Member Info for TheNorthern

Morning SCB! Like clockwork. Straight back in with a positive monday AM I see. Hope your week improves.

Change of management since those and possible REVB situation. Not to mention the RCF negotiations. If it's bad you grasp the nettle and get a head of it surely. Shorts reducing wouldn't make sense either.

"They have been doing this for 3 years and in the process wasted 700 million pounds."

They made business decisions when the going was good and many macro factors have meant these were not good decisions. This has happened to many in similar industries. I am not absolving of blame as I have lost money here and would rather enjoy steep improvement and an opportunity to sell, but as I said Finley has a direction and has made it clear.

The company in deep trouble and now buying time with capital they are paying excessively for...They have no time....no credible plan....and the fact is Mike has cash...time and no doubt a credible plan...but...he will want to extract a big price for what he can offer...but better than Kamanis slow death of the company(it might not be that slow going forward it could just crash very quickly)....

Here we have Schrödinger's Kamani, a situation where "extracting the most money" and "killing his business" are the same thing. Let's remove the hyperbole and understand there are efficiencies and improvements being made and no director will trade knowing his business is effectively bankrupt. The RCF is important and Finley is turning the tanker around. Be as frustrated with the SP as you like but to suggest they are sat in the boardroom throwing darts at a wall randomly is nonsense.

I completely understand the sensation many have on this board (those invested anyway), if Ashley is the fire he looks mighty tempting as we bathe in the frying pan!

I'd propose a mix of emotional attachment the founders of BOO have, a steely business sense and years of expertise in the sector Mike has and maybe a mediator type (could be Finley?). I am also not saying the BoD have made good decisions either here, I'm just noticing a pattern in Mike's behaviour and I expect the same playbook here. He'll want enough of a say when/if it collapses but not until then.

Very interesting reading and parallel between how Mike behaved with Debs and what he's doing to BOO.

2017 - increasing stake in distressed company

2018 - profit warning

2018 - increases stake further, 29.7% (huh)

December 2018 - £40m loan offered to Debenhams rebuffed (probably due to clauses attached)

Jan 2019 - uses voting power to oust chairman

March 2019 - launches bid to become CEO himself fails, 3 days later offers refinancing as long as he is CEO and gains stake (end game all along)

Despite offering much liquidity and successfully getting his knee on the neck of DEBS, something was repellent about his desire to take over and here we are today:

October 2024: Frasers demands that Boohoo appoint Mike Ashley as CEO after H1 revenues dropped by 15%

May 2025: Frasers increased its stake to 28%. In the same month, it's revealed Debenhams Group is in early talks to secure a refinancing package worth up to £175 million.

Let's hope MA has learned his lesson that waiting to mop up on the cheap often results in other vultures coming to the table and with less gangster tactics often they are preferred. I'm happy to MA to go for the kill here with a tasty (ish) offer, but of course he won't, he would've by now. He wants it on the ropes and in fact actively spreads distrust and propaganda against the current BoD.

The same 4-5 come on daily bemoaning the leadership and the direction and in reality can't just wait and see. Or if underwater average down.

Price goes down - "leadership terrible we need ashley and if BFD is in at 400 then GOOD"

Price goes up - "MM's doing their thing lolol we need ashley and if BFD is in at 400 then GOOD"

AI would put the average age of the contributors at about 9.

Mike is not keeping an eye on anything but bullying Boo into the lowest price he can. I hope the board are not being goaded into an offer for RevB as things need to be simplified not made more complex. The idea Finley is risking his career simply to protect an emotional identity (ego) of Kamani is not the way people in business work. Mike can offer finance but at what cost?

Isn't the theory behind the slow refund process them digging their heels in on the wear and return culture many use with this type of fashion? Not ideal for customer reviews and service. Could be it's a change in logistics and less staff also but in the industry I work in you'd wait 2-3 weeks for something to filter through the huge logistic systems and couriers and be checked and signed back into stock before anything is raised in the system. If it was cash flow protection I'd be seriously concerned that 1) the return rate is a huge % and unsustainable, and 2) robbing Peter to pay Paul in a short window like that means they are perilously close to failure.

We can't even get Mike to appoint a member to the board, despite him saying this is key to maintain visibility. Rumours of them wanting to take more and maybe they are buying in small tranches but I remain to be convinced anything Mike did and said was to benefit the small shareholders.

Suckers like MA who is in here at a higher price? How can Mike both be a sucker and our saviour.

Well this is a nice sight. Obviously some news somewhere, not that we'd be partial! Shorts to close and a good trading update (just improvement needed!) and we may be back up to 35-40.

Adults back in the room, positioned very well with a litany of brands and a sleek look about it. Finley clearly knows what he's doing and has a track record ready to copy and paste over the whole company. His CFO coming over too. I mean I know the likes of SCB is now too busy to pay attention but this really is what you've all been crowing on about daily, so it should be credit where credits due!

Onwards.

Good move, double down on your winners and rejig the market position where the youth are being woo'd by Shein. Might just be enough to wet MA's lips and create some drive for shares.

Some really confused and contradictory opinions being spouted on this board.

PLT were at the mercy of Shein with a race to the bottom on price but an expensive supply chain model, where Shein were winning huge market share. To take themselves out of that market and into a premium brand space is the right thing to do, it may or may not work but you can't sit still to be steamrollered by Shein.

Mike Ashley is clearly still buying, and probably the only one in any real numbers, yet this is going to the wall? A failed business with nothing left to pick off? How can MA be both the most clever man in the industry whilst simultaneously stacking shares in such a dumpster fire?

I suggest some take a break and limit their analysis to 1 post a week, as opposed to every 15-20 mins trying to get into arguments or saying "2%+ down already", markets move! We need MA to get a rep on the board and Dan to re-energise and cut staff, the model is too heavy and has been for a while, revenue per employee is poor even in comparison to ASOS etc.

23rd of December the white knight was appointing an appropriate recommendation to the board to protect his interests and by default ours. Any news?

"We will put forward a highly qualified candidate in due course and fully expect boohoo's board to uphold their commitment without hesitation or delay."

Mike now going for 30% and my only worry is Kamani's take their chess pieces off the board if possible, although not sure how it all works at that point.

Ennismore are cleary reducing by .08% and .10% every 7 days or so.

We're in the Ashley paradox, a place where he is simultaneously the saviour but also an aggressive negative sniper on the sidelines. If he buys at this level then it is surely worth buying also, if he's making a mistake, then is judgement is flawed and we don't want him in the tent. Either broker a deal with Shien that benefits us all or get off the pot.

Use filters mate, I see none of it, its great!

You can be individually talented and be in a sector that is having a challenging time, the idea that Lyttle is not at least slightly competent comes from emotional shareholders with underwater portfolios. Similarly Dan won't come in and change things overnight. Basically Boo may have been facing macro headwinds, made collectively bad decisions and also been full of talent. It can all be true at once.