Member Info for RogueRiver

I got out of B&M when it was still above 600p, after I noticed their tinned custard was more expensive than it was at M&S Food next door (it's all made by Ambrosia). It might be a trivial thing, but to me it was an indication that B&M had lost its edge on the only thing it could claim to be good at (i.e. undercutting the competition).

I remember Debenhams, Flybe, Sirius Minerals and quite a few others, all worth zero now.

I wouldn't touch it (again) with a bargepole, at any price. It is one of the most ineptly managed companies in the FTSE All-Share. The fact it has lost almost 90% of its market cap in the last 5 years tells you all you need to know.

Wimps, bullish? That'll be the day. Whatever the sector might be doing, Wimps is always left in the dumps. The market hates it, plain and simple.

Amid the irrelevant ramblings on here, thank you for something pertinent to Lloyds Banking Group.

The market has never needed a reason for hating Wimps - it just does.

A prospective dividend yield of 3.2% is underwhelming, especially for a UK financial. You can get an extra 1% in a bog standard savings account (without the volatility and risk).

@Theitch

It's probably no consolation, but you are not alone. I bought in during Covid. National Express (as it then was) was one of my Covid 'recovery buys' at 290p. As they continued to dive, I just stuck them on the back burner. Either they would sink or swim. The rest, of course, is history. Thankfully, my other Covid buys did swim rather than sink.

I am a serial bank switcher. I tend to stay with one bank for a year then switch. I have been very impressed with Lloyds though and will probably stick around with them for the foreseeable future.

(I see that you still have to wade through pages of irrelevant chat in the Lloyds BB before you can find anything to do with Lloyds Banking Group.)

The only positive news the CEO could give now is that he and the BOD were planning to take a short bus ride off a long cliff.

Why is anyone surprised? The company has been a basket case for several years now. They will probably end up merged (at a huge discount) or bankrupt. I was never tempted to throw good money after bad, which is just as well. This bus crash of a company is just a blip on my balance sheet now.

Good luck. I too am down on my original investment, even if I include 6 years of dividend reinvestments. I certainly won't be throwing good money after bad. Wimps have been on a downward trend for the last 10 years. They are still bumping along at Covid crisis levels, two years after the Covid crisis ended. There's nothing much wrong with the company, but it's a dud of a holding (and is obviously hated by the market) I'm afraid.

I don't think it is just political matters that may be putting people off travelling to the U.S. It is also very expensive compared to recent history. Up until 2018, I went to NYC annually in the winter. I could get flights and a 5-star Midtown hotel (Intercontinental Barclay or Waldorf) for 6 nights for around £1500 through BA Holidays. (For the last 6 years I was unable to travel, as I was caring for my dad.) The same holiday these days costs around £2500. That's a 67% increase over 6 years. (U.S. inflation over the same period has increased by 27% and U.K. inflation by 28%.) I simply won't be returning at these prices and I'm sure I'm not alone. There may have been a spike in travel to the U.S. post-Covid, when people were desperate to get away again, but they are probably coming back down to earth now and many may not be prepared to pay through the nose.

Yeah, dream on. Except for a brief rally in early 2020, the TW SP has been going nowhere (and more usually, falling) for a decade now. Why should we believe it is suddenly going to see a renaissance anytime soon?

My average is 200p (another one that just kept falling after I bought in). Following today's jump (and the dividend reinvestments) I'm up. Let's hope this is the start of a recovery for the SP.

I opened my position in July 2021 at 660p, which wasn't particularly high at the time, given that it had been hovering between 700-800p for about a year prior to then. It has fallen ever since. If I include the dividend reinvestments, I'm modestly up after today's rally, but this has been an underwhelming holding for me. Hopefully these results will mark a revival of fortunes.

@FT

Well, I have been giving MCG the benefit of the doubt ever since I bought in as a 'recovery' buy, during Covid. All of my other Covid recovery buys have turned out to be just that - double or triple baggers. I think MCG are going nowhere, except further down the pan, though I'll be happy to be proved wrong.

@Smokeytime

How right you are. This bus wreck of a company has fallen by 83.5% in the last 5 years, while a similar company, First Group, has gained by 71%. It is no good people trying to blame Covid or any other macroeconomic factors. This is simply a very badly run company and it has been for years.

"Something definitely is not right here." Ya think? The company is a shizshow and has been for several years now. The best thing the BOD could do is take a short bus ride off a long cliff.

@bubbleshoot. Surely 'when consumers are being squeezed' is precisely when a retailer like B&M should be drawing in more customers and gaining market share. I think B&M's current problems have less to do with the economy and more to do with their competition having gained an edge.