Member Info for TheTrotsky

Received dividend in my ii account this morning but now sign of capital return (if Computershare can credit accounts today then it would seem likely that brokers should be able to do so too).

No sign of dividend or capital return in AJ Bell yet bit they don't usually credit accounts much before midday, at best. I did however receive a secure message this morning to say that the consolidation would have to be reversed and re-run when the capital proceeds were received so that the adjusted cost carried forward would be correct; so watch this space

Your account should be credited by 31 May but, knowing Barclays, it will probably be a day ot two later to allow them to do all their "necessary checks" i.e. allow them to earn a bit of interest whilst you are left waiting.

Not sure where I read it but I saw that Barclays would not be crediting accounts with the next Lloyds Bank dividend, which is due on 19 May, until the close of business on 20 May; on the spurious grounds that they needed the additional time to "complete their checks".

AV seems to be on plan to grow its top line whilst reducing its overheads and continues to expect to meet current market expectations, despite the current economic and political issues. No complaints from me.

Based on LGEN's closing price yesterday and allowing a 0.5% yield premium to AV, my short term price taregt for AV has now risen from c425p to c435p. AV has consistently been trading at a lower dividend yield to LGEN for more than 12 months now, reflecting the market's expectation that AV will be able to generate better short/medium term EPS/DPS growth than LGEN and I don't see anything in this morning's RNS to change that.

The only downside that I see is that shareholders may not have the opportunity to re-invest their dividends/capital return at these "depressed" levels i.e. I still expect the share price to rebound before they are afforded the opportunity. However, it goes without saying, that external factors can't be ignored and AV will follow the market.

PS. Have to admit that I hadn't expected the broker fiasco on Monday. The fact that some (big name) brokers are only now getting their ship in order is a disgrace. Is it any wonder that shorters were able to move the share price down when most PIs were "locked out". Note to self; in future, ignore the financials and bank on the stockmarket mayhem (i.e sell before and buy back after). Also, find a broker who allows you to trade from the opening bell ;-)

PPS. Based on AV's closing price on Monday, I'd estimate that c25.32% of our original share acquisition cost is attributable to the B shares and c74.68% attributable to the new ordinary shares. AV say that they will post an example on their website in due course.

I think it's a misquote. In today's RNS, AV actually says "Shareholder approval received for £3.75bn return of capital via B Share Scheme. Total capital return to shareholders of £4.75bn will therefore be complete by end May 2022." The additional £1bn is (I believe) with reference to the share buyback programme that was announced in their March RNS and has already been completed.

Tinker, The B shares only ever existed on paper; they were created yesterday and redeemed today. They were never listed and, as unlisted shares, can't technically be held in an ISA (or a SIPP I believe). Having said that, the HL approach seems to be more helpful than most because at least they are recognising the pending payment due to you.

AJ Bell are, by comparison, all over the place (they eventually adjusted my shareholding late yesterday morning - as I said yesterday, they were showing my original holding as being available to sell at 8am! - but are still displaying yesterday's closing price and are not recognising any pending receipt). ii aren't much better.

Who's your broker LTI?

I also wonder if NEXT has any plans to expand the success of its online LABEL UK initiative to its overseas online offering; if so, that could be a good springboard for SOS.

Couple of points of note in NEXT's 2022 Q1 trading statement issued on 5 May:

1) Online LABEL UK sales up 20% on 2021 Q1; and
2) NEXT expects to generate around £220m of surplus cash in 2022, part of which may be used to acquire equity stakes in Total Platform clients

Both could bode well for SOS. A strategic investment in SOS by NEXT could be interesting.

Devon, Don't disagree about external factors but, in that event, I would expect the whole market to be similarly affected; that's why I've always stated my view based on all other factors being equal - we may all have different views about what the market is going to do over the coming days, weeks, months etc. in light of the current ongoing economic and political situation but none of us can predict what is going to happen in the future for certainty (other than perhaps that NATO will never unanimously agree on anything!).

Devon, You are being dillusional if you think AV will drop to 350p, assuming all other external factors remain constant. At 350p, AV would be trading on an historical dividend yield of c8.3% and an expected current year dividend yield of c8.8%. Ain't going to happen unless the whole market takes a further hit from the current economic turmoil. As I've said before, AV are maintaining their total dividend payout and planning to increase it this yesr and next whilst all the examples you cited shrank their dividend payount and I continue to believe that that is a major distinguishing factor.

