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Managed to renew car insurance recently with only a 15% increase on last year, after shopping around. Quickly looked at telematics policies, but they were ridiculously expensive. Perhaps they only work well for younger drivers.

Ports - I think corporate communications is a big factor, given the need to shake off the spectre of the prolonged suspension once and for all. To me the RNS didn’t cut the mustard in this respect – it just came across as a bit lacklustre. It felt like it wasn’t telling us anything we didn’t already know., hence in theory already priced in.

Better broker engagement and buy backs may also help, but in the end, it may need a buyer. So depending on the patience of the major shareholders, who I think own over 70% of the shares, maybe it’s time - nearly 6 years out from the company’s rescue in 2017 - for the company to show a little leg?

Back in late 2021, when the SP was broadly in the low 30s (pre-governance fiasco), Gatemore (c20% shareholder) got so frustrated by DX’s “dislocated value” - which they put down to “mismanagement across multiple areas, including corporate messaging and transparency, audit process, broker engagement, and the lack of return of capital to shareholders” – that they muscled their way onto the board.

Within a year, they’d resigned from the board, as if to say “job done”.

But now, nearly 2 years later, and despite all the improved financial metrics, the SP is still languishing in the low 30s. So we’ve stood still, basically.

If there's no material improvement by the end of the year, I suspect Gatemore will again start to agitate for the company to find ways to realise its full value.

Tep1 - if it’s an objective view of value that you are looking for, to be honest you couldn’t really do any better than study the brokers’ reports, rather than ask anyone on this board.

That’s where the target price of (I think) 58p came from.

However, what the brokers never seem to take account of is a whole host of other positive/negative imponderables: the dizzying array of macroeconomic factors, sentiment (following the protracted share suspension/untested management etc), the behaviour of a handful of unpredictable major shareholders, the possibility of a takeover, directors’ purchases, regulatory changes…..

That’s why people’s views differ so much about the SP trajectory. My own feeling right now, for what it’s worth, is that it will move up this year towards 40p, but fall tantalisingly short of that. So upper 30s.

That feeling could, of course, change next week after the trading update. But, however impressive the revenue/margin growth, I think it will struggle to break through 40p this year. But who knows?

KBYK – glad to hear you got your losses allowed against tax, which does soften the blow.

All my losses are in my Isa, which isn’t very clever!

KBYK - I can’t blame you for bailing out: it’s been such a long slow haul…..and we must all have wondered from time to time whether we should hang around or cut our losses.

However, the company is now reaping the rewards of its change in strategy. There may be further bumps in the road, of course, but it’s nevertheless hard to see anything getting in the way of a decent result this year - one that will at least be enough to finally drag the SP off the bottom. So at the current price of 17.8p to buy, it should be a good bet, if you're still interested...

Another depot opening....but the most interesting part was the CEO’s reference to “ongoing” successful growth and development. I wonder if that’s a clue as to what they’ll be saying in the next trading update. It’s due this week or next, so we’ll soon find out.

I was going to put my money where my mouth is this morning, and buy another 25,000 @16p. Of course, it's beaten me to it, and jumped up to 17.7p to buy. I'll keep my powder dry for the moment....

"Better than expected results from APL" is the real story.

Despite that, Alliance News manage to give it a negative spin, which may be why the SP hasn't reacted as one would expect.

Jam tomorrow certainly, but there is also jam today, albeit hidden.

The way I see it, “significantly reduced operational costs” means significantly greater profits. How much exactly? Well, H2 22/23 PBT was £1.2m Despite reduced capacity in the insurance market, H1 23/24 will be broadly similar, so it’s not difficult to see that full year PBT should be around £2m.

So, as far as I’m concerned, the company is firmly back on track. However, as always the market needs this to be spelled out, so I don’t expect an instant reaction, but the rerating will come, in time.

Email - I'd be very surprised if the update didn't give us all we could ask of the company, and more. The question is whether the market will show its appreciation for a change, and take the SP to a new level - maybe the mid 30s (though we'd all like more!). Partly depends on what happens in the wider market, of course.

I suspect the market still hasn’t completely forgiven the company for the white-knuckle ride they put us through last year. Plus the new management has not yet been properly tested. Mainly, though, I think the market is awaiting the company’s own assessment of the outlook, due shortly, rather than just having to infer it from all the recent snippets of good news.

Another factor is that the company could soon launch another management incentive plan. The last grant was in April, to the CEO, which was arguably overgenerous then - threshold 30p, maximum payout at 40p – but certainly looks like it now, given the Tuffnell’s “windfall”. Incentives are generally a good thing, of course, but let’s hope the major shareholders (i.e. the institutions and Lloyd) have a moderating influence next time over the terms.

"maybe my dire prediction will kick start the recovery ;o)"

I think you already have! Within minutes, a 80k buy at 16p was showing on google. A good sign - assuming it's not one of us!

“What will they spend it on? An extra cruise maybe?”

In theory. But what about those who find themselves having to choose between splashing the cash on another luxury cruise, and using it to rescue their “kids” who are about to lose their home?

The webcast yesterday - the one to which us lowly PI's were not invited - must have been very bullish...

Ports - I don’t see a problem with “overtrading”. It’s not as if they are recklessly chasing sales by, for example, extending credit terms, or reducing prices and cutting margins to the bone. If anything, it’s the opposite.

Moreover their bank balance is very healthy, so they won’t be running out of cash any time soon.

No, Tuffnell’s is a nice “problem” to have - give me too much business rather than too little any day!

It needs to be carefully managed, of course, but I’m sure they’re equal to it - let's see what they have to say about it in the next trading update, expected within the next month or so.

A delay of just 6 days and the shares fall off a cliff! Weird. Especially as they also confirmed previous guidance.

Delays to accounts are obviously unwelcome, but I wouldn't say they are NEVER a good sign. In this case, I think it's more a sign of extreme nervousness in the investing community at the moment.

As for the company's poor customer service, this as all-to-common in the UK generally in my experience, so Halford's is probably no worse than the competition. Though as regards batteries, funnily enough I've only had very good reports on Halford's service. Just shows how difficult it is to draw conclusions based on anecdotal evidence.

No end to the positive news flow at the moment.

How fortunes, particularly on AIM, can change almost overnight - well, for DX, since this time last year anyway, when its very survival was in doubt!

Dare we entertain the thought that this could finally move up through 40p this year?

"I fear this lot will get indigestion I'm afraid and take on more than they can cope with".

Yes, but not as much as if they hadn't had the prescience (or luck!) to launch their 3-year investment program when they did, including 8 new depots I think in the current financial year!

Today's positive start ties in with last night's Mello event, where a large majority of attendees voted it a "Buy".