Member Info for Slownsteady

I'm a great admirer of Stockopedia, Gordon. I'm not a subscriber as I'm more of an Ownership sitter on stocks purchased, but can't reccomend it highly enough.
I've tried them on a standard 2 week free trial (they don't seem to mind if you don't subscribe afterwards).... but they are extremely data rich, and their Guru screens are a revelation (I mean different Investing theories).
I would recommend you all to give it a try. You'll be impressed.

Talk about living on the edge, Beach. Good luck, make your Credit Card payoff a top priority.

EeeeaaaHHH... I can hear M'aire whooping it up from where I am.
I know FJG you said some time ago you had got back in. I hope that's the case.

Banbury is about right on the Bond issue. I'm assuming the Investment Bankers have convinced the Management that costs will work out lower, and the repayment of Bank facilities will remove the constraint on paying Dividends.
I'ma little mystified as to the partial Bond redemption. Why not full?

https://www.trustnet.com/news/13263736/uk-travel-stocks-the-definitive-re-opening-buy

"This Saga could have a happy ending"
"No one deserves a holiday more than Britain’s older people after 15 months of risk and anxiety over Covid-19 and separation from friends and family. Bookings for Saga’s cruises and tours bear this out. Cruises are 77 per cent-booked for this year and 48 per cent for 2022-23, while tour bookings are at 60 per cent of the company’s revenue targets for 2021-22.

Despite the delay in the government’s easing of lockdown restrictions this week, Saga’s travel business, which lost 90 per cent of its revenues in the year to the end of January, will restart on June 27. Spirit of Adventure, its new cruise ship, will set sail for the first time on July 26 around the UK "

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/this-saga-could-have-a-happy-ending-wwv02tgv9

Saga's customer base of older people is a growing and wealthy demographic. Ultimately, this should be an attractive group to serve - if Saga can get the offer right. The outlook remains very uncertain and there's no guarantee Saga will succeed, but we're feeling a shade more positive than we did.
Saga key facts
12m forward Price/Earnings ratio: 13.1
Average 12m forward Price/Earnings ratio since listing: 10.4
Prospective dividend yield: 0.0%
All ratios are sourced from Refinitiv. Please remember yields are variable and not a reliable indicator of future income. Keep in mind key figures shouldn't be looked at on their own - it's important to understand the big picture.
REGISTER FOR UPDATES ON SAGA
Full Year Results (07/04/21)
Saga's full year underlying pre-tax profit was £17.1m, down from £109.9m last year. However, including a reduction in the value of Travel assets, that would have been a loss of £61.2m - an improvement on the £300.9m loss recorded last year.
Management's focus remains on cash preservation and debt control, while also making progress in insurance and keeping Travel operations ready to restart. Given the uncertainty, management is not providing more detailed guidance, and there's currently no dividend.
Profit before tax in the Retail Broking division was £75.9m, down from £90.2m last year. The fall was due to Covid-19 disruption, especially in Travel insurance, and the sale of Bennetts - Saga's insurance biking brand. Saga branded policies fell 5.6% to 1.7m and total policies fell 9.4% to 1.9m.
The Insurance Underwriting division saw net earned premiums fall 6.5% to £183.4m. The group's current year combined operating ratio - the percentage of premiums paid out in claims and costs - fell from 103.4% to 91.4%. Once prior year reserve releases are included, the combined ratio fell from 83.0% to 70.8%. Management attributed the improvement to a reduction in driving during the year's lockdowns.
Revenue at the Travel division fell 88.9% to £51.6m and the division made an underlying loss of £78.5m, compared with a profit of £19.8m last year. Saga said it's seen high levels of customer loyalty, with 73% of Cruise advanced receipts being transferred to a future booking and 43% of Tour receipts. Forward bookings are down 52% in Tour Operations and 20% in Cruise.
At year end Saga had £75m in available cash, and access to a further £100m in credit. Excluding the cruise ships, year end net debt stood at £246.9m, down from £361.7m in January 2020. The reduction primarily reflects the group's recent capital raise, cost control efforts and asset sales. Total net debt stood at £760.2m, up £166.9m on last year. Available operating cash flow for the year fell 96.3% to £3.4m.

