Member Info for Nick1234

I jumped in about 2 months ago and am sitting on a 2% loss at the moment.... that damn spread!!

I'm a Bolton lad so I'm pleased to see a local firm doing so well. This is a long term hold for me, there are huge amounts of potential with this firm. The management are excellent and I fully expect a superb set of results in September.

That said, I do think the 10% drop today is overdone.

Jaffjoon: I think the issue is that margins are being squeezed. Customer numbers are up over the year by 17% but costs are up for the same period by 24%. You would have thought that HL's fixed costs are relatively stable and that an increase in customers would really add to the bottom line, but clearly not.

Add in the increase in competition and its difficult to see where (profitable) growth is going to come from.

Also this:

GOLDMAN SACHS RAISES LEGAL & GENERAL GROUP PRICE TARGET TO 390 (380) PENCE - 'BUY'

Through the 400p mark... let's see if we can stay above it at the end of the week. Its only a few weeks ago we were saying that about 340p!

Ratbags, you can't use Taunton as a yardstick, it's in one of the most rural parts of the country with a very low population density and very few visitors. Come to Greater Manchester, we been ravaged. I know dozens of people who have had CV19, some being very ill with and some long covid.

Hopefully, he'll address some of the service issues which, frankly, are abysmal.

And failing to issue renewal terms even when you are 2 days before the renewal date isn't only a commercial risk, but it could warrant unwanted attention from the FCA.

HSX built a superb reputation for paying claims and providing a top level of service. Both of these are now shot.

Raised again today by JP Morgan. Now 473p.

Great results. BEZ is pushing through some huge rate increases which is great to see.

If that 1st HY performance can be repeated in the 2nd Half, then we are on target for an annual profit of around £250m-£300m.

Every adult in the UK has now been offered a vaccine. There can be no more lock downs for people who have refused to have a vaccine.

The only exception is a new variant that the vaccine doesn't protect against. Even then, i think the government would be VERY hesitant to introduce another lockdown.

There was a trading update on 20 July last year, so yes, potentially could be one next week.

My understanding is that business travel is not as important to PI as leisure trips for things like gigs, concerts, sporting events, stag and hen parties and tourism. The return of these will no doubt boost sales. The key figure to remember is the 55% room occupancy which is the point at which they turn a profit.

WTB are in the process of buildings thousands more city centre rooms, especially in central London and Manchester, so clearly still back our big cities to bounce back. I doubt that's aimed mainly at business travel.

We all know that this share can move rapidly in either direction. My average price is around £28 so I've seen my near 25% gains wiped out over the last 10 weeks. I would not be surprised to see £27 before it starts to rise again (assuming no further negative covid news). I will be holding as I see this as a great buy in the medium and long term and if I had some spare funds I would be topping up now.

350p to 500p is quite a big difference. Would analysts normally have such a big range? Or does this show a level of uncertainty.

I'm hoping the SP will turn a corner in July ahead of the interim results on 4 August and going ex-divi on 14 August.

Was there some sort of glitch with the SP? Or a fat finger Trade? HL, Google and the VLG website all showed the SP at 35p (down 66%). Now fully recovered but I nearly had a heart attack.

Agreed. Hopefully it will have a good run now up to the interim results on 23 July.

Great company... well managed, growing quickly both organically and through acquisitions and massively undervalued.

Hi Mike, I don't disagree with anything you've said there. Plenty of people on this board and elsewhere were saying not so long ago that they expect a rise to between £48 and £52 in the next few months

If it sits in a narrow channel for a while I'm ok with that. Like you I'm not expecting a quick buck and we have gone ex divi in the last month so we'll bank some income shortly.

Agreed. I think today's sell off is a bit harsh and overdone.

Like for like sales in the first 9 weeks of this financial year were only 1% down on last year. If that was replicated throughout the year, you would be looking at another £500m profit for the year.

We've been stuck between £42 and £43 for a month now, what do think will happen next? Up towards £45 or back down to £40? Is the strength of the £ stopping this advancing?