Member Info for oogleflugal

Cant remember whether my comment about minefields and booby traps got posted but sure enough boom. MCRO found guilty of infringement. Its in their nature to sue everyone. I remember Tom Petty god rest his soul won damages from a sam smith hit for replicating 3 notes of a song he'd never even heard allegedly. It wasnt even a tune for Christ's sake. About thirteen million dollars. Wouldn't surprise me if someones been sued for farting like somebody else in America. ASC and Boo seem to have got off lightly on online tax issue. Not sure thats the drag on OCADO T. Online is such a small part of their business. Be quite ironic if M&S tank again just as they were recovering, but pretty small part of their business too. The big issue is corporation tax. Cant see big business rolling over for that without some kind of backlash. Personally I think the recovery of hospitality and travel and fitness is ridiculously overdone. Some of these companies are now higher after dilutions than they were when operating before the pandemic. They've got rate and rent arrears to pay back if not furlough.

C . Jim Mellon is saying stay long in precious metals (gold, silver platinum) even though gold has taken a knock. He's just taken half the Condor Gold placing last week. Not sure why Cey has been so beaten down, seems crazy. Its also effecting my Capd shares of which I bought back half as it hit the placing sp they had before Christmas.
I've just read Boris's little balls up over Hawei has cost BT.a and Vodafone approx £1 billion to restructure 5g. But Vod who still have 6% yield has only recovered to 1.24, where as BT.a no div, has flown to 1.41. Think there might be legs in buy out rumour.
Be interesting how Rishi's proposed online tax effects Boo and ASC tomorrow. Its like a mine field out there looking for the next booby trap!

O and the MClaren Vale Church Block wine turned in to something absolutely incredible after decanting the yesterday

Absolutely T. I'v just been watching a pin world interview with a ladies investment club reaching notoriety in ouperforming nearly every investment trust. Was however dated feb 2020. No news since then.
Sorry about the rant on BT. They are a bloody disgrace though and I think my thoughts are entirely justified by the fact that James Mellon (Isle of Man based investor) thinks the current uplift is due to possible private equity buyouts. In other words there is value there but appalling management. Don't we know that for sure? I'd hang in there S, might even join you!

I've just opened a McLaren Vale red. The last time I tried one it restored my opinion of Aussie wine, sadly this one is the equivalent of their XXXX beer. Everytime I try a wine over £12 it tastes like a £3 bottle of Retzina. Should have learnt by now. Sorry S about my tirade on Bt. Cant think what got into me. I haven't been a customer of theirs since 2005. I parted with them saying I wasnt going to pay their ridiculous bill and would gladly face them in court. Their unbelievable rudeness and total lack of consumer service still makes me smart. Arrogant bunch of tozzers. Any way on the gin now, lovely supper cuisined by my lovely lady, now watching some Finnish murder mystery. The more alcohol the more I understand it

Yes C you can and you don't even need to pay for them. Just tell them a price you would be happy with walk out of the store and they'l just charge it to someone elses phone app.
Looks like we're on for another 10 wicket hiding at least. Would we be able to rustle up a century in the second innings? Not on current form.
BT is an interesting one. The latest problem for them and Vod was Boris really dunking them in the poo so they are now having to pay for 5g infrastructure twice over. Vod do at least pay a decent div, don't know when BT will return to paying shareholders for their torture endured over the last 20 years. Even pre Boris In theory they should have been immune to the pandemic to a large degree, in fact demand for their services one would have thought would go up. They are a prime example of a great British company that should have been able to capitalise on their position in the world but sadly ****ed it all down the drain, and nobody is accountable and all managements well rewarded for abject continuous failure. An embarrassment to British business. Awful service with the the worst customer service in the history of customer services. I really can't think of enough derogatory remarks for such an utterly persistently useless organisation.
Always something to worry the market especially when its been as overbought as the nasdaq. If its not oil price its inflation, its not energy its gold prices, so lets invent a completely new currency that nobody knows how to value or even if its actually worth anything at all. If the world wasn't mad before it is now

Morning Brigades. Thanks for the cricket update S. I had forgotten. Had some good news on Spirent acquisition this morning strengthening their 5g wi-fi testing position. Results might be a bit weak next week but long term solid proposition. Similarly Saga continues to confound fomo. The loan situation is resolved but can't help thinking its too much too quick, and pretty sure Stenata will be offloading the rest of their stock soon. That may not effect the sp now so much as on previous occasions. Flavour of the month miners still subdued after huge rises since October. Also wonder if the budget corporation tax put the breaks on them.

Just been listening to shoppers experience of the new Amazon 'fresh' shop. You enter your phone details on entering pick up items such as fresh fruit and veg or a bunch of flowers, pop them in your bag and walk straight out. Apparently they are going to offer this technology to other stores. I don't know if Mcro are involved in this somehow but I do remember the first announcement about their partnership with AWS backing October was very much about processing payment transactions. Don't know about selling MCRO shares S I'm thinking of buying more but may wait till ex div next week. Only a month till we can add to ISAs too. Nearly all miners seem to have taken hits today far more than the usual ex div hit.

