Member Info for NickRubens

Any idea what would be the attraction for a bidder? What assets do Sainsbury's have that can be stripped out and value gained by a bidder paying such a high price?

Morrisons had a vast estate of Freeholds and spent years behaving more like a charity so shareholders took the takeover offer as the choice was a continued languishing financial performance.

Sainsbury's have been slowly selling freeholds to manage it's own long term financial decline and has sizeable debt also.

Yes, cheers Pauly80 and for some perhaps strange reason I still believe this Ghanian block is 'real' and not a hoax? I may be a right mug sadly, or certainly feel like one sometimes.

I've just remembered the name of it 'Tano Block'! And what's even more crazy, today I bought a few PET, in case something kicks off (Iraq direction )as directors have much bigger stakes there.

Well, I hold a few ahead of results and mindful the company needs a new decent order or a few of them from somewhere to get it back to decent solid profitability and a dividend return. I keep watching the trades. If I see more buyers coming in then it's likely i'll add a few more. Confidence works wonders sometimes when looking to buy and the market always looks ahead.

Just getting up to date here and I see I missed another fundraising back in March and all talk on Lithium in Bolivia. What happened to Ratification of that oil prospect in Ghana? I can't even remember the name of it now off hand, as it's been that long and I've grown old waiting?

Fund raising? New meaningful order wins? Takeover from somewhere? More bad news? Listed in 1998 and hit around almost 500p at one point?

Hope this isn't just another typical AIM resources stock that ends up at zero eventually?

But yes seems to be a flurry of 25,000 block sells today and in reality it's not that much but the market is thin, with no buyers interested?

The results will show a big turnaround. That is already known, but perhaps the market will get a reminder and price some optimism in? A little buying today ahead of results, will be interesting to see if that continues as we get nearer.

Big Banks on a bull run last few months. Always thought they were cheap a few months ago but didn't buy too many, as always. Amazing how the market seems to change on a whim. At some point I expect to sell, hopefully before any big plunges!

Err .....Yes I agree, the only thing that has grown here is the money 'raised' from investors and 'translated' into expenses.

A regular pattern I've experienced with most AIM companies as well as other listed companies.

Hence overall market skepticism and trading volume sinking for the last several years as well as valuations.

Looks like no one is bullish here then?

Aren't most/many AIM or other listed companies the same? The whole point of listings is to raise money and pay themselves with it and fund the objectives (in this case oil exploration), is it not? Yes I know they claim that the objective is to make money for shareholders/grow the company, pay dividends etc, but rarely do we see that in smaller early stage companies, hence making shares investment risky.

Supposed to be news from Iraq coming here, but not heard anything yet. Anyone bullish here?

Yes, I suspected they were just messing about. :) Curry's is holding up well at the moment, though I don't expect that to continue either, so i'm staying out for now and still holding other badly timed share purchases that I would like a refund on also if possible.

The problem in a bear market and with an economy that has operating on accumulating debt and low interest rates and not healthy profitability is that whatever price one pays, Zero is still a looming possibility and will be reality for many listed company shareholders.

Ok so I decided to sell and get a refund for a badly timed entry last year. I just can't see the Chinese paying above what the VC offered. However good luck for those staying in, I hope another offer comes along.

If JD walk away also the price will likely tank IMO and I may buy in again later this year in that scenario. If only we knew what was going on behind the scenes? A few more days and we'll know.

I think Lloyds already made a provision and took a hit in the accounts, and still made good money anyway but VANQ are talking about a massive cost just to process/review potential claims.

"They have cut back the hours on the checkouts."

Isn't that a good thing? Checkout staff are then able to do other jobs and have greater variation to make up their work hours, I would have thought. Perhaps the self checkouts have enabled this progress as I see it? I certainly hope it's not because of lack of customers.

Even Aldi, once the fastest checkouts in the world or the shopping falls everywhere, has installed self checkouts in a bid to move items out of the store even faster for efficiency gains.

At this level it seems the market is expecting a profit warning with the results or something?

Downbutnotout - "250,000 buy spotted 142p"

Yes and the price still fell? May be more yet being supplied to the market? Is their a big seller trying to reduce/bail?

Higher offer on the way and a bid battle may ensue. Only around a couple of weeks left for bidders to pounce.

Increasing their stake. Maybe they already have a plan for WRKS in mind. Should get very interesting in the months ahead to see what they have in mind. It's always been the go to place of city centre shops to me, just needs to translate that into better money making somehow.

Plenty of capital to buy back shares as well.

Yer, surprised by the initial dip, so bought a few, but not sure how long I want to keep them as anything can happen and the future might not be so rosy, but for a few months, especially leading up to xd, we should be ok.

Afterall RBS/Halifax etc were making 'record' profits, just before total collapse in around 2007!