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Welcome aboard. Looks like it was a good time to jump in this morning. I think this is a safe reliable stock. The last set of results were solid and once pubs, bars and restaurants start to re-open, we should see a nice bounce.

A good couple of days for Barclays bouncing strongly following the low on Thursday. Genuine question - when banking is up, why does the Barclays stock appear to be performing better than other big banks such as HSBC, Lloyds, RBS, Standard Chartered etc.

My prediction would be another day or two of decent growth followed by a retrace weather permitting.

Online sales up nigh on 300%, stores potentially about to re-open, recession proof product and stock price near record low. This share looks like it may be primed and ready to go off.

Not sure about the cash pile but I was struck by the strength of the balance sheet and how good the income and earnings growth was when I was researching this company earlier. Net income before tax increased from 936 million to 2,548 million between 2015 and 2019. Their product portfolio also appears well diversified. Assuming they've got enough cash on hand to deal with increased COVID-19 related claims over the next year, it looks like a good value buy at the current price.

Exactly. They're not issuing categoric denials, they're giving politicians answers with ambiguous wording.

From yesterday's Financial Times article.

Asked by analysts last week, if he would consider spinning off the company’s network arm Openreach, Mr Jansen answered “not now”.

Yet in the background BT has held talks in the past three weeks with infrastructure investors who are keen for exposure to Openreach, according to people familiar with the matter.

“It’s got a ‘selling the family silver’ feel to it, but to be fair they will struggle to find the capital to extract the full value of the asset so probably a reasonable option,” said one top-20 investor at the prospect of a partial sale of Openreach.

Simon Lowth, chief financial officer of BT, told analysts on a call on Friday that the timing was not right for an immediate sale of a stake in Openreach but refused to rule out the move.

They haven't categorically stated it will not be sold. They've simply given an open ended answer of "not now" leaving the door wide open to the possibility. They've also not denied that discussions with investors have taken place. The stories that have been running are genuine.

No smoke without fire.

Perhaps they aren't confirming anything because the talks are informal and ongoing. If the story is splashed across the pages of papers like the Financial Times, The Times, The Guardian etc. then it is likely to have been confirmed to them by multiple sources. It could be an unsanctioned leak. What's more significant to me is the fact the directors have suddenly started buying.

Just jumped onboard with £4K @ 108p. I think there was a big sudden sell off because the price dropped 4p from 112p down to 108p in an instant. I think this share is a good buy for the following reasons.

1. Recent strong director buy in. Given that every man and his dog bought in, including even one of the directors wives apparently, this must be a very strong indicator that the future prospects look good.
2. Positive news regarding the possibility of a BT Openreach stake sale. Don't see this being an issue so long as they maintain a controlling stake. Profits will take a hit, but it should help reduce debts and free up cash for investment. Even if the deal doesn't take place, BT is now all over the news, so investors will be taking a close look at the business.
3. The stock currently looks significantly undervalued if you look at the book value of the company and the 52 week high of 212p.
4. This should be a safe stock in the current climate. The recent results were solid and BT are not likely to take a big hit from COVID-19. In fact, it may even work to their advantage as more people take up fibre broadband packages to accommodate working from home.
5. Looks like a sensible medium to long term strategy in terms of rolling FTTP out to 20 million more UK homes. That is a significant part of the population covered. This will potentially put them in a better position to take market share from Virgin and Sky both on broadband and also potentially TV services. I currently live in an area that has Virgin fibre only. I'd certainly consider BT for both broadband and TV services if it was available.

Good luck everyone.

Huge director buys followed a news article stating that BT are in talks to sell a multi billion pound stake in BT Openreach. Isn't that insider trading?

I had a look at Unilever myself and its clearly a high quality company that has been growing at a nice steady rate over the past 20 years. Its also one of the few stocks that are quite well coronavirus protected. By the time I'd noticed it the price was already 4000+ following the 3583 low in March, so it didn't look that cheap. I might have another look though given the companies track record on steady growth.

Sold for 30p at a small monetary loss having come onboard at 42p earlier this week. I can't believe how far this stock has fallen in such a short space of time. As much as I hate to admit it, some of the points raised on here regarding the level of debt and the possibility of a further rights issue have finally swayed me.

I do still think there's a strong possibility that the new management will turn this company around. I think its a great brand and I do genuinely hope this one starts trending up again in the coming days for those here who have got much more substantial holdings. I'm going to sit this one out on the sidelines for a while and wait for things to settle down.

Good luck everyone.

Doubled my holding @ 17.82. Not sure why this has dropped so much. There recent results weren't too bad.

Doubled my holding here today @ 144 p. Good luck everyone.

Doubled my holding here @ 94 p. A few pence more than what I paid last time around, but this stock seems more popular than other banks. Good luck everyone.

Isn't it the case that if the order book is full and the factories are now re-opening then there will be money flowing into the company from fulfilled orders later this year? They just need some cash flow to service the debts in the short term.

Has the call reassured medium to long term investors? It seems to be trending up again.

It said what I was expecting it to say. It's been a bad quarter due to COVID-19 and we're also in the process of restructuring the business for the future. The product line is good and the order books are looking good going forward. We should start to see more money coming in later on this year as things get back up and running.

I would say it didn't tell anyone anything that they didn't already know. Anybodies guess what's going to happen at the opening bell though. Just heard that the GDP figures are in and there has been a record 5.8% contraction in March.

Completely agree with all of the above. Good luck today everyone.

Yeah, I can't stand the guy either to be honest. Probably the best driver on the grid though.