Member Info for Pianista

Alas is an ex-customer with a deep-seated grudge against the company. No point interacting with him.

£1.50+? £2.00+ more like it, but it depends on what the market anticipates for the 20-week trading update for the period ending 19 August, due next week (7 September). That should be ok, but they'll obviously caution about the outlook, what business wouldn't right now?

Quite. The last thing you want is more of them.

Spoons is one of the few places you can go for a quiet drink without piped music, which is one of the attractions. Big screen football, of whatever kind, with all the noise that would create, and with screaming kids running amok, would put off more than it would attract.

Barring any more twists and turns in this long-running saga, the audited accounts will be done by end Sep and the share suspension lifted by end Oct following an AGM. And if the next trading update mirrors the last one, it won’t be a question of “recovering” anything, rather continuing to hold with the expectation of further gains.

A new co sec's also been appointed, relieving CFO Mulligan of that responsibility (which he took on temporarily following the sudden departure of Deards).

He can now give his undivided attention to meeting - or preferably beating! - the deadline of end Sep for the accounts.

Ironic yes, but not totally irrational if you think about it.

When the ships were empty, it was never imagined that that situation would last for more than a few months, and the SP was buoyed by (misplaced) optimism about a quick return to normality.

Now, the ships are indeed packed, but this is due to pent-up demand, and by definition pent-up demand does not last forever. What really matters to investors is the prospects for the next year or two, where fears of a recession have, for the time being, taken over from the ever-present threat of Covid and the war in Ukraine. Meanwhile CCL’s debt has increased massively just as interest rates are on the rise…

Matt - I agree, "leasing pressures" is a red herring.

I agree. If you don't want to give your email address, don't give your email address! Simple!

I'd be astonished if the Executive Directors didn't take this golden opportunity to make inroads into the requirement to hold shares worth 2 x base salary.

As with the 30% drop after the recent results, the shares were marked down (unfairly) by the market makers from the word go, following which the herd instinct - to which HFD seems particularly prone - kicked in.

"Lease interest payments last year were £9m... how much is it going to go up by?"

Yes, but the lease interest is only a small part of the lease expense - there's also £69.9m depreciation of the "right of use" assets to take into account.

However, I'm not sure what the "leasing pressures" are that Panmure are on about (I haven't seen their note). Maybe some of the lease payments are adjusted upwards for RPI?

Yes, the board had better start talking the company up at the forthcoming update, instead of the usual gloom.

As a relatively resistant retail stock, could be worth a punt at current levels. The danger is, if there is a general market correction of say 3% tomorrow, HFD would go down with it to the low 100s.

Mind you, it's not all good news. Talk of a 7% base rate is worrying - but should concentrate the minds of the BOD.

Brokers' targets have always been a joke, even during the relatively stable geopolitical environment pre pandemic. In the present ultra-volatile environment, what on Earth do Panmure know about the state of the world in 12 months' time that we don't? It would be more honest of them to say "we haven't a clue".

Probably just overlooked before. What is good news though is the revival in Microlise's SP, up c20% in the last week or so.

I don't believe Panmure's target for one minute, but if it means I can pick up a bargain, who am I to argue?

Fall due to Panmure downgrade to hold from buy?

Slipper, I agree, it could conceivably touch 130p this week. If so, I'll be topping up.