Member Info for TheProviVan

3card. No I don't touch AIM shares. I like to invest in established companies where the share price is unrealistically low and has the potential to increase.

jlovie. I can see what you are saying and that's why you have to be selective in the company you invest in. You know the value of a company and can roughly guesstimate the bottom out value of a share price. I don't buy high where the value can keep falling. ITV shares have already taken a big hit. My safety net is set at 55p, just in case I get things badly wrong. I didn't buy at 70p for them to go down. I'm hoping they will start climbing back up. Fingers crossed.

I want the shares to increase like everyone else, I didn't purchase them to go down. If they do, so be it and I will average out as a safety net.

Best of luck with that one. I'm just high lighting a mathematical equation of the benefit of averaging down. If you invest the same amount when the shares increase you get less shares each time, therefore, less shares equals less profit compared to averaging down where you get more shares. Do your sums, it's not rocket science. Yes pros like it up and it will cost you money rather than saving money. So what is your average cost for a pro?

Mary, I have been averaging down for over 50 years and it's the best and easiest way to make a profit. As you know, if the share price keeps going down you keep buying. Averages can fool people and that's why companies use them. 1 to 10 the average is surely 5 but it isn't it's 5.5. Yet 5.5 x 2 = 11. That's how averages can fool people. For people who don't know how averaging on shares work, I will explain. Share price £10 then £5 and then £1. Invest £10 each time at those prices. That's £30 invested in 13 shares. £30 divided by 13 = average £2.307 a share. It's amazing how the average falls if you keep buying on the way down but the profits once the shares increase is staggering. ITV shares are a prime share to average if they go lower and that's why I have purchased them.

If I was negative about the company I would not have purchased shares. I call it constructive criticism Jed, based on facts which you obviously can't handle or turn a blind eye. Tom hit the nail on the head, it's all down to confidence but how do you turn that around? You need a strong leader to instil confidence in people and that is not the case here. In any other job, if a persons results are not hitting expectations they would be replaced. Lets hope the results are good, that would help a bit but not cure the problem.

I purchased ITV shares just over a month ago as they appeared cheap. This is my first comment on here regarding ITV. My previous posts were for Provident/Vanquis where I tried to warn investors, the company was going to struggle to achieve any growth. I started to warn people at the start of lockdown and people basically told me I was talking rubbish. That rubbish has now proven to be fact and the CEO and Chairman have just stood down. After reading a lot of posts on here I have to conclude that Tom is talking more sense than anyone else and agree with him 100%. A lot of you are going to disagree with that but if you look at facts, there is no argument. Before I purchase these shares I had never heard of ITVX and lots of people are not aware it exists, why? The share are under performing, why? Where is the growth going to come from? If you can't answer these questions, you should be looking at the top management for answers.

Chairman's comment. "Vanquis Banking Group is strategically and financially stronger than it was when I became Chairman in 2018. With a successful strategy in place".

This man is deluded, does he really think that. That successful strategy, since he became Chairman, credit card customers down from 1773 (2018) to 1541 (2022). That's a loss of 232,000 customers and that's the bread and butter business of the company. Plus, under his Chairmanship the Vanquis Board at that time, where allowed to take far to long getting the new loan product up and running. That should have been on the market before they closed PPC down.

The share price will certainly not get to those dizzy highs again. If I remember correctly, they topped out at £32-£33.

Trouble with Vanquis, I just cannot see significant growth short term. The credit card is dead in the water and needs revitalizing. The company will comfortably tick along with it's loyal investors, but it has lost it's shine at the moment.

As a matter of interest, which county did your father work in for the company?.

To me, that is for sure. If they're sensible in their lending and keep the arrears under control. the growth potential in this company is vast. IMO the CEO is excellent and he has a good team behind him. If they get the balance right in Mexico , they can then expand into another country and do the identical thing all over again. The big plus with this company is, they don't have to worry about the destructible FCA.

Sorry, that should have read 2021

I will put my cards on the table. I worked for PFG for over 35 years until I retired. I know everything about the company and how they think. I tried to tell investors on another site that they were going to close PPC down but they thought I was talking rubbish. The problem investors have, they know what's in front of them but not the history. Ten years ago PPC had over 1.5 million customers, today that is zero. You cannot lose that amount of customers unless you intend to. They gradually got the numbers down to 300k. With lockdown and the FCA problems they decided to close it down at that stage.

I posted this in 2121.

My biggest concern with todays report is the amount of customers Vanquis Bank have lost, 157,000 down 9.3%, that's a huge amount and very worrying. They need to increase the customer base quickly and that is why they are going to introduce a mid cost credit product. PFG have always set their customer target at 2 million. They had better pull their finger out, otherwise they are going to have a big problem on their hands.

That's exactly what has happened. Today that is still a huge problem as the credit card side of the business has been losing customers year on year. That is the bread and butter business of the company. In 2022 they maintained the same amount of customers as 2021. Here comes the history again. Prior to those dates they cleared out all the dead wood (over 100k customers). Two years on and the dead wood is growing again. Although they maintained the same amount of customers that year the number they can serve is decreasing. The new loan product will attract new customers but they need to also plug the hole in the credit card bucket. As I said in the Jaguar story, are they signing up spouses and partners to get that growth. I'm smiling, so what does that tell you.

I can see the problem you have. If you compare the two companies, IPF has the better growth potential as they stand, their shares price should be a lot higher. Knowing how you feel about things, maybe going 50 50 between each company is the answer.

