Member Info for NAV_Mike

This is effin ridiculous......the 45k sell made them close the spread up, the 15k made them drop the bid

Delayed sells to come? because given the trades above 17p are actually buys today, I make it buys/sells are just about even

Thanks Potnak looks like you were correct. Am now getting the inspiring spread of 16 - 17.145

I wasnt suggesting there was a crew of archvillain MMs looking to cause endless misery, but there has to be a reason why they sometimes insist on a stupidly wide spread that bears little reality to effective prices

I guess Im just bored....time to enjoy some sunshine

Well I cant see why on the evidence of todays trades, but its now NT to sell, having been 17.01 a couple of days ago (when the spread was still 16-19

Delayed sell to come, or MMs just delight in stirring thr pot?

Aye - I agree.

Its going to take some really good corporate news (such as dealing with BASF on favourable terms) to get this trending higher imho. The last trading update was much better than expected but even that only genertated a fairly muted short term move.

As ToeKnee mentioned yesterday, 180p seems to be the upper level of the range 'they' are happy with. Certainly reacted quickly this morning once the price got above it. No apparent reason either

Well at least the most recent forecast was based on a more realistic assumption for Brent of $65 compared to the previously optimistic $80

Brent now over that level, so hopefully future surprises will be to the upside

Its a shame the old Radio Shack/Tandy stores have long since closed - that SmartEye kit looks like it would have fitted right in :)

We are going to need some serious corportate news to break this malaise. I still believe the price is being 'managed'

Lets see if the 'afternoon drift' happens again

Well the little bits of selling we have seen since mid yesterday afternoon, has been enough to drop the bid from 17.01 to 16.26 in these thin conditions

Very difficult to make progress as the complete lack of news means a few bored PIs invariably sell up and stop any upward momentum

I also think that this is probably an example of the short funds managing to supress a good day, as I alluded to last week

Needless to say market rebounds nicely, but HBR carries on drifting lower

I really do think the root cause of share price weakness in HBR comes from across the pond. Probably sparked by our friends at GS.. ..its predictable and pretty relentless

For those that remember the last buyback period, the 'carrot' of increased EPS and yield was dangled in front of us as a positive outcome going forward.

In reality, we got a lengthy period of depressed prices as funds sold out to supply the buyback, and at the end of it all, the improved metrics made no soddin difference at all. I remember running a daily spreadsheet of shares boughtback and the prices paid, and remembering thinking.....is there not better use of the cash being used?

Brent dropped half a dollar, and the wider market has nearly lost all its earlier gains....

You know HBR, any excuse to drop, especially when the US markets open

Well here we are again....first hint of any sells and the bid is dropped and spread widened. I would love to know what spurred those PIs to decide to sell out on a sunny friday in May :)

(although the 33k one looks mislabelled)

Perhaps our Linda has asked GS to remain negative (despite everything) in order to keep the price of those BASF owned shares as low as possible :)

Im well aware this is a 'be patient' kind of share, but can we at least have some signs of management activity pretty plx?

Sorry for not replying last night for the response to my shorters/BASF question. I guess the disclosed shorts wouldnt make a dent in the BASF holding, and even if all the ones lurking below 0.5% did the same, it wouldnt do much more

As a theoretical discussion point, if there was the appetite in the city, what would the reaction be to HBR issuing a long dated bond specifically to buy back the BASF stake? ie larger debt but much fewer shares in issue? Assuming the coupon was similar to recent issuances, it would be around half the dividend yield on the BASF stake

Im beginning to agree that the next few weeks/months could be interesting and that the low oil/gas prices might offer a very special opportunity

Following along the same lines, could a fund with a sizeable short position approach BASF to buy the shares needed to close out their position?

Harbor may now be authorised to buy back (which is a good thing), but are BASF likely to be willing sellers at anything near the current price?

We probably all realise that the touted 360p price was somewhat theoretical....but we are under half that valuation now. Are BASF really that desperate for the money?

Whoever is holding significant short positions in HBR wont suddenly be rushing for the exits based on one (very) good update.

As I said earlier, they will look to supress the good days, whilst buying back stock on the bad days. Unfortunately they are very adept at playing the game with Harbor, so we can but hope that the underlying trend may be turning so that they do indeed look to exit over the coming weeks/months