Member Info for TerryM1

Sorry to drag this back to the subject of tax for those not interested but I thought people should know about the latest shenanigans with Rachel Reeves

"HMRC has confirmed a 22% tax charge on cash interest held in stocks and shares ISAs, effective from April 2027, to prevent savers from exploiting loopholes to bypass new lower cash ISA limits. The annual cash ISA allowance for those under 65 will be reduced from £20,000 to £12,000, while the limit for stocks and shares, Lifetime, and innovative finance ISAs remains at £20,000.

To enforce these changes, transfers from non-cash ISAs to cash ISAs will be permanently banned, though reverse transfers remain allowed. Additionally, non-cash ISAs cannot be fully invested in money market funds, with 100% allocation classified as a non-qualifying investment. Individuals turning 65 will retain the full £20,000 cash ISA allowance from the tax year in which they reach that age. The Treasury also launched a consultation on a new first-time buyer ISA with no upper age limit to replace the existing Lifetime ISA."

This is pure vindictive behaviour, it is a another tax grab to get as mush as possible of peoples hard earn cash, may work on paper for OBR like mansion tax. However in the real world it will get very little additional tax as more savvy investors will avoid this by buying high yielding shares REITs, ITs etc and the less informed investors just get caught out. I would guess buying CSH2 will exempt you from this as the way it is structured there has been no interest income for years as income comes from Swaps Repos. CSH2 is in units of around £1,100 but for 212 where I keep spare ISA cash while waiting to trade I can buy fractions.

For those wishing to reduce risk when 65 or over they will not be able to convert their Stocks and Shares ISA to Cash ISA even though they are not caught up in the reduced ISA cash allowance so as always hit the old for no good reason, add in "first-time buyer ISA with no upper age limit", what use is that to a pensioner.

You have got to wonder if they reduced the Cash ISA limit in order to have an excuses to hit people with more taxes. It has also got to be remembered that ISAs are not totally tax free since Gordon Brown removed ACT so in effect charging you Corporation tax on your dividends in ISAs and Pensions which is what stopped private companies from having final salary pension schemes (as I mentioned before), of course as always Government workers are exempt as virtually of of them vote Labour.

If this was a tax avoidance measure it would only be on contributions above £12,000pa, many people who put less that £12,000pa in a Stocks and Shares ISA will be caught. Therefore it as I said is a pure vindictive cash grab.

Energean CEO's vehicle buys GBP340,500 worth shares

https://www.marketscreener.com/news/energean-ceo-s-vehicle-buys-gbp340-500-worth-shares-ce7f5cd3d18efe2c

Got them for £6.8110, wish I could call the bottom like that.

Upomega

I tend to agree but it all depends on which side of Burham we get, please will the real Andy Burnham stand up so industry can plan in the UK, is he for reindustrialise, will he keep the EPL the same and green levies and puts Ed Milibrain in No 11, re-join the EU or not, more hard line socialism or pragmatism, curb on benefits or more spending, he does not care about the bond markets, he cares about the bond markets. He has said all of these statements and more, now we are stuck with many months with the handover and him making up his mind, negotiating with the backbenchers before we find out and until then the country is struck in limbo just like we have been for quite a while as Starmer spent he time fighting to hang and trying without success to govern as being stopped by his back benchers.

"I just wish that the current pm together with the chancellor had not bowed to the cronie left"

I also wish the last PM, Sunak had not bowed to the crony left and introduced the EPL and his chancellor increased it. Now they have gone back on it and won in Aberdeen, of all people they should have remembered this, are we living in a mad house.

Upomega

Total agree, I have been saying this all along, get out of the UK when you can, like most other O&G companies along with companies in other sectors. The UK has become business belligerent with the most venom reserved for O&G. Yesterday on the TV I heard a leftie say no point in taking more oil as it has to go overseas for refining, well who caused all the refineries to shut down. It has just been said SQZ is profitable in the UK, yes it is between breakdowns but with Red Ed heading for No 11 will this still be the case, also it has to be remembered the SP of SQZ and Kistos before EPL, if they had moved out then I am sure SPs would be a lot higher. The truth is the UK has become very unstable for Businesses (and unstable in general with the current government) especially O&G, there is always the prospect of more tax including a change to the way allowances are handled, this has been talked about by Labour, also more regulation around what can be done, along with the all the bad info comments coming from the left on O&G. In short very few companies want to or are putting investments in O&G in the UK, most moving out for the very good reason you are one tax change or regulation from turning your profits into losses and who in there right mind would put their money here.

