Member Info for Natdan

Nice report in the Sunday Times business section today, outlining the latest private equity interest. Rutland Partners are apparently circling, but rumour has it that they would pay no more than 40p a share! Derisory chancers it seems. Especially since Gatemore, an American activist fund who recommended BOD and strategy changes only last month, has stated FCCN could be valued at 150p per share. Time to sit back and enjoy the ride. Expect the SP to rise nicely on Tuesday opening.

Ex dividend date is 6 August payable on 2 September. come on now keep up at the back

A truly solid growth performance, and yes, the maiden divi of 0.35p thrown in to wet the appetite. Should see a good SP reaction.

Surprised how many sells at around the 71p level following the update. not sure it is really the time to cash in if the future is as rosy as described. happy to hold.

nice to see a little stirring upwards in the SP at last. is this the start of an uptrend leading up to results? Or perhaps one of the bigger finance players have seen this business model and how well it works, and wants a piece of the action. Certainly the expansion of lending to SMEs away from traditional banking is becoming very fashionable again.

personally I'd settle for the profits..."significantly above current market expectations." Time for the relating upwards one expects.

Sorry wrong site!

can't help but think any takeover talk seems a tad premature and speculative, especially since NIPT hasn't really gained any meaningful traction yet within the marketplace, simply by virtue of time-scale alone, as secured contracts clearly take time to generate cash and feed through to accounts. S.L.'s previous offering to the market, DXS, took 8 years to come to fruition to point-of-sale. Clearly there is a greater sense of urgency here as the market becomes ever more competitive and aggressive. This short-term turbulence should be ridden out and the strength and pedigree of the BOD, especially the amount of skin they have in here, should still reap rewards for us PIs. oh and good to see the Cons romping home.

interesting remarks in the Times on Saturday in the Business Commentary section by Alistair Osborne regarding Mr Marks. "No, the 41.7 per cent shareholder isn't trying to drive the price down so he can buy the business back on the cheap." presumably said tongue-in-cheek, but a tad worrying perhaps since the profit warning has come barely a month after the latest results announcements. Was Easter such a drastic turn-around for the worse to merit this unexpected RNS? Certainly above comments are worth watching closely, especially since the Co. has plenty in the bank and has seriously profitable sections of the company, high-street retail excepted.

The market is not remotely interested in the announcements of Business awards, even more so where it is a local award. Yes, it's nice to be recognised, but the place for such declarations is on the Co. Website and NOT via a RNS which, lest we forget, costs money and is of dubious benefit to Co. Performance as a PLC. Costings for such a small PLC should be tightly managed, and revenues should not be frittered away simply because the CEO has had nothing of note to declare to the market for some time.

Haven't any thoughts on the update, because we haven't had one...yet. Yes am invested here and am positive on prospects. just a nonsense that a minnow like FCCN isn't able to release a Christmas trading update come nearly mid Feb, when a giant like Next can do it within days of the Boxing Day sales. Draw your own conclusions.

frankly you have been quoting the results are due next week. not the same as trading update. Attention to detail please.

The Co. Web site shows year end as January 31, with provisional results announcement pencilled in for 19 march. if we are still waiting for a Christmas trade update, I think it more likely to get an early Easter one. just shows the continued contempt the head cheese has for the City.

Seems like an early New Year present, a positive statement of intent to expand

Not sure why the sudden price drop- not Fundies making sure they get in at a cheaper price again??

A super statement release ahead of the AGM ,which puts meat on the bones of where the company is at currently in terms of building developments. The proposed block sale at Drayton sounds a nice piece of business to speed things along. 60p next target should be left behind prompt.

PG. hasn't been an acquirer now for some years as I recall. And he seems content with tweaking his own range of brands, such as loading BHS stores with food departments. FCCN 's best prospects I believe is to continue the recovery now taking shape under existing management which should again drive the SP.

As Mr French Connection himself founded the Co circa 1969, wouldn't have thought Mr Marks would be a ready seller, especially not to a fellow rag-trader. it seems Marks is more interested in revitalising the Co., with the aim of restoring it to its former glory days. Only then could I see a sale. Only at the right price of course.

Sorry I didn't make myself clear, I was thinking that the new PLC might wish to liaise with/ takeover INL in the medium term, especially as expected the housing market begins to cool and consolidation might be a way to preserve or even boost earnings. Just a thought.

An interesting development this week with the announcement of a £700 m tie-up between Natonal Grid and Berkeley Homes. Christened St.Williams Homes, it will be projected into the top ten of house builders, the plan being to build 14,000 new homes over the next 10-15 years. It will essentially be a brown-field builder, aiming to capitalise on disused land owned by the Grid in London and the South East. I wouldn't expect this to become a competitor with Inland. Lacking the expertise in the safe clearing and various planning stages involved in bringing such sites to fruition to the development and construction stages, I could see Inland -with it's proven track record -providing a nice fit here medium term in the form of a cheeky merger or even take-over.