Member Info for Richard365054

5.83 million PPI claims were made in 2019. Lloyds apparently receive 40% of these which translates to 2.33 million. They stated at the AGM that they have settled 80% and of the remaining 90% are effectively bogus. That means the financial liability for the remaining at £2,500 for each upheld claim is £120 million. Add the balance to the "suspended" dividend and the suspended share buyback and Lloyds are sitting on £3.05 Billion of shareholders capital. That translates to 4.35p per share.

Well Pattsv, it appears your opinion matters and not the fact of declining sales. If the product doesn't sell there is no company.

I think it was the 30th when it was due. The AGM was for members to approve it.

Pattsy, but it doesn't sell. Can't you understand that point or do you and your friends want to continue to ignore the obvious. I love the brand but the car is not right. The first vantage sold shedloads and this isn't.

Pattsv, Styling too aggressive for universal acclaim - that was Autocar's comment. Many of you have such thin skins. You can't take an alternative view without resorting to rudeness. If the reports were all glowing, why have they not translated into sales. It's self evident why not.

Interestingly, my last post was all about the opinions of a very dedicated Aston owner, someone in the top percentage of those who had bought the brand for three decades. I would say he had more insight on what had gone wrong than anyone who posts on here, as he's had first hand and continual experience of the brand as it has evolved. He gave an opinion on the new Vantage and it's lack of sales. Whatever else you choose to believe, the new Vantage has been a big disappointment.

I've also asked that question. There's something coming up at 12 noon but I can't find details. I thought there was going to be a closed webcast.

I found an interesting report from an Aston owner who had had nine cars in 30 years. He was referring to the original Vantage and what gave it it's essential uniqueness. He said it was a handsome car, a car that people admired for being unmistakably British. The replacement Vantage was a cobbled get together of styles, from an unattractive cat fish front end to sourced Mercedes parts and definitely second tier infotainment from the German parts bin. The interior switchgear and layout just did not match the car's rivals. The car was also expensive, much more so than the replaced Vantage and in the first eight months of 2019 in Europe only managed half the sales that the 911 achieved in the single month of September. Dealers were full of stock and they just were not selling.
Even Andy Palmer stated sales of the new Vantage were disappointing, yet the reason was self evident from day one. From an owner that has had more new Astons than a handful of people, it should make sober reading.
The owner also said that after sales does not match what it used to be. The dealers will argue the points whereas in the past they would attend to the issues. Always interesting to read an owner's perspective who has ordered many new cars from the marque.

Hippo, when I read people resorting to rudeness I just laugh as it says everything about them. And I have laughed loud and long. People who quote shares bought and cars ordered to complete strangers are pure posers.
I actually adore Aston and even have brochures and leather swatches for the DB6 and DBS. I don't criticise them lightly or what the management have done, but goodness, there are some glaring mistakes that I won't ignore.
Filling dealer showrooms and heavily discounting was a mad approach and did nothing for residuals. DB11s have the biggest discount of any car in North America and the dealerships are full of the new Vantage. AML got the styling of the new Vantage wrong and it's taken them over 2 years to remedy it. They lost sight of a design feature that characterised the brand. Before the summer of last year sales in the UK were down 22% and in Europe down 28%. The new cars were not selling and it's taken us to where we are today.
My comment about the V6 is quite clear that it won't impact on the current situation. The Valhallah and Vanquish are not this year's cars and the focus has to be on surviving with the current car line up plus the DBX. Someone mystically quoted 14,000 orders for the new model and the order book before the pandemic was 2,500. Who knows how many have been cancelled and ordered since.
The comment that it's common to discount cars at year's end may be true for volume manufacturers, but it's not for high end manufacturers. All that does is depress second hand prices and upset customers. Have you ever heard of massive discounts on a Ferrari or Porsche. They make to order, something AML should have been doing and supporting buyers with higher residuals. Keeping a buyer is every bit as important as finding one.
Laurence Stroll would wish he had hindsight, but I do wonder what type of shares he has. I also reiterate once again that the intellectual value of the brand is considerably higher than it's current valuation. If Aston flops he still has possession of an extremely valuable brand name.

I love the response when people don't like an alternative opinion. Says everything.

Blinkered would summarise your comment. Discounting so heavily indicates a particular problem with the cars. Plus why on earth did Management allow the problem to manifest itself. I love the brand but oh goodness, there have been some bad decisions. Take a look at Ferrari and compare their approach and how they sell their brand. Quoting Vanquish and Valhallah doesn't help the short or medium term since the engine is purely at a development stage.