For GG and others who have said I should just sell out given my opinion of way DEC is run I say trading has cut my losses by quite a lot so for me a good option, saying that I also trade other shares from time to time on holdings I am in profit. The one thing GG and other don’t seem to understand is it does not matter what you think of the company, you are there to make money. As was said in the trading club, it does not matter what you think, it is what they think that counts.

I guess I should say not advice but some ideas for you, also try not to get emotional (easy to say hard to do) so trade from the head not the heart and I would add you only have to right more than you are wrong, as is said you best loss is first loss i.e. if all is going wrong get out take a small loss don't wait for a large one.

Good luck in what every you do, and for those holding good luck as well, I take no delight (unlike at least one other on here) on anyone making a loss, unless it limited a bigger loss.

Nick2723

Looks like a good plan, difficult to give good advice for trading but taking smallish profits on a large number of trades has worked for me, you can look to trade less for larger profit per trade but I have found I often loss out, so for me a profit is a profit and nobody goes hungry taking profits, it is a great feeling when you day trade, end up in profit no matter how small and back in cash to get overnight interest and very unlikely to get caught out by a bad RNS as these are almost always outside of trading hours. Also there is more chance to get caught out by other factors if held over weekends and holidays. If/when the BB start again this is a good time, buy around or preferably below BBs SP, sell hopefully the same day (sometimes I traded a number of times in a day as it jumped below and then above BB price, each for a small profit which added up to a decent return) or soon after, rinse and repeat, of course you can get caught out if the BBs just stop but if been going for a time should have some decent profit to offset any loss. The quarterly report now pose a dilemma, on one hand they can push up the SP but the last 2 have come with the dreaded acquisitions which always take the SP down. Saying all that Trek has done very well buying cheap, holding for time selling out and comes back in when SP low. For me it becomes so much easier to mentally handle trading if/when you have made profits as it get to point where you are only risking your profits. If you can trade US shares I find these better, spread usually less and does not increase with size of order or get the “unable to get a quote you can submit negotiated order” so no idea on price, for a time I found the optimal number of shares on UK market to be 550 as increased a lot after this number so would put a number of separate buy orders to get the best price. Fill or kill can sometimes get you a better price and limit orders are great so no need to keep checking price. I guess the other piece of advice is to start small get a feel of what works for you or as the trading club I used to go the people usually dry run their strategies for a time before committing cash but they were using Technical Analysis. Something I am considering (as I track DEC against is closest peers e.g. EQT and others), is to sell when winning less say by 1% or more over a day or slightly longer timescale and buy the one that is lower, rinse and repeat, sometimes they are all going down so no profits but less losses, obviously when going up more profits and you don't have to think too hard about what the market is doing. This worked well for me when trading between CCJ and NXE, 2 uranium miners, start of day was when the greatest differences seem to occur.

"If Milliband ends up as Chancellor, he could do even more damage to UK industry"

"Could"?, "will" is a certainty. Still could be worse, David Lammy, he won't have to worry about the bond markets as he probably thinks it is some kind of glue.

Https://finance.yahoo.com/healthcare/articles/abingdon-health-plc-present-life-123500264.html

Tornadotony

"If anyone thinks that USA had some kind of strategy and meticulous plan beforehand, it would not have resulted in what we see before us today."

I agree with the short/medium term this does not look good but take a look at an article I posted here a few days ago

From Hormuz to Houston: The U.S. Takeover of Global Energy Flows Ramps Up

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/From-Hormuz-to-Houston-The-US-Takeover-of-Global-Energy-Flows-Ramps-Up.html

If it is to be believed overall Trump has got what he wants, increase Oil output from U.S. and its ‘Americas’ sphere of influence, it has to be remembered USA is the worlds largest producer of Oil and a net exporter. This conflict has hit Europe and Asia i.e. mostly China hard while US gets some increase in petrol prices and huge profits for USA O&G companies. For the time being the stable supply of O&G is from U.S. and its ‘Americas’ sphere of influence mostly run by USA O&G companies. Trump has more or less given up on Europe, they did not support him so why should he care what happens to them, the power base is shifting more towards the USA, UK and Europe are becoming irrelevant.

