Member Info for Skindle

It does. The same thing occurred two years ago just prior to Sports Direct's original purchase. The price was marked down for several days to £1.60 on very small volume. I'm not saying the same thing will happen again but there are similarities.

Thanks for the reassurance Mikenicholas, much needed after that week. While there are two certified lunatics with their fingers hovering over their respective red buttons, it is difficult to identify this moment as a buying opportunity. Hopefully in the not too distant future this will become apparent.

....and the talk of gin and swimming pools has disappeared. We are now back below the opening price on the 1st August. I don't blame the sellers, who knows where this diminution will end. I am long on this share and feel very frustrated that the uplift in share price which reflected the hard work that Mr East and his team had put in appears to be coming undone through no fault of their own. At least Berenberg reiterated its hold recommendation while raising its target price to £9.90 yesterday.

It's not our debt that's the burden, it's our board of directors ! To remain silent while the share price slides is totally unacceptable. These people are supposed to be protecting the share price for its shareholders. I thought we were in a bad place with the previous incumbents but this lot are beyond dreadful. The least they could do is issue a statement outlining trading for the first quarter.

Thank you Arsenal17, as a matter of interest how do you see progress from here ?

I just don't understand what one broker sees in a set of accounts that another doesn't. Currently a couple of brokers are targeting a further 20% rise in the share price while a couple of others are suggesting a halving of the price. This enormous discrepancy in target price leads me to believe that none of them really knows one way or another and their opinions should be dismissed as mere guesswork.

The diminution continues. That is now twelve pence or six per cent since I sold a tranche on the 5th July. The frustrating point here is that the board already know how well (or badly) they have performed during the first three months, yet they choose not to enlighten shareholders or the market of progress, leading to an inevitable reduction in share price value. For the love of God Mr Maudsley, please release something to support the share price. You are in serious danger of developing a reputation below that of your previous incumbents.

I think our board should be ashamed that it takes them two months to update its shareholders as to progress during the most recent quarter. Our first quarter update is due at the end of August and our half year results this year will no doubt be released as late as the first week of December. Compare this to the multi billion pound operation that is Rolls Royce who released their half year results yesterday to much acclaim just over four weeks after the end of the trading period. In Warren East though they have a genuine turnaround specialist as opposed to the part time shareholder milking fat cats that we have endured in the recent past. In failing to improve upon the length of time between period end and trading update Mr Maudsley is missing a glaring opportunity to prove to his shareholders that he is genuinely trying to improve the fundamental efficiency of the business.

Well, what a disappointing day after the excitement of yesterday. We gave up nearly forty five per cent of the gains of yesterday. I was really hoping that we would break through £10 and hold above this level today but instead something has thrown us into reverse gear. I was expecting some profit taking early on but as the day progressed the price continued to slide. Having read the half year report thoroughly I could see no reason why the share price should not continue to climb. I shall write today off as the hangover after the party.

Peter Stephens of Motley Fool who owns shares in Findel has just written another very encouraging article yesterday. Some might say he is talking the price up as he is a holder but I like to think that these people remain impartial and only make honest recommendations. Only time will tell.

Now owned by our nine main shareholders. That only leaves 414,924 with the likes of us. I guess that is one way of preventing a major sell off by private shareholders when bad news is released. At 177 pence I could see the price slipping back to 150 pence before Schroders and Toscafund yet again stepped in to take up the slack. Without the support of these funds who knows where we might be now. I still can't feel positive until I see some new faces as shareholders. With the board helping themselves to more nil cost options this week that won't help to encourage other institutions to invest. Many thanks again LS1 for your recent post. I know for certain that our posts are read by the board, the questions raised in that post must make the board feel extremely uncomfortable.

My thanks as ever LS1. still negative in the main but clearly someone can see some upside judging by the transactions of today. With no news due before the end of August I am not excited by today's transactions.

Edison have historically posted positive forecasts of Findel and this latest one is no different. Edison suggest that a line has been drawn under legacy issues and raised its price target from 236 pence to 324 pence and a forward P/E ratio of 7.2 times. As the report is so positive I think it fair to assume that Findel paid Edison to carry out this research. Is 324 pence a share achievable ? Possibly, but not for a year at least in my opinion. Lspoon1, can I ask for your opinion please on this report ?

Following the latest round of buying and selling, our nine major shareholders now own 98.38% of the business between them, leaving 1,452,234 shares in the hands of private shareholders. If ever a company needed divine intervention, it must be this outfit. Maybe our new permanent FD can bring renewed hope, after all nothing else has. I credited Mr Ashley with a nose for shrewd investments, I think he might have misjudged this one ! On reflection I wish I had nominated Lspoon1 as our new chief executive.

Another 500,000 sold Columbo at £1.90. No chance of a share price rise while we have an active seller. And still our chief executive says nothing. Much of what Lspoon 1 said was the boiled down truth. These posts must have made our board of directors feel particularly uncomfortable. Our self confessed overweight Yorkshireman has a huge task ahead of him to pull this one around. One of our major shareholders clearly feels the same. An unexpected trading update in the short term might just help to turn negative thoughts positive.

Someone sold and someone bought Columbo, the question is which parties are involved. My guess would be that Aberforth are the sellers and Toscafund are the buyers but we will no doubt find out tomorrow as 2,000,000 shares represents 2.31% of the total shares.

They don't have much choice Columbo. Toscafund are currently the only buyers in the market, without them the price would be in free fall. Until Mr Maudsley does something positive the buyers are going to go elsewhere. Why he has to wait until the AGM at the end of August for a first quarter trading update is beyond me, that is five months into the new financial year !

They did Columbo because Aberforth and Partners reduced their position by 1.35% so it must be assumed that Toscafund bought from Aberforth.

You have enlightened me with the grubby underbelly of this business and made me realise the limited upside. I have therefore just closed a large proportion of my long positions. I am still invested but much reduced from fifteen minutes ago. I will continue to post as before.

There is clearly no plan to dispose of Findel Education which I am extremely disappointed about. Speaking hypothetically however, where would we be now without that division as part of our business ? Our revenue of course would drop by £91m but there would be little impact on our operating profit and of course our margin would rise significantly. This model would then fit with your description of a growth business with improving revenue, margin and profit. Much of the exceptional items in our recent results came from Education. I am certain we would not now be looking at a sub 200 pence share price had Education been sold. Which begs the question why haven't the three big shareholders forced the sale of Education on the board as Freddy George of Cantor Fitzgerald suggested two years ago ?