Member Info for Pianista

Safe cruising does not depend on a vaccine. Saga’s Shield+ accreditation for Covid Secure Cruising was issued last month before any vaccine was even approved.

All crew (and guests) will be required to have a Covid 19 test beforehand. There will also be daily temperature checks, face masks will be mandatory, and there will be upgraded medical facilities to deal with any isolated cases.

A Saga ship will therefore be one of the safest places to be anywhere on Earth; the vaccine(s) are just icing on the cake.

So there’s no reason why cruising should not restart in the spring - except for continued intransigence from this supposedly business-friendly government.

ismalia - I'm sure DX can help out R Mail in their hour of need...at a price!

Tiger - I can't blame you for taking what the blonde buffoon says with a pinch of salt. But I don't think Tier 4 till March/April is a foregone conclusion. As this last week has shown, the pandemic newsflow can turn on a sixpence. Next week, it could just as easily turn back the other way, eg the new variant of the virus might turn out to be much less deadly. I wouldn't want to be out of Saga if that happened.

Yesterday’s No 10 press conference, effectively cancelling Christmas for many of us, will have no effect on Saga’s cruising operations - because fortunately at the moment there aren’t any to affect!

Moreover, Johnson at the end said this:

“I’m more confident than ever that we’ll get that vaccine into a significant proportion of the population by the spring, and that things will be radically different for our country by Easter. I’m absolutely convinced of that”.

(It’s on YouTube if you want to hear those comforting words for yourself.)

Putting aside the fact that Johnson’s the ultimate bait-and-switch merchant, he just needs to make sure the Foreign Office was listening, and to get them to pull their finger out and give the go ahead to cruising, which companies like Saga need two or three months to prepare for.

Beat me to it, Banbury!

What is the point of posting this article? Have you actually read it? (The article is dated 3 May 2020, ie ancient history).

Can't be lockdown - Halfords is one of the few retailers who remain open during lockdown.

Can't see any other reason for the drop. It's just been a volatile month I think.

Next trading update 14 January, which should include a bumper Christmas.

On the face of it, a long wait for the update. However, I imagine they want to give themselves the best chance of being able to say something definite about the restart of cruising.

The relatively buoyant SP is testament to investors' belief in the company's management, who they believe will make the company the most likely pub business to find a way through the current mess - if indeed anyone can.

They must also believe that this supposedly business-friendly Tory government will come to its senses, with or without the help of vaccines.

£1 is certainly not yet on my radar - that would make it a 10-bagger for me.

I wonder if it'll be taken over well before it ever has a chance to reach those dizzy heights. Right now, I imagine 31% shareholder Gatemore would be delighted with an offer of 40-50p.

Meanwhile, the SP could well move through the low 30's in the new year, but we'll have to wait for the trading update in Feb before we see much more movement northwards.

Nice plug for Trakm8.

I haven't a clue what you're on about. Can you be bit clearer? Otherwise it's pointless posting.

Maybe another large institutional sell order to fill? (There were a couple in October, including Gatemore's 25m sell at around 20p. On the face of it, a bad decision which has cost them £1.25m so far, by selling too early, but they still own around 180m).

Interesting that Quartix has been moving away from supposedly lower-margin business in the insurance market.

Since Trak appear to be doing the opposite, insurance can't be all that low-margin for them, unless they want their heads examined, which I don't for one minute believe.

Perhaps the reduced competition is helping them land more, and more lucrative, contracts.

I would now expect broker upgrades in the range £3.50 - £4.00.

Correction: it HAS broken £3! Where next?

...as expected. Should now break £3 at last.

I think there's more to worry about than dividends at the moment. However, the position was set out in the Prospectus:

"...so long as the Leverage Covenant Ratio is greater than 3.0x EBITDA under the Term Loan and Revolving Credit Facility, and deferred principal payments remain outstanding under the Ship Facilities, the Company is prohibited from paying dividends.
The Board anticipates that it will not reconsider whether to pay dividends until the Group’s leverage (including Cruise) is below 3.5x EBITDA. Taking into account the proceeds from the Firm Placing and Placing and Open Offer, the Board does not expect this target to be reached before 2023".

Roguemale - Yes, I know of no one who's had Covid, let alone died of it. On the other hand, I know several with untreated life-threatening conditions. It's bizarre - and very worrying.

Recent drift down pre-dates today's news, and is largely down to the FO dragging its feet IMO.

Mutations are usually less deadly, because it's not in the virus' interest to kill all of its hosts. But people are easily spooked, so news of mutations may well weigh on the shares, especially if exploited by politicians to re-introduce counterproductive de facto lockdowns, which will kill off not only the hospitality industry but also kill off more people than Covid could ever do.

Let's hope common sense prevails...