Member Info for Paulleydee

SP up and down like a bride’s nightie this morning.

Market can’t seem to make up its mind.

Investors call may help.

Someone needs to ask has there been any approach as they kept the last one from us, and that was relatively recently at a tenner a share!!

All sorts at play here. Barker- will he now buy more?

Ashley.

Povelson.

Someone will make a move while this is cheap.

THG has gone from the 20s to the 40s so many times.

We now need that here

So Mike Ashley now has 29.3% which is getting close to the mandatory 30% level. Heartland has 29% and Deputy Chairman William Barker with 15.7%.Not much of a free float so what do people feel is the likely outcome?

Who will make a move first?

Will Barker side with either of the other interested parties?

A Heartland/Barker buy out deal?

Ashley/Barker?

It is feeling a bit of a ‘stalemate’ situation

SIH reduced short heavily Wednesday

Crude immediately down 15 per cent on the news

I completely agree

Would barker “go in” with Povelson in some way to prevent Ashley making a move?

But with all my other stocks only down 1 or 2 per cent why is it that ASOS always tumbles further - 5 percent

Yet has recently released a decent update.

Barker must surely be looking at doing something here.

And Ashley.

Will there ever be a chance like to grab ASOS on the cheap.

I wonder if silence on this board is due to the sheer shock at the SP following a pretty decent update.

Barker seemingly not even adding at these levels.

All very odd.

Https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/1089922/asos-developing-in-the-right-direction-says-shore-cap-1089922.html

Love the headline

https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/38678907/boohoo-debenhams-profit-forecast-lifts/

"There has been clear progress in Debenhams, and management, who are well incentivised, appear motivated to return the business back to growth," observed Shore Capital analyst Katie Cousins.

Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, said: 'On the retail front, the Debenhams Group is the latest to shift to a marketplace model and its metamorphosis is reaping rewards.

'It’s followed the rest of the fashion pack, like Next and Marks and Spencer, to offer space on its online rack for third-party brands who pay a fee for the privilege.'

Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, said: "The retail backdrop may be unhelpful, and a battle with its largest shareholder Frasers ongoing. But Boohoo, trading under the Debenhams banner, does seem to be getting some traction with its turnaround efforts."

Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The group's pivot to a marketplace model is driving much of the improved financial performance, allowing sales to scale quickly as more sellers are brought into the fold. The third-party sellers also own the stock and are responsible for picking, packing and shipping orders, removing a host of costs and inventory risk from Boohoo's operations. As a result, fixed costs have fallen by more than £50m to £119m, and are expected to fall further to around £100m this year.

"Progress on trimming the cost base has been impressive. But long-term growth will rely on moving the top line in the right direction. While sales trends are improving, they're still in negative territory, so it's a key area to watch, especially in a competitive retail market."

In a note this morning, broker Panmure Liberum said: "The transformation work done has been huge and the noise (and costs) associated with these is now all but over. Looking ahead, we see leverage off a £100m cost base (2/3 lower), a capex and w/cap light model driving higher earnings and FCF. Some may say it is too early to call, but all the signals and green shoots of the new business model are now visible."

Https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2026/03/debenhams-group-powers-past-guidance-as-marketplace-pivot-pays-off/

Https://www.reuters.com/business/debenhams-sees-double-digit-profit-growth-ahead-turnaround-gains-pace-2026-03-30/

Ahead of previous upgraded guidance! Wow.

Such a huge database of customers and data waiting to be snapped up on the cheap

It is very odd Barker isn’t buying at these levels after such a decent update.

Hmmm.

Unless he is in talks about something?

Berenberg said: “Having cleaned up its inventory, strengthened the balance sheet and addressed the operating cost base, ASOS is now in customer engagement mode.

“In the UK, US, Germany and France, new customers grew by 2% year-on-year. We find this encouraging as new customer growth could be a leading indicator for sales recovery.”

Peel Hunt, which has an Add recommendation and 300p target price, said: “There is a long way to go to GMV growth but we believe there is clearly stronger traction from improvements to the ASOS offer and customer engagement.”

Meanwhile, it is notable that Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group last week increased its interest in ASOS to 29.2%.

Frasers’ style is to use a position as a large investor to call for change or strike business deals, rather than act as a precursor to a full takeover. It’s more likely to buy a company outright or cherry pick assets through a pre-pack administration deal, and that is not something applicable to ASOS in its current form as it is keeping the lights on.

…and what will Povelson’s next move be?

Interesting times.