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Just watched the results presentation, all solid, sensible, largely unspectacular stuff. No mention of any bid speculation, and the only mention of Moncler was from a question in relation to their margins compared to Burberry's.

For me this is a hold through until at least the Q3 update, probably due sometime in mid Jan '25. For that, christmas trading, obviously, is going to be key, and it's the next opportunity for them to provide a more general update on progress of the execution of their plans.

Results poor but essentially in line with expectations, certainly not materially worse than what would have pencilled in. CEO plan is also probably as expected, and the positive opening probably reflects that - a mighty sigh of relief really.

A concern would be seeing revenue in Asia, China in particular, declining further in Q2. And of course the business has a lot to prove in terms of executing the plan successfully given the past 12 to 18 months of carnage.

As for a bid, well who knows. I guess the CEO's comments at the results presentation will be interesting. I suspect Burberry is still in play to some degree. Whether potential buyers see now as a time to strike or to delay probably depends on whether you have confidence in the CEO to deliver his turnaround in current tough market conditions.

4003, I agree that it will take time to turn Burberry around, whether it retains its independence or not. I suspect that analysts have pencilled in a 20% fall in sales compared to H1 last year, and a relatively small loss.

Hard to see the "actuals" being much if any better than that, but they match up to that / aren't any worse then that would help confidence. Key I think will be what the CEO says regarding strategy and ow people perceive his tone.

In addition to the other replies you've had (all make sense) bear in mind that the half year results are due next Thursday. I'm sure the views of the recently appointed CEO will be scrutinised regarding executing a revised strategy for Burberry, along with their view on the strength of any pick up in demand in Asia, China particularly. Both are key to Burberry's future, bid or no bid, and will probably have some impact on the share price longer term.

I'm certainly holding but like others I have the benefit of having bought in at lower price, around £6.50. Were Moncler to come out and confirm no bid then the share price would undoubtedly take a tumble as there's obviously a bit of bid premium in the current share price.

There's certainly a bit of "bid premium" in the share price just now I think.

Upcoming results in a couple of weeks will be interesting. See whether demand in Asia has picked up or not, and also any developments on strategy from the new CEO.

I think the departure of PwC is, unfortunately, another death rattle for Mirriad.

Ah, many thanks JBCo - makes sense.

Unusually large rise today. I know China growth numbers came in above analyst expectation today, but wouldn't have thought that would account for it ?

Any other thoughts ?

Well outlined LOTM. This should be helpful to inform anyone attracted by the opportunity here, and considering buying the shares as a result, of the risk in doing so.

Your post clearly describes the difficulty in delivery - that may or not be overcome - and fair to flag up the dependence Mirriad has on other partners in execution / delivery. Also the poor comms from the board.

It's fair enough for LOTM to remind everyone of the potential opportunity here, it is indeed very significant.

But it's also essential to recognise the points that LL raises.

In essence, the question for Mirriad is can it execute to access the opportunity. As a shareholder of over 2 years, I can vouch for a mixture of progress and failure to execute. As a result I hold for the opportunity but have limited faith in the CEO to deliver. Mentally I've written off my relatively small investment.

This is a share to buy for anyone attracted by the opportunity Mirriad are pursuing, but who also recognises Mirriad may fail to execute / deliver.

It is indeed a gamble, and needs to be treated as such.

Without a significant uptick in revenue through the rest of this year and the first half of next a cash raise is essential to keep going. I'm sure this is why the share price is as bombed out as it is. Should that uptick in revenue materialise then you'd expect the share price to recover significantly.

Do we feel lucky ?

Let's hope so LOTM. Fingers crossed or a positive RNS - anything else is just conversation.

I doubt there'll be much / anything new that we've not heard before, so from a factual perspective I doubt the webinar will add anything. I will dial in as much to judge the tone of what is being said as much as anything.

Noted a couple of more direct / explicit comments in the results - "management is under no illusions that this (revenue) must improve", and "driving long-term value for our supportive shareholders" - that I've not seen previously. Maybe an indication of II pressure, maybe the CEO recognises the fire beneath his feet is getting hotter.

The email invite I got for the webinar also indicated that James Black would be attending as well as the CEO / CFO. Be interested in any comments he has to make.

Some rough guesses / calculations.

Estimate sales in H2 about £1.75M to total £2.14M for the year.

Estimate cost of sales for the year around £620k - implies a 71% gross margin, although GM was worryingly only 53% in H1 (£208k from sales of £390k).

Gross profit for the year would therefore by £1.52M.

Assume £5M of costs for H2, so £10.2M for the year.

Operating loss for the year around £8.6M

Operating loss for H2 on this basis would be around £3.7M. With cash at end of June at £8.3M, that implies cash at 31.12.24 reduced to £4.6M.

Even in realistic best case scenario Mirriad must still be loss making in the first half of 2025 given skew of revenue to the 2nd half, so must have a cash raise in 6 months or so to keep going. Indeed, without one can't see accounts for the year being approved ?

Didn't see anything about directors taking a pay cut / shares in lieu of salary as mark of their confidence going forward ? Though to be fair they did at least collectively take up 14.4 million shares in the placing this year.

Obvious to say, but the IIs are key here, and I expect the chairman has been sounding them out. I don't see much point in another review given the short time since the last one.

Mirriad needs another cash raise or will go bust before any revenue increase can take effect. No-one's going to lend them any money, and a retail cash raise is a non-starter. The IIs are the only source of funds to keep the business going, if they wish to do so. If they do, you'd expect some stringent conditions accordingly.

I struggle to believe it will "just" be an interim results announcement on Monday. Given the likely cash position and projected cash burn (even with higher revenues in H2 as is usually the case) you would expect something about the company's future - and I would have thought that would be the result of discussions with institutional investors who still own a majority of the shares.

Given the length of time it is taking to issue interim results - are they counting the £400k revenue penny by penny ? - I'd be surprised if the upcoming announcement is not accompanied by something more fundamental ?

I can only guess there are conversations ongoing between the board and institutional investors about the future of the company.

Yep - UBS has downgraded Melrose from "buy" to "sell" and reduced its target price from 770p to 400p as per reuters.

Main reason for the downgrade is a view that Melrose's revenue and risk sharing partnership is only worth about half of what the company mgt values it.

No, it was paid ok, received mone on the day.