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AGM on 4 March will be the trigger, if nothing happens before that.

Website's been playing up, delayed posting of messages. That's why I did a test message.

Test message.

In November, they said: "We now anticipate that DX is on track to perform materially better than current market expectations".

Now, it's: "The Board now anticipates that DX will materially exceed current market expectations for adjusted profit before tax for the financial year", i.e. more specific, more certain.

On top of that, though, market expectations have meanwhile moved onwards and upwards, surely. In other words, we aren't talking about the same "market expectations".

The question for me, therefore, is how long will it take after today's inevitable drop, before the SP retraces, and moves into the 40's ?

KBYK - H1 (to 30/9) was reported in November. Given Covid (and to lesser extent Brexit), it was quite a respectable performance, if you recall.

The forthcoming TU (which could even be next week) will be all about whether the (usual) optimism expressed then about Q3 (Oct, Nov, Dec) has (finally) translated into sales and profits.

But the results for Q3 will need to be quite spectacular, or a major new contract (or three!) announced, if the SP is to be lifted out of the doldrums at this stage.

If not, barring surprises (nice or nasty), I think we'll have to wait till mid-year unfortunately for any major movement northwards.

Banbury, basically agree, but there may also be a shock announcement, like the sale of the underwriting business for megabucks, leaving the group debt-free. Who knows? It would certainly tie in with the Insurance CEO's recent departure.

The threat of quarantine being introduced for anyone entering the UK is badly affecting the tourism sector today. Not a helpful backdrop for tomorrow's update!

Let's hope the government comes to its senses and exempts British residents.

If not, maybe Saga could get round it by running cruises without any ports of call.

The narrative of the TU ought to be quite upbeat, given recent pronouncements on both cruise bookings, and on the insurance business which "has performed resiliently under Cheryl's leadership". As far as profit for the year is concerned - on which there was no consensus amongst analysts from memory - personally I'd like to see underlying PBT of £50m (compared to £15m at the half-year). All being well, I think like Banbury we could see a jump on Tuesday to around 350p.

I imagine many would not WANT to disembark - and swap arguably one of the safest environments around, for a possibly risky foreign port - even if they were allowed to!

It looks like it's a new position due to, as stated in advert, "increased interest in our products and services".

Hopefully, this will be reflected in the forthcoming trading update.

Re UK retail sales figures out today: however bad these have been for the UK generally, there are clearly individual winners and losers, and Halfords in particular has just given a fantastic trading update. The market seems to have a very short memory indeed!

Market generally spooked today by yet more trash coming out of Johnson's mouth! Halfords always overreacts: relative to other retailers, Halfords as an essential supplier actually benefits from lockdowns. Seen this overreaction time and time again.

What may also be a factor in today's SP weakness is the CEO's recent disposal. On the face of it, that was disappointing, especially given the relatively small holding that he has built up so far, but actually it is understandable for two reasons: firstly, the need to finance the huge tax bill associated with the share award; secondly, it was in effect a disposal not of Halfords shares but of Carphone Warehouse shares, because it was compensation for share awards forfeited when he left them to join Halfords.

You should see a return of at least 50% within a matter of weeks, maybe even doubling your money later in the year. Seems to be off most investors' radar, so well spotted.

Poker - there is no guarantee or requirement that the crew will be vaccinated apparently, which seems paradoxical, ie if there are unvaccinated crew, why shouldn't there be unvaccinated guests?

Hi Banbury, if it makes people feel safer - even though it makes no difference - then great. Still no govt approval of cruising though, which is maybe what this is more about.

Sale by CEO of 186k shares awarded as compensation for loss of awards by his previous employer.

The daily turnover isn't much more than that! No wonder the SP has been held down. Let's see if it now breaks free.

JoeSoap - ok, let's see what happens over the next few days. With the trading update less than a week away, the SP is in for a bit of turbulence anyway.

There's no mention, in the "travel updates" section of the Saga website, of the revised sailing dates not being definite, ie subject to government approval. Perhaps they mention that elsewhere.

JoeSoap - the point is, most guests will be vaccinated anyway, and their safety is not affected by the minority who are unvaccinated. So there's no real advantage to making vaccination compulsory.

But as long as the market is happy about this - which it wasn't today - and the SP responds by moving into the 300s, I'm happy too.

rupans, per one of FJGooner's posts today.