See

"Instead, as delineated in the U.S.’s ‘2025 National Security Strategy’, Trump wants the world’s geopolitical system split into three geographical spheres, dominated by a major power in each. China would hold the primary role in Asia, while Russia would either dominate or significantly influence Europe, depending on how any future conflict between European NATO members and Moscow unfolds. But, at the top, the U.S. would maintain overall dominance and exert direct influence across the Americas (North and South America). Naturally, as energy underpins the economies -- and thus politics -- of every country in the world, shifting the centre of dominance in global energy supplies to the Americas is a core part of that aim. The U.S. is playing its part toward that, pumping oil at record highs, around a baseline of 13.6 million bpd, with plans for more down the line."

Canada and Greenland will need to decide which area they wish to associate with.

While it looks and probably is bad for UK and Europe USA is not really effected and will become more powerful, any nuclear weapons Iran develops will not be aimed at the USA, guess where they will target and where will these people go for support!

Almost all the effects of this war on the UK are solely the responsibility of this government and previous conservative government polices and taxes on UK O&G, NS should be encouraged to drill/produce more and we should have fracking but all we get is how to increase taxes, reduce and/or stop any O&G production in the UK.

Our only real hope is a change of government but I fear all we will get is more arguments between opposing groups.

Should have added I think at these prices the deal should not go ahead and just cancel winddown or wait for better times/deals.

So after waiting all this time we get this, disappointing, the BOD took far too long and during this time the market dropped but of course they get to keep their salaries for longer. I will have a small capital loss coved by the dividends but will only get a return of around 2.75% for 2 years so down against inflation and building society interest.

Q4 2025 Dividend Exchange Rate

The Company announces that shareholders who have elected to receive their dividends in GBP sterling will receive an equivalent dividend payment of 21.567 pence per share, based on the June 9, 2026 exchange rate of GBP 0.74370 =US $1.00.

Londoner7

Agree with your point on those who do not contribute to society.

For Land Value Tax it should be noted that Land Values for development have fallen a lot due to the cost of development mostly due extra government regulations requiring expensive reports, cost of building material, labour and taxes. Speaking to a developer last week in recent times the cost of land for new build has gone from 35% of the overall costs to 20%, there is the new Residential Property Developer Tax introduce in 2022 and of course stamp duty when sold and council tax every year on the property, Tax and NI on construction companies, workers, additional tax on diesel for site equipment since red diesel has been banned by Rishi Sunak just a few years ago for use on construction sites, also the Community Infrastructure Levy on new build. If a property is rented there is now a lot higher taxes and when sold if it makes money increased CGT. We have also to look forward to the mansion tax.

Should have said Brown's dividend tax raid also hit tax free saving (well part tax free) so not only pensions but ISAs.

You can add more taxes but this will end up with even fewer houses/buildings for industry built in a time when a lot of smaller developers have gone bankrupt not helped by increase in interest rates and very little is happening except the shortage of housing and other building are getting worse.

One of the main reasons for the high cost of houses are as I have stated all the taxes and expensive regulations, interest rates, as more has been added less construction. some may say this is a good thing but a lot complain about house prices for themselves, their children, lack of jobs etc.

In this country almost everything is taxed to point where it is on the wrong side of the Laffer Curve, add more taxes less overall tax take as Labour has found and new taxes like VAT on private education result is more costs for government than it brings in. Since Stamp duty increased by George Osborne the tax take has gone down. For SQZ the EPL which has reduced O&G production, companies to leave the UK and added to the energy crisis in this country.

Londoner7

One of the points I am trying to make is even if you are in a tax wrapper e.g. ISA, SIPP and you invest in shares you are still paying taxes i.e. the company taxes as you own part of the company, this was made a lot worse when Gordon Brown removed tax free status of dividends for pensions by replacing ACT with the current system. This changed private pensions for ever and stopped almost all companies from giving final salary schemes, of course government workers were not effected after all they virtually all vote labour. Also for SIPPs as we all know you pay taxes when you get the money out except for the 25% tax free part which has been more than coved over the years by the GB dividend tax change.

