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JPMORGAN RAISES HALFORDS GROUP PRICE TARGET TO 150 (100) PENCE - 'NEUTRAL'

I had been a bit concerned about the £4.4m loan from HSBC repayable by the end of this year - which may only be £3m after using the £1.4m Growth loan to reduce it - but CBILS takes away that concern, provided TRAK qualifies (eg it must have less than 250 employees, but going by the last accounts it just squeaks in).

In this respect, the pandemic may have done TRAK a favour, provided the lockdown quickly comes to an end. Let's hope there's some good news about this on Sunday, and an RNS shortly from TRAK confirming CBILS support.

LIBERUM RESUMES HALFORDS GROUP WITH 'BUY' - TARGET 200 PENCE

On the ball, aren't they? I could have told them that a month ago.

Life is less uncertain today, believe it or not, compared with 24 March when they issued their last trading update.

At that time, there were fears of a national shutdown even, which is now most unlikely. As you say, they are still working, and according to the RNS:

'As a group we derive circa 70% of our sales from products with uses related to the efforts to overcome the present crisis.'

So I think when they report full year results and the outlook for 20/21, we could be in for a pleasant surprise for a change.

Definitely a buy at 5p.

When it does move, it'll rocket.

The insurance business is largely unaffected by Covid, and cruises are expected to restart by around September at the latest. With any luck, the lockdown will be relaxed well before then. Carnival was up 7% today on hopes of that happening.

With flying likely to be problematic for some time to come, cruises with well-chosen itineraries - where you have your own cabin, and where you could even take your meals - will be the preferred alternative for many, including a new, younger clientele, who should make up for the loss of any older clientele who still have to self-isolate.

JDW relies on packing them in on a Friday and Saturday night. Even when lockdown is lifted, we won't be seeing that for a long time, maybe a year or more, because it simply won't be allowed, and even if it were many punters would rather steer clear.

It'll be interesting to see how, or if, JDW gets round this.

Confirms that they are being impacted, but it all looks manageable, and provided the lockdown does not go on for more than a few weeks more, the company will quickly get back on track.

The SP arguably already takes into account the current challenging climate. Once the lockdown is lifted, the shares should fly.

But the SP should stay up, ignoring daily movements, because ironically the company appears to be benefiting from the coronavirus.

By remaining open, Halfords is stealing a march on the competition - they were queueing round the block at my local branch yesterday.

I would certainly expect the big drop from 100p+ to reverse over the coming weeks.

SP is suddenly showing as 19p. All trade data has also been adjusted similarly. What is going on with this website? The data is worse than useless. TRAK isn't the only share where weird things like this are happening.

PEEL HUNT RAISES HALFORDS GROUP TO 'BUY' ('HOLD') - TARGET 125 PENCE

29%!

But did Laws die OF Covid-19 or just WITH Covid-19? It's a grey area, which allows manipulation of the statistics for political purposes.

Since early Jan, IAG (owner of BA) has lost 2/3rds of it's value, which is understandable.

Saga seems to have been tarred with the same brush, having also lost 2/3rds, despite being a predominantly insurance company in demonstrable recovery - and despite having already been undervalued.

Today's results should have prompted a correction, but there is no rationality in the market at the moment. All we need is a chink (sorry!) of light at the end of the Coronavirus tunnel, and this will fly.

At my Halfords, it's only open for the collection of online orders from a desk placed in the entrance lobby. There always seems to be a queue. I'm not sure why they are not open for browsing, or if/when that will change.

The dividend situation is perfectly clear:

"Given the uncertain implications of COVID-19, the Board of Directors does not recommend the payment of a dividend for the 2019/20 financial year. While the Directors intend to resume dividend payments in the future, the Group will assess its dividend policy for current and future years as the COVID-19 situation becomes more certain".

Reassuring results, including prudent suspension of dividend.

Once the govt reverses its overreaction to the Coronavirus, this share will take off.

BERENBERG RAISES CHEMRING GROUP TO 'BUY' ('HOLD') - TARGET 235 PENCE.

Looks quite conservative to me. Seems to assume that this virus business is not going away any time soon.

Strange RNS, even by TRAK’s standards!
A sabbatical is normally a period of paid leave. The RNS implies therefore that he remains an employee. It’s understandable that he has resigned as a director: if he’s not around, he can’t really discharge his directorial duties.
He owns no shares, but has options over 350,000 at 34pps, potentially worth a 6 figure sum. However, he needs to remain an employee to exercise them in due course. Perhaps this is the reason for the odd-sounding arrangement. But he can’t exercise them for another 2 years, so that wouldn’t be a “short sabbatical”.
One wonders whether this is Coronavirus-related, taking advantage of a relatively quiet period during the general lockdown? If he’s being “furloughed”, I believe the company can claim 80% of his salary, but limited to £2,500 per month. So not much of a cost saving for the company.

I agree there's no direct comparison, but the fact that the AA is important to TRAK, coupled with its statement on 19/3/20 confirming that it was "business as usual", and the fact that TRAK is at least not affected by the shutdown of retail outlets, gives me some sort of vague hope.

With TRAK, the hope is always vague....

Encouraging for the AA (even bought a few), and also therefore for TRAK (ditto) - even though no mention of Smart Breakdown (understandable really, in a very brief TU).

The fact that the AA haven't been materially impacted by the virus gives us hope that the same is true for TRAK.