Surely the pound is at a low because of the Brexit question and surrounding uncertainty. The pound fell dramatically after the Brexit vote but has recovered half its losses since the low point.

You seem to be focused on public spending projects, this requires borrowing, I don't think dramatically increasing public expenditure and the national debt will re galvanise British industry or the economy in the long term. However, encouraging manufacture and trading with the test of the world might. Forty years of trading with Europe has diminished heavy industry, and reduced our manufacturing base to a shadow of its former self, much of which has moved with subsidy to other European countries from whom we now buy the commodities we used to manufacture.

Yes I blame the government too, but for entirely different reasons! and its not about leaving the EU or not, its about being in a club that does not serve all of its member equally and not fighting your corner and then getting walked all over when its suggested you might leave the club!

Sorry chap think you are getting the wrong end of the stick, if the Mcap is now £105,000,000 and you divide it by the shares in issue in 2011 you get a share price of around 95.45p i.e a near a £1

Although I agree there is precious little point comparing now with seven years ago as far as this share is concerned!

billybill I cannot see you seeing six pounds in this share in the next several years. M&S may be well placed for a decent percentage margin on todays price, hence I have some in my portfolio. But whilst they have expansion plans throughout the world are expect to increase profits in new markets, the core UK business is still in decline the profits mainly come from food, but hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail space are tied up in mans clothing which is not only in decline but does not make a profit. Much of that space is in large stores where there is no pressure on retail space from any of the other in store offers, it's not easy to shed that space and associated cost. Some of the smaller stores have already ditched most of men's clothing offer and re sized the others offers to take up the space, but in many of the larger stores there is not benefit to that in terms of retail space. The M&S that we will be looking at in the UK in ten years time will need to be very different to the one we see today if it is going to thrive, The change required requires investment and that will effect profits in the medium term, the alternative is continued decline! overseas expansion will only offset UK decline without significant change on and that based on increased investment i.e borrowing. IMO

Guess your business is not proof reading text!

There is nothing smart about Smart Investor, a crock of poop! was there a single benefit in the change?

The big problem is here I have been buying all of the way down and it is a singular fact that anything I buy sinks without trace so Barclays might just go bust over the weekend! But having grabbed a load at the Brexit Bottom and then more at under 180 I am sort of hoping it might push back to the 300 that was my target, but its likely to be a bit of a wait! Problem was I also brought loads in the low 200's so I am just about break even. Still that's bloody good for me.

Agreed there is little smart in 'Smart Investor' I am also looking to move everything out not because of any delay in payments but simply because it was a massive step backwards and give me no advantage over the system that was in place previously.

Likewise Barclays Smart Investor? just a pain in the proverbial, yet to see any element that improves on what I previously had. I too am intending to move all of my holdings to another platform but need to ensure I don't jump out of the frying pan in to the fire. Simply cutting my nose to spite my face would hardly be Smart either!

Thanks for the correction, a terrible mistake given I do not generally drink Irish Whiskey and have a significant collection of Scotch! Before anyone takes offence I have absolutely nothing against Irish Whiskey I just never seem to get round to it. Perhaps I should, so on this theme what recommendations for a drop of Irish do we have?