Nick2723

A lot of us are in the same boat, just part of the DEC roller coater SP. DEC has cost a lot of people a lot of money over the past 5 years, as has been said right sector wrong company. There have been so many reports that DEC is undervalued and perhaps it is but for many reasons mostly debt it has been well below these predictions for a long time and unless something changes with the buy all you can at any price strategy I do not see this changing. The simple truth is markets do not like companies with large debts and DEC has this in spades with high interest rates and all the signs it will keep increasing the debt at these high rates to fund more and more acquisitions at prices more successful O&G companies are very happy to sell at. This info does not always seem to taken into account in the broker recommendations. The good news is that because of this DEC SP is volatile it gives good trading opportunities, some on here like Trek have done very well because of this, you can make money here but holding has so far be proved to be a less than optimal strategy to say the least.

The global O&G prices are not that relevant to DEC, it does have some oil but mostly gas which is sold within the closed USA market, USA prices more to do with USA specific issues like weather and longer term issues like the Biden ban on LNG export plants. Henry Hub is a good to see current prices and trends and does not follow the world prices, HH has not changed much in the short term unlike Oil prices.

On a sperate note I see the blank posts of the filtered one so GG is back which is usually a good buy signal.

Londoner7

You need to look at all your taxes to get a complete picture, first before you get any money from companies they have already been taxed a lot (and it is the shareholders that own the company so it is they pay these taxes), business rates, employers NI, corporation tax to name but a few, O&G companies in the UK higher corporation tax and EPL. Then many, many other taxes like VAT, petrol, council tax, insurance tax and even NI can be considered a tax. Dividend tax is a double tax, you have already paid corporation tax and in the old days with ACT this was enough but not any more, my house will have 12% stamp duty on it when I sell.

I like yourself are just keeping below the 40% level as once you go above it is not just 40% but the loss a number of allowances, to do this I have not taken my state or private pension yet and left the money in my companies. When I take this money if I am in the UK the tax will be horrendous, I worked hard for this, not many holidays and long working weeks, took chances, paid all the company taxes and more and now feel if I stay in the UK it was all a waste of time as I will see well below half of it. For all this tax what do we get, very poor servicers especially the NHS just at a time of life when you need it most.

Tyma

"Don’t agree TerryM1. I have done very well on balance with his recommendations, the latest being Easyjet."

That's good and I hope you even better. Disagreement is fine especially when it is backed up by facts

As for EasyJet it was one on my watch list (nothing to do with Oakbloke) but went for IAG instead which I have traded a few times and have long term holdings. Both are doing well but until Starmer rolled back on the ban of Russian aircraft fuel it looked as though these companies were going to be in for a bad time. That's history at least for now so pleased my IAG holding have continued to rise as have your Easyjet.

I base my opinion on the 3 companies I have which he reports on, 2 are down and the other was down for a long time until the Oil Price jumped up which caused the rerate, nothing to do with his analysis. The worse case is DEC which I follow closely as I have a long term holding and trade it a lot, I have read a number of his reports over a number of years and despite all his figures and statements that is undervalued the SP just continued to fall, instead of looking for reasons he just doubled down with no explanations for the fall. When someone asked him a simple question which may have called some of his analysis into question he banned them. After many of his reports kept saying how undervalued DEC is looks like he has now given up as SP been falling for over 5 years in an industry where it's peers have risen substantially so please excuse me if I can't take him seriously.

Now for SEIT IMO it is a difficult one to call, first bought a small holding on a fund raise at £1.105 so very disappointed with them and especially the BOD with Onyx. Added more when winddown announced and these now also underwater after Circular Re Wind Down /Notice of General Meeting RNS. On one hand Saba is a very positive sign but the BOD poor handling of Onyx and add in SP going from a peak of £1.24 to todays price is a bad sign of how this company has been run. So for me now it is a hold.

AceofClubs

As you rightly say a lot going on with O&G, on one side a lot of infrastructure has been damaged which will take time to rebuild, Hormuz situation can change quickly and a lot of the reserves used up with the need to be replenished. On the other side some reduction is usage due to high prices, pipe lines are begin built to cut out Hormuz, other countries mostly USA, Brazil, Guyana, and Argentina increasing production with Iran coming back on stream. So where does the price go?

Just made my first purchase at 70.19p, unable to buy too many at that price, price gone up a bit now, will add more if price drops again.

Only issue for me is if Burnham wins the election as it may spook the gilts market bring down high yielding shares.

Already in LMP and SERI, probable trade out some if takeover goes ahead and prices hold up.