Member Info for OracleofOldham

At this price buybacks make more fiscal sense then dividend and I am sure part of the reason the dividend has been cut is the buybacks but also because it's a good reason to have more cash to put on reinvesting or paying down debt later on which seems a wise move.

For me it's good news about the sale, sensible decision on buybacks as it gives impression the company thinks the shares are cheap, sensible cut of the dividend meaning there is more money to put where the board feels is best ( whether that's to pay debt, invest more in company, pay extra dividend or something else).

Let's see if the can do as good a job restructuring and simplifying the business as Aviva seem to be doing.

Yes correct

0.5b Euro due 2029 and 0.75b Euro due 2032

It's fairly common way for companies to get their hands on extra cash, they had 8b Dollars in the bank at the end of the year and their tangible assets are valued at 30b compared with the current 24b market cap so yeah I won't be selling either.

OR it could have bought Rim, or Nokia like Microsoft did and lost a killing.

Easy to pick the right decisions with hindsight

BeBold I was in Hotel Choc which received a 374p per share offer from Mars off 139p per share price the day before.

Then I've also been in Blue Prism which got basically the same price it was at once the rumours had started but before any offers.

A lot depends on how hard a company wants the acquisition, how quickly they want to close up the deal and how much the current major shareholders want out.

Also if the acquiring company is public I expect the bid would be lower as they need to show to their own shareholders that it's a good deal for them whilst a private company has no such concern.

Either way the current market cap is basically the same as the tangible asset value so very little downside risk buying here.

Https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/1041160/bt-openreach-to-cede-ground-to-altnets-says-barclays-1041160.html

Openreach value £30b

BT value £10b

Looks like quite the misprice

Https://www.watermagazine.co.uk/2024/01/12/costain-awarded-landmark-new-contract/#:~:text=Costain%20has%20been%20appointed%20by,water%20sector%20for%20the%20company.

Actually the share price often lies

It's why some people are able to make so much money in the stock market and others sell and buy at the wrong times.

If you can't handle the ebbs and flows just put money in a tracker and you'll still do well over the long term but maybe you aren't cut out for individual stocks.

UK's GDP is where it was in 2007 but as long as you are happy in your ignorance.

I'm not sure why anything is up today but everything seems to be and as they say a rising tide raises all boats, presumably with those that have dropped the most of late rising the greatest.

Possibly people 'assuming' the looking at the 3 merger means it's more likely and trying to buy in before the news but otherwise I guess just take it as a pleasant surprise

If you are getting your current affairs from the daily mail you might have bigger problems :)

Came here for a deal, but looks like the bugger is holding up so far.

BT's current market cap is £12b whilst Open reach alone was valued a year or so ago at around £20b when there was talk of a spin of so seems massively undervalued compared to the sum of its parts.

From what I see, the price of a stock is very seldom 'right', it's either moving too high on overenthusiasm or too low on fear.

Anglo I think is the second, a mix of lower prices, reduced revenue, and likely, concerns that the platinum metals division will more than half as catalytic converters become obsolete has made people overly fearful of this stock.

There is also of course the issue that a lot of the market is pretty cheap, and the lure of the US markets touching or breaking new highs, AND the amount of money sitting in bonds and 5%-6% interest accounts , gives you a situation to do your own research, and if you think there are misprices around, to make a nice gain over the coming years.

Sideek, not sure if you are joking but the idea is that they can NEVER buy cigarettes if born after a certain date.

New Zealand did the same though I expect here it's the tory shout anything and see what the reaction is rather than a real idea.

"Under the first-of-its-kind anti-smoking laws passed by the Ardern regime, those aged 14 and younger cannot buy cigarettes ever in New Zealand, thereby outlawing the deadly habit for the next generation entirely"

Short term emotion giving way to long term fundamentals

They do have the fastest growing middle class though and the middle class love buying stuff.

Finally someone agrees with me this stock.

Glad JP's been listening!

If you don't think adverts work on you, you are the target audience for marketers

I knew it would bounce but no dry powder until next month, a rookie mistake.

What's up with the 5% jump at day's end?