Member Info for QueenElvis

LOL - "an old seasoned investor." in things for the long-term. Join the club. Where is Bonz 1957 these days. Not posting on tht but other boards these days uh. and your other old friend Wag from the Millwall board has even been trying to make contact with you. Teutonic you certainly seem to have an eye for the big dippers -see your into IQE. Was recommended to buy that about a year and a half ago and it did do well but is back at around that level now. Good entry point then again there do you think. ATB

26 -27 becoming ever so predictable here now and even I'm starting to read it like a book. Drop it down to the level of the Director buys a few months ago and I'll consider buying some. Even better drop it down to the level Henderson's paid in January and I'll buy the company unless, of course, I have a takeover battle on my hands with Hersheys.

You are preaching to the converted about how company fortunes and share prices can alter in the blink of an eye. Look at pfd's 5 fold plus rise since November. Unfortunately, it's not me who needs convincing but lots of other folk who are sceptical about these things. ATB

Would love to see Thorntons hit the 40s but the current share price is 27.85 and I am very conscious of the fact that there will be people out their who bought in the thirties recently will be glad to see a return to that level first. GLA

I was having a quick read through recent company RNSes checking out the Henderson's holding here. When you say this year has been completely different weather? wise, I think it's worth remembering that it was the combination of the trading updates issued by the company on 21st December 2011 and 12th January 2012 that resulted in the share price plummeting as far as it did. Like you or somebody else pointed out the cocoa and sugar prices have been falling so that's a definite plus right at the moment. Good luck.

Teutonic can I ask for a bit of clarification from you on two points in your post. "20 stores closed - 30 more to go" I thought Thorntons had decided to close 180 shops over a 3 year period. 2 of the stores closed to date happen to be the 2 most local to me viz. Kilmarnock and Irvine so, despite all my purchases, it wasn't enough. For me that means that to shop in a Thorntons branch, it is becoming increasingly difficult regardless of the weather conditions. Sure I can go to a supermarket but there are so many Thorntons lines I wont find in there like the various flavoured tinned hot chocolates. Thorntons need to make more of an effort to get the supermrkets to stock more lines and not just the big boxes and millionaire's shortbread. I could shop on-line but there would be a postage charge and I'm not keen on ordering food, especially chocolate, on-line or any products really if I can avoid it. On-line don't accept shareholder discount vouchers. One Christmas, my neighbour dumped several coffee, cafetieres, port and choc gifts for young relatives from debs on my doorstep in the pouring rain and a brother of mine once left Easter eggs on my doorstep in the blazing sunshine. That said, I have been fairly satisfied with my on-line purchases from Thorntons to date - a choc hamper in nice organza wrap and the £100 limited edition wooden box of centenary specials crafted by the Master Choclatier - though the centenary Christmas tree baubles for a new mum in my family etc. arrived a little bashed but were replaced. The other point is that you were saying was that Hendersons Global had been increasing their holding over the last month - currently today at 9.91%. I would be most obliged if you could clarify that point for me. An RNS was issued on 16th January saying that Hendersons had taken a 10% plus stake here. Are you saying that Hendersons have doubled that stake over the last month. I can't find any very recent RNSes.

Thanks for your link about how the weather has an effect on retail sales. Nick Bubb the retail analyst though wouldn't necessarily agree with that hypothesis citing companies like John Lewis having a good Christmas despite the severe weather conditions in the winter of 2010/2011. He put that down to them selling stuff people wanted and at the right price. Couldn't have told you what Thorntons put in their vanilla ice cream essence or pods but it does taste quite good.

For anybody who was following Thorntons last year - the bad winter in 2010/2011 was thought to have adversely affected sales as people weren't thought to be able to get out to the shops (though I could in the north of the country) and deliveries weren't said to be getting through. Then poor Easter egg sales were blamed on a warm Easter. I think investors are starting to ignore retailers blaming things on the weather. We even had the mighty M & S use the excuse yesterday that a touch of snow in February had taken them unawares on the knitwear stock front! Really what things will boil down to is whether enough people in a recession saw fit to turn down the offer of a buy one get one free Cadbury's eggs in the supermarkets at very keen even loss making prices and opt to pay significantly more for Thorntons based on taste etc. though most kids I know seem to prefer the slightly sweeter Cadbury taste. I can see ice cream and chilled stawberries though in choc sauce being a year round winner for Thorntons in these steaming hot indoor malls which is where their branches are now increasingly being based with the closure of high street branches. Let's hope with this vanilla pod shortage, people like other flavours of ice cream.

