Member Info for MattTheBrave

Robinhood will be a competitor to HL, not IG, and even that will only happen when they also offer UK share trading - it's only US for now. RH came to the market in 2021, since when, the stock is down 75%, and they still aren't tuning a profit. Don't think we should have too many sleepless nights over them....:-)

Looks like it might be a close run thing between Optimus and me for the 2023 stock pick (both up c3x). Initially I thought GS had romped it before realising that Deltic Energy had had a 20:1 stock consolidation in May....:-)

I'm in LGEN, AV Phoenix and M&G - the annuity buyout market is flying. The gilt crises last year actually improved the funding of the majority of DB pension schemes in the UK, and they now have enough to start offloading risk only the annuity providers. Expect this trend to start showing up pretty soon in the P&Ls of the above.

In addition, I am now heavily into the highly discounted Investment Trust market, particularly those exposed to Real Estate, Infrastructure (both eq and debt), solar/wind power. Most of these at a discount to NAV in the 30-50% range, and yielding 7-10%. Just started to see prices rallying as yields have begun to drift down Great inflation print today has also helped!

Yes - the shares will disappear and you cash balance will increase by the proceeds from the takeover.

Simon - Statement says :'The Board intends to maintain the current level of dividend, with monthly dividend payments, until the return of capital to Shareholders.' so I think that answers one of your questions.

Sorry, other main reasons for eps fall this time are one-offs (eg closing modular homes) and the changes in bond yields which will tend to even out over the longer term.

Figures are broadly fine. The reason the eps looks low is an accounting change which means profits need to be spread more evenly over the life of contracts (deferred profits up 600mn to over £13bn, inline with total market cap!!!) - much of this would have been funnelled through the P&L previously. Better guides to underlying performance is capital generation (nearly 1bn) and dividend growth, both of which were fine. Buying opportunity here if it falls further.

LTI - We have a tight labour market because all the much needed EU labour left, just as we're about to need them the most. This is most definitely NOT a positive thing........

So as expected, interest income making a significant contribution to the overall results, but the key point is that trading revenue whilst a bit lower, was actually better than the competition. Also, what the market hasn't really appreciated is that they have returned over 10% of market cap in the form of dividends and share buybacks. This will rise to around 15% of mkt cap in the next 12 months given announced buyback and (slightly) increased dividend. I've always contended that this business is a cash flow monster, and at some point, the market will reward it!

Detector - just to be clear, you are telling us that EVs are just a fad which will pass? Guess that AI stuff's all 'mad cap' as well then..... :-)

Today may signal the start of the recovery. Any inflation relief should see a bond market rally, and UK market would fly in that scenario IMV. I'm keeping my fingers crossed anyway!!

Bid now unconditional and bidco allowed to compulsorily buy the c7% it does not own at the 80p price. I have switched most of my holding into Triple Point.

Sorry to disagree Tyche, but it is the same Company YOU invested in. It's just that you don't have any financial interest in it anymore following the wave of debt holder bailouts required to keep it going.......

Whole REIT market up strongly today on good inflation number, with TP one of the leaders - good to see! :-)

Capai - yep, well done, though I note that a before-the-fact 'top-up' became a 'massive top-up' after the fact.... :-)

Hi Optimus - 'Is the market broken' is a great question. Essentially whole swathes of the market are trading at levels I have not seen in my 35 years in the industry. The whole financial sector, is going for a song, whilst Interest income for the banks should be flying, and, as discussed, the insurance companies in the annuities market (LGEN, PHNX, and now MNG). In addition, the discounts to NAV in the Inv Trust market are also incredible. Yes - our economy is structurally one of the worst in the West currently (for a variety of reasons) but some of the stock prices simply don't make sense. I'm going to hang in!!

It's almost as if predicting the future of an extraordinarily complex adaptive system with literally billions of agents is difficult, if not impossible. Oh wait a minute, that's 100% correct. Essentially the world is too complex a place to forecast with any degree of accuracy, so we shouldn't be surprised when they're out. That said, if you're a policy maker, you have to make decisions based on something, so you're broadly caught between a rock and a hard place!!

Interestingly, still at or around the 80p mark.

What isn't in dispute is a company which is growing on a PE of 6 and an a yield of 7% - that's just too cheap!

This is a laughable case of do as I say, not as I do. L&G is already the largest provider of bulk annuities in the UK - this is where they take on the assets and liabilities of a DB pension scheme. So, presumably then, they put their money where their mouth is and have a significant allocation to equities? Nope, it's about 1%!! And for good reason - why risk the vagaries and vol of equities, when you've received a premium large enough to pay all the benefits using contractual income assets such as gilts and Investment-grade credit. The whole article is written by someone with some knowledge of pensions, but not a deep understanding of how the industry works.