Provident Financial Group (PFG) just recently changed their name to Vanquis Bank. PFG expanded into Poland (Provident Polska) and then the company was split and IPF was born. That's why IPF in Poland is still called Provident.

I'm going to compare IPF to Vanquis Bank and see why investors prefer Vanquis rather than IPF. I'm using two second hand cars that are on the market as an example.

The Vanquis Jaguar compared to the IPF Mini. The Jaguar looks better than the Mini but you can't just go on looks.

Lets see what's under the bonnets. I am impressed, the Mini has a cooper S engine, and that's a plus I wasn't expecting. Now for the Jaguar, OMG it only has a 1300cc engine, no wonder it has hardly moved in the last three years. There's a brick behind the back wheel as the handbrake isn't working properly and it keeps rolling backwards. The owners tell me they have made lots of improvement but I just can't see where. Shame they didn't fix the handbrake. The performance is poor due to the engine cc size. Looks are deceptive, you need to delve deeper when buying into something. CC stands for customer count and their inability to increase it. Until they make the cc bigger, this Jaguar isn't going anywhere. So lets take a look at how positive they are about increasing the size of the cc. Look at their Annual Report and what Tracy the ICU nurse had to say, there's the answer. Signing up the spouse or partner to become another customer. the deceptive way to increase the cc. If anything changes in that household you double the problem with reduced or non payments. Also, part of the cc isn't working as these are credit card holders who don't use them. Vanquis you need new door customers, adding a twin carb is not the answer. Now lets look at the Mini cooper S. Strong cc and increasing. It can drive anywhere, unlike the Jaguar. It has driven into a new area of Mexico where the potential of increasing the cc is immense. This car is nippy and going places.

Investors don't be fooled by the look of the Jaguar, it might look attractive but it's the cc size of the engine that counts.

I'm going to compare IPF to Vanquis Bank and see why investors prefer Vanquis rather than IPF. I'm using two second hand cars that are on the market as an example.

The Vanquis Jaguar compared to the IPF Mini. The Jaguar looks better than the Mini but you can't just go on looks.

Lets see what's under the bonnets. I am impressed, the Mini has a cooper S engine, and that's a plus I wasn't expecting. Now for the Jaguar, OMG it only has a 1300cc engine, no wonder it has hardly moved in the last three years. There's a brick behind the back wheel as the handbrake isn't working properly and it keeps rolling backwards. The owners tell me they have made lots of improvement but I just can't see where. Shame they didn't fix the handbrake. The performance is poor due to the engine cc size. Looks are deceptive, you need to delve deeper when buying into something. CC stands for customer count and their inability to increase it. Until they make the cc bigger, this Jaguar isn't going anywhere. So lets take a look at how positive they are about increasing the size of the cc. Look at their Annual Report and what Tracy the ICU nurse had to say, there's the answer. Signing up the spouse or partner to become another customer. the deceptive way to increase the cc. If anything changes in that household you double the problem with reduced or non payments. Also, part of the cc isn't working as these are credit card holders who don't use them. Vanquis you need new door customers, adding a twin carb is not the answer. Now lets look at the Mini cooper S. Strong cc and increasing. It can drive anywhere, unlike the Jaguar. It has driven into a new area of Mexico where the potential of increasing the cc is immense. This car is nippy and going places.

Investors don't be fooled by the look of the Jaguar, it might look attractive but it's the cc size of the engine that counts.

I did notice that and a UT was carried out at 8.05am setting the share price at £1. Then that single share was purchase and moved the share price up to 1.07p. In the last week the spread has been sensible but yesterday there was something wrong. Most of the sites showed the share price at £1 all day and it never moved. After 4pm a strange thing happened over 3k of shares were sold for £1 and the spread price was showing 1.03p to buy and 1.10p to sell, yes I have got that right, which was obviously wrong. What is clear to see, when the spread is wide the trades drop off. When the spread is reasonable a lot more trades take place.

International Personal Finance plc ("IPF" or the "Group") is pleased to announce that it will host a webinar for investors and analysts featuring the Group's IPF Digital business on Wednesday 10 May at 14:00 BST (0900hrs ET / 1600hrs EET).

The briefing will be broadcast live from Tallinn in Estonia and hosted by CEO, Gerard Ryan and IPF Digital's General Manager, Povilas Girčys. Investors and analysts will have the opportunity to learn more about this profitable and highly scalable business which is meeting the needs of a growing number of underserved consumers who want affordable credit online and seamless interactions with their digital financial provider. The presentation will cover details of the customers served, key market trends, credit decisioning technology and how IPF Digital is successfully executing its growth strategy to realise future growth and returns.

No new financial information will be disclosed. The briefing, including a live Q&A, will last around 60 minutes and is open to investors and analysts. To register for the webinar, please contact rachel.moran@ipfin.co.uk

A recording of the event and presentation materials will be available on the Group's website shortly after the event at www.ipfin.co.uk

Enough is enough. When I saw the spread price this morning bid 92.20p and buy 99.80, a difference of 7.60p on an excellent Q1 trading update, it made no sense at all. The mms are now taking the p. Luckily the first two trades were buys but if they had been sells, God knows what the share price would have gone down to. The lunatics are running the asylum.

Q1 2023 Trading Update
Apr 27, 2023 / 12:00 AM UK time

Well, well well 94p again. The market manipulators, sorry my mistake, I meant makers, are so predictable.

Once again a UT at 8am this morning. What did Andy say. "The paranoid school of trading would say based on the 1 share trade that maybe the MMs have set the price at 94p". What's the closing price today, would you Adam and Eve it.