It is good to see a range of viewpoints being expressed on this bb but range is certainly the operative word. There's posters hinting that this will be a takeover target, other posters hinting that thorntons itself will recover and be a strong company in the future and a few sceptics thrown in too for good measure. I suppose the fact that there are so many very different views being expressed just now is making me just a little hesitant about throwing too much money in here at present. I'm not sure I'm totally convinced right at the moment because the divi (the last one just being just a token sum) has just been axed and there is talk of it being reinstated already. I'm not sure that a company can close as many as 180 stores and still be a retail force though I appreciate that they are also a manufacturer. Please don't get me wrong, I am a strong supporter of this company and even visited a franchise branch within Birthdays in Larne when I was on holiday recently but all this talk about raw materials on here as well is making me wonder. I had a milk chocolate Easter egg this year that I wasn't too keen on the taste of - have the ingredients been changed I wonder or is it my tastebuds. Still love their white choc eggs. I suppose what I am really saying is that if nighthawk (a top recommended lse poster) can get sisil to give the go ahead to make this really sizzle after the forthcoming update then I'll be convinced but still a little nervous given past experiences here and who can blame me for that.

I was originally in just over two years ago at something like £1.22 or £1.23 but mercifully only a small amount or I would have had a bigger averaging down task on my hands than I had at hmv bought a month later at 82.4p or something. My first averaging down at tht was in August or thereabouts at 48 and I went for it big at 10p after a chat with some other lse posters who are or were in here but who don't post on this bb. I've had more trading opportunities with this since January than in the 22 months that went before. Have a sell order in for my Sxx at 22.50 and if that triggers during my holidays, I'll add a wee bit to SCLP which Lucinda/Shri9 tipped the hmvers off about. Good luck for next week.

Yanar's post this week said that Hershey was looking at acquisitions in the UK chocolate market but the only link I could find was talking about acquisitions in the international chocolate market. Then there was that good post from Woodlands saying Kinnerton would come without a retail estate. Got to think that if anybody was interested in Thorntons they would have swooped when the 10p share price happened. Hmm I guess the hesitancy here is that there were profit warnings at Christmas time that took the share price down to 10p - overdone? So a fall in cocoa prices puts how much onto the share price in a few short months? Even if the divi gets restored here, that 10p malarkey and the ups and downs which followed will have given some buyers and sellers the jitters here permanently. Vanilla pod shortage - are they used in all flavours of ice cream I wonder. Interesting one though this share price not the ice cream. ATB

Why not hold until this takeover comes about

Go Nipper get at the Lardies - HMV is using its Easter marketing campaign to encourage people not to buy chocolate Easter eggs but to spend money on CDs, DVDs and games instead. And before anybody asks no I'm not shorting this. I am a shareholder but no ramper of both companies http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/news/hmv-launches-multiplatform-easter-campaign/4001051.article Some lovely grannies buy the kids both eggs, clothes and CDs DVDs Happy Easter to you all

I was just commenting today on a hmv forum how well Henderson's did here up 200% from January and they are recentish institutional investors at hmv too. Must check Tht iii board as there was a poster, Pieman, on there had sent a suggestion to Thorntons about forging links with Moonpig re. cards and chocs on-line. He hasn't had a reply and I have contacted investor relations twice this year about two matters by email and got no acknowledgements. One related to clarification of the Henderson's holding RNS which I got over the 'phone within minutes. hmv investor relations always respond very promptly and thoroughly when I email them. Shares in football clubs. Netley lost some cash at Celtic. More a heart than head thing. Speak after the hols.

Bonz you better think about averaging down on that £100 pound holding here from nineteen canteen in case Hershey only offer you £25.

http://www.confectionerynews.com/Financial/Hershey-outlook-stable-for-2012-with-international-expansion-afoot-says-rating-agency Credit agency Standard and Poor say "The company is focused on Geographical expansion. We expect any acquisitions to be small, tuck-in businesses funded through cash flow. We believe such acquisition may occur in international markets." I could be wrong but I don't think Thorntons fits that bill.

As cocoa price falls Ice cream prices to soar during summer as world faces vanilla pod shortage Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2124374/Ice-cream-prices-soar-time-summer-world-faces-vanilla-shortage.html#ixzz1r1C1vcIB

Are you new to investing then or just new to posting? A group of posters on the various hmv fora were recommending SCLP (up just over 3% at the mo today and certainly does worthy work) and inanaco is there to. Has done well over the past few months but not as well as hmv, pfd, tcg and dare I say it even thorntons. Think I'll leave a few in here just in case the takeover does come to fruition. I'll leave you professional chaps and chapesses to chat away here. What really need is a few expert pumpers on here. Chow

Any links re. the takeover speculation. I can't find anything on it.

Have had absolutely no problems getting buy quotations here from my broker this morning. Makes you wonder if a takeover was on the cards why predators wouldn't have swooped when the share price was at 10p in January - then again it was only at that level for a very short time wasn't it and for why? Still sat in the teens and 20s and no takeover move so why in the thirties. What was all that stuff on here too about the divis being reinstated before the payment date for the axed interim had even elapsed. Let's keep it real and keep Britain beautiful.