I think the market is going to take time to work out the MCRO deal with AWS. Stephen Frazer of SC. obviously thinks its a much bigger deal the the market is giving it credit for, but it explains the share price movements of the past few months being a lot more to do with this than short positions. AWS have the right to buy £15 million pounds worth of shares in MCRO @4.46 on condition of a substantial contribution to the business. Seems a little vague but clearly the route to Cloud platforms for some of the largest corporations in the world with complex unmanageable structures such as banks, conglomerates, welfare organisations are all potential massive customers. So is this the last time we see sub £5.00? I would hope so and would be happy to see a more sedate rise as this new partnership unfolds. GL

Nice buy in MCRO at the end @5.10 for 250,000. Obviously chasing the dividend!

Apologies for the double post. Sometimes it disappears when writing and comes back to let me finish and sometimes it doesn't. Any way. Well done T for standing firm

Morning all> Nice little surprise on MCRO. Doing my usual round up on Stockopedia and it was still showing 4.38! Only bought the rest of my holding back on Friday. This stock really has been played by some funny games. Maybe its people like me leaping in and out, but really just trying to follow the trend. Hope it holds £5 and more this time

Morning all. Nice little surprise on MCRO. I was doing my usual round up on Stockopedia and saw the RNS. Looked at the sp on Stockopedia still showing 4.38! Only got the rest of my shares back on Friday.

Thanks all. Yes I get the pent up demand for flights if we are allowed to land anywhere soon. It must also depend how many flights and how many seats allowed on flights . Quantas are not planning much business to and from Australia for the rest of the year. Much talk of uk boom for hospitality and tourism for that very reason. On the other hand we are so far ahead on the vaccine front will be the only nation able to go anywhere this summer.
Pretty strong repost from Boo directors as would be expected. I got out last week because of weakening sp and budget fears. Wasnt expecting a USA ban on top. Boo say they are unaware of any such plan in USA. You could pretty much level accusations of slave trade to any large uk clothes retailer> Gap moved production to China because they couldn't afford US labour. M&S said they would never move manufacturing out of UK. That lasted about 2 years. Boo are defending themselves by saying the minimum wage in UK is far higher than China's wages, which is true but not really comparable. As an investor its more trouble than its worth. No idea who is right.

Right walkies. WE had a lovely sunrise walk on Saturday and a couple of sensational moonlit midnight seaside walks with meteor shower. Test out the new ball. Smokes ate the last one which he loved and I think shown genuine remorse, again.

Anyone explain to me airliner valuations. EZJ is 20% higher than it was 2 years ago! Already had at least Ione rights issue and next to no business for a year. RTN the rubbish restaurant chain above the sp it was when it over paid for wagamamas 2 years ago. Again a rights issue and no business for a year. Presumably they all have mountains of debt, business rates and rent and possibly furlough to pay back. Extraordinary valuations being put on possible future earnings. Will they ever be profitable again? Not in my lifetime

Quite V don't mention the nuts! I quit rugby by the end of my teens. Knees. Seemed to be a family thing. My son soldiered on with the ubiquitous ACL reconstruction. I once saw him play in a match between ex Fiji captain at fly half and ex Welsh winger at outside centre. I was enormously proud even though at twice his age he struggled wit the pace but great receiver and off loader. And to really boast now grandfather received an Irish Cap for a game against Canada, again dodgy knees apparently kept him from a full time place. We did have the cap, but somebody in the family seems to be keeping quiet about that!
My brother played in the West Country a bit and has reffed and coached bit. For my son though club rugby has done so much for his confidence and probably career. I see the French ref Pascal Grazier has admitted his errors to Wales while not going as far to apologise to England. Will be on linesman duty England v Ireland. Is that at Twickenham I wonder? Be worth the price of a ticket just to see that

Well said T and good morning. Like the analogy S, with moving goal posts. Looks like Boo could be in more trouble, when is ever not. Just heard about a possible trade ban in America, along with various tax threats have thrown the towel in which is annoying because I was handsomely ahead. Am liking WHR a lot a REIT company with a different angle and near 5% dividend. They had a placing recently and have bought 3 industrial properties to expand their game. which is primarily to provide storage for e commerce in strategic locations around the uk. Paul Scott dismissed them as being a place he would park some money once he has made his millions. Apart from the usual pandemic blip I like the graph. Cant see anything to moan about with a steady 15% annual climb and 5% dividend if it continues and why not. I'd rather that than the 20% rises and falls of Boo and try to guess which week is which!

Too true S. I am staggered how long some people have held onto shares, either because they inherited them or they think its wrong to ever sell, or of course the dreaded FOMO. Certainly during the nineties I held shares for years> Too busy to trade which is quite true for many especially now. The whole nature of investing has changed from Thatchers crusade to widen the appeal of share holding to a whole range of far more complex trading structures today.
Anyway back to rugby . I just looked up the average number of scrums in a six nations match is 18! If the average time from knock on, playing advantage to the ball eventually emerging from a non collapsing scrum was about two minutes, that means half the 80 minute game is taken up by grunting, shoving and trying to poke each others eyes out.

Just been reading some of our posts around March 14th. This was mine on Friday 13th:

FTSE to edge up. Friday 13th. mm . As much as I'd like to think the selling has been overdone, that doesn't mean it will stop just yet. If you don't need the cash I think this is one of those once in, I was going to say a lifetime, once in ten year opportunities seems more apt, but gradually. GL and stay calm. I think we are a calm bunch. Is there still just the 4 of us? Self isolation. Stay healthy.
Mcro appears to have been trading around the £4.40 mark. Anyway it helped enormously having you guys around to stay the course and share the musings! I might well have given up otherwise. So thanks for that.