I would however fully agree that I would have been better off selling a month ago at 440p+ when the general market was riding a lot higher. Despite all shares in AV's sector have taken a hit since, if I'd sold and reinvested my money in (say) LGEN or PHNX the value of holdings today would have been ahead of AV today (partly because they both had a boost yesterday whilst the MMs were having fun with AV and the brokers were in meltdown) but we'll see where we are by the end of the week. I still think that AV will settle at a premium to LGEN and, as such, should be back above 425p (based on yesterday's closing LGEN price) by the end of this week.

The only fly in that analysis is yesterday's Goldman Sachs's ratings; their target prices for AV and LGEN would suggest that they expect them both to be trading on the same yield (with LGEN slightly ahead of AV). AV has been trading at a premium to LGEN for over 12 months because of Blanc's decisive actions (and long before the capital return became a reality) so I'm not sure that their relative pricing is justified. LGEN has a lot of potential but is still looking comatosed whilst AV has made decisive progress against targets. Obviously the Q1 results may also have some bearing (but that hols true for LGEN and PHNX too).

I'm not wedded to this share. I'm just looking at the financial fundamentals.

Could see an uptick in their defence sales

Off topic. Does anybody hold Vesuvius (formerly Cookson) and have any views on their future prospects? Am considering whether or not to buy soem in my SIPP and am somewhat perplexed that current brokers' financial forecasts don't appear to align with VSVS's most recent trading statement. VSVS says they expect to deliver a significant improvement in financial performance in 2022 whereas brokers' forecasts are predicting a (slight) fall in both EPS and DPS (primarily due to a large increase in corporate tax charges). The increase in the mainstream rate of UK corporation tax from 19% to 25% in April 2023, which could impact VSVS's recognised deferred tax assets and liabilities, could be partly to blame but it does look odd and somewhat unjustified.

AV is planning to redeem the B shares tomorrow and, in its announcement this morning, said that shareholders should receive the proceeds by 31 May. There was some suggestion previously that payment would be received by 19 May but that does not appear to accord with this morning's statement. In reality, once the B shares have been formally redeemed, there's no reason for AV to delay paying the redemption proceeds (once they have accurate shareholder information as at the close of business on Friday); so payment by 19 May might be feasible.

"... the hype around the golden payback has influenced some to pay over the odds ..."

What hype? AV is now yielding more than LGEN. This share has been trading at a premium to LGEN for over 12 months and I see no current reason for that to change. Fully expect the share price to rebound (or at least re-align at a premium to LGEN). The MMs are having the same fun with that they had after the last results announcement. Based on LGEN's closing price, AV ought to be trading closer to 425p. Normality should resume at some point later this week; otherwise the yield will be way out of whack.

This is beginning to look a bit like after the last results update. The MMs are shaking the tree. The dividend yield at c391p is now at c7.4% (with a prospective dividend yield of c7.9% based on 31pps for the current financial year), roughly the same yield as LGEN. This doesn't look right to me; I'd expect AV to be trading at c6.9% or below relative to LGEN.

One has to wonder whether Goldman Sachs downgrade from BUY to NEUTRAL (with a price target of 500p) this morning was timed to allow their traders to hoover up a few more cheap shares.

But is ii's service any better? You can get more information but you have to pay for it. I came across MarketScreener at the weekend, which seems to give broker forecasts, As for trading data, I actually pay for LSE Level 2 (but am often left to wonder why). In my view, the amount financial information available to PIs has got a lot worse over the last 10 years; they've been costed out of the market. I used to use MoneyAM and that was (I thought) a good service until it was taken over by Shares Magazine (their offering although cheaper was a lot worse).

10:30am and still can't trade on ii. Pathetic. Aviva is FTSE 100 share for chissakes!

I've decided to move my ii accounts to HL this morning once the Aviva share reorganisation is complete and all monies received. You can get up to £300 per ISA for transferring to HL, if you do so before 30 June 2022. There are no charges for transferring share ISAs form ii; checked this morning. Been with ii for going on 20 years but this morning was the final straw.

Which platform are you using Al4x?

I'm now seriously considering transferring my ISA accounts to HL. It's quite clear that iii are playing in the minor leagues!