In a brief trading update Saga said insurance policy sales were down around 2% in the key motor and home markets, though recent improvements mean sales are expected to be flat at the half year. Travel policies are down about 5%. Customer retention was 80% and margins per policy were in line with last year at £74 per policy.
The Insurance Underwriting division is recording fewer motor claims, which ought to boost the group's current year loss ratio by around 5 percentage points. Saga is also appointing Steve Kingshott as Insurance CEO, who will be joining from Tesco in the Autumn.
The Travel division's monthly cash burn came in at the lower end of the £7m-£9m guidance range in the four months ending 31 May. Cruising will resume on 27 June, and demand has been "outstanding" with 73% of cancelled bookings retained.
Saga has £78m in available cash and £100m in undrawn credit. Net debt (excluding ship debt) currently stands at £246m, or 2.9 times cash profits (EBITDA).
The shares fell 0.6% following the announcement.
Our view
Coronavirus has been a near existential crisis for Saga's Travel division. And while the plan is to start cruising again soon, the future is still very uncertain. That's left the group relying on its insurance operations and available cash and credit to keep going.
To ease cash flow pressure Saga has raised £150m in fresh capital, mostly from former CEO Sir Roger De Haan who has returned to the board. The new money is being used to support the group's recovery strategy and pay down debt.
Management has made a hard headed appraisal of Saga's failings over the last few years, and announced a new five part strategy to turn things around.
The group will:
Simplify its management structure and reduce headcount by around 23% in the longer term.
Focus more on digital and data capabilities to better identify customer needs, and refresh the brand with a new marketing campaign in 2021.
Optimise and invest in the core Insurance and Travel divisions.
Lower costs across the business.
Pay down debt.
We like management's honesty in assessing what went wrong before, and the new capital has significantly alleviated pressure on the balance sheet. It's reassuring to see a realistic plan in place, but the group still faces an uphill battle.
Personal insurance is a tough market to be in, and increased price transparency and ease of switching has made it increasingly difficult to stand out. We've worried for some time that Saga's brand doesn't resonate with the younger end of its 'over 50s' customer base, and the damage to the cruise division may make this worse.
The Travel division is currently burning cash, but should return to profitability once customers feel confident enough to travel again. The loyalty shown by current customers and the group's forward booking position are reasonably encouraging, but we'll have to wait and see how quickly things can get going again.

Now that's what I call long term..... the BAT boss has promised - "carbon neutrality across our own operations by 20303, which I am confident in delivering."
I should bl00dy hope so. :-D

Good day for you yesterday, M'naire? You must have "made" about £25k?

Banbury, an uncrossing trade in the UK is merely a start and end of day price fixing mechanism on SETS. (In exceptionally volatile circumstances it can be done during the day). Basically, all the buy orders are matched up against all the sell orders. The price at which the greatest number of buys and sells match up is the UT price.

It's not any indication of demand or selling pressure. I used to be a fund manager and stockbroker so had to take all the Securities exams. The exams pretty detailed on the nuts and bolts (Settlement, ex-div, insider trading, all that kind o stuff).

Banbury... Curley was cerainly a rogue. There's a famous clip of him coming out of the weighing room with guns blazin' when John Mccririck suggested a horse of his should be looked at by the Stewards. Have a google.

In fact didn't it go down to 9p-ish old money? That's about 75p to 375p.... 400%
Still waiting though for that super contago candlesticks white dancing men double bottom gapless 800p.

A positive Motley Fool note on Saga came across on my smartphone. I'm not smart enough to know how to forward it on to here. I would imagine you can google it if interested.

Personally, I take MF writeups with a very large pinch of salt. They're the views of individual contributors.

Och Rogue, Nuffink personal, I'm sure. The Commissariat up Norf have banned any form of humour - a sure sign of "Running Dog" Capitalist decadence.
So someone (I'll give you one guess who) reported it to the Stasi. Check your phone it's not bugged. :-)

You obviously don't read Tintin comics... favourite in childhood of Boris. His family took him a pile to read when he was recovering from Covid ICU. Don't you love it?

thomson, I meant after the vaccination program is completed. At the next reshuffle, which I'm guessing may be sometime next year?
By the way, where's thompson?

Nadim Zawahi has been the hidden jewel in the Crown. Since he came on board the Vaccination program has gone like clockwork. And let's face it.. it's been a remarkable achievement. If he doesn't get promoted at the next reshuffle it'll be a travesty. They could do worse than handing the pompous little Hanc--k his marching orders.
The best of Boris' Cabinet, apart from the man himself, are 'ethnic minority'... Rishi, Kwasi Kwarteng, and Zawahi. Hats orf to Boris for recognising talent and promoting it.

End of year sp? There are two types if Investors... those who don't know. And those who don't know that they don't know....
Anything else is licking a finger and sticking it in the air.

I think you may multiply by approximately 8 times old price...