Rather confirms that the buyers are not there if they're having to discount so heavily. Irrespective of whether it's first quarter or full year, the discount is huge. Bear in mind a Vantage, the cheapest model is around £124,000 list, ignoring the DB11 and DBS list prices. AML were just haemorrhaging and that should raise concerns. So many of you on here don't like facts pointed out, but you continue to believe your own hype. Might be worth considering just what sort of shares Stroll bought and what the intellectual value of the brand is. By the way, DBX orders before the pandemic were 2,500, not 14,000.

There was a study done a couple of years ago that each new Ferrari sold yielded a profit of $80,000 for the company. When you look at AMR figures the average reported new car price last year was £98,000. Terrible figures and a real problem of over supply damaging the brand.

Good luck at clutching at straws whiteghost. Aston were in poor shape before the pandemic and now they are teetering on a precipice. The DBX was to be their saviour and production has only just started. It has not been revealed how many orders have been cancelled due to the pandemic, but it will not be insignificant. I repeat again, the next quarter and the one after will be disastrous and without a bigger cash pile Aston will not be around. In addition, their margins are non existant and you can't run a company like this without investing for the future. There is no money to invest and what there is for cash flow is running out.

Considering the length of the shutdown and DBX production only just starting, the survival of this company rests on a wing and a prayer. Next quarter results will be dismal and current cash reserves will not tide it over. Aston's problem child was the new Vantage - it's styling was questionable and did not arouse passion. It's somewhat rectified it now on the Volante but it needs to shift numbers and until the pandemic is beaten, Aston's troubles will remain. It desperately needs DBX volume to prop up the company and it will be twelve months, if the company can survive, before the picture is known.
Whatever else about Ferrari, their designs generally stir the heart and their profit margins are huge. Aston really needs to focus on styling and not repeat the disaster of the new Vantage. Why Aston dropped their most recognisable and beautiful feature is known only to them. They've sort of seen sense recently, but it took too long.

I love the humour people show with names for animals. The cat centre I go to had a one eyed stray, lovely animal and it was christened "popeye".

Reader61, it's an unsurprising fact that PRA final salary pensions, as well as probably BoE pensions, are non contributory. Irrespective of share prices and or cancelled dividends, the pension is guaranteed. If the money is not there to pay the recipients then taxation of one form or another will be increased - meaning the private sector picks up the bill once again. We are ruled by individuals that never have to give a thought to whether their income is protected in retirement. Years of non existent interest on savings means more and more people depend upon drawdown and dividends from their pensions. The high and mighty cannot comprehend this and it's high time that the public sector picked up more of their own Bill's.

The principal reason Aston have struggled, aside from the impact of the Corona virus, is that the new Vantage did not deliver the expected sales and that was mainly down to styling. The rear and most of the side view is beautiful. The front end and headlights are bland and don't tempt the senses. For some reason the most beautiful of Aston assets, the horizontal grille, was binned. They have finally addressed this on the Volante, but it took too long. The headlights have also given a poor impression - shapeless, small and not deserving on a high end sports car. Buyers expect to be wowed and the front view of the Vantage never did this. The side vent behind the front wheel also didn't balance with the rest of the design. An indent should have continued into the door skin rather than just ending abruptly.

Ferraris sell as much as anything on styling. They grip the heart and visually appeal to the senses. Aston have followed a slightly odd design route for a few years. The DB10 never grabbed me nor the new Vantage. The restyling has pretty well addressed this now, but it took too long. The previous Vantage was gorgeous, now the new one has finally become what it should have been originally.

By all accounts the DBX is a beautiful car and first reports support this. It deserves to turn round Aston Martin - just dreadfully bad timing with the pandemic. The road tests I have seen praise it to the heavens, and handsome veering on beautiful it certainly is. Certainly knocks the Bentayga and Cullinan into the weeds, both quite ugly cars.

Good luck getting a response. The letter I posted yesterday from AHO was a standard reply and ignored many of the questions and issues I had asked. It's too easy for people to ignore emails and say they probably went in the Spam file and had been deleted.
I wrote a letter to 4 of the big dailies yesterday. But I'm getting arm ache now as it brings the total to 18 since AHO agreed to cancel the dividend.

Sadly no explanation for not using the term suspended in connection with the dividend.
No response with regard to why the dividend could not have been reduced or the suspended buy-back used instead.
No response to loaning the amount of the dividend to shareholders and redeeming the loan in the future when the dividend is paid.
just a standard letter to those who complain.