Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
They didn't just stop shorts though, they have stopped all new positions. How is allowing long positions that IG hedges with real shares a risk to their exposure model? I understand it's different from their usual internal flow model, however, they have prevented traders from taking part in a unique, one-off black swan event. Having said that I didn't agree when Robinhood only allowed one side of a trade (selling) so not sure how I'd feel if IG did the opposite (buy only). There is likely no grand conspiracy here, that wasn't the point I intended and I thank you for explaining the mechanics in more detail. What I wanted to get across was that as soon as retail investors are winning it seems areas of the market get switched off and it doesn't feel right.
The fallout from this will definitely impact IG going forward, people are already compiling lists of the firms that 'sold out' and prevented their customers from trading (namely buying) and those that did not. This is just one website I came across during my research into this: https://www.wherecanibuygme.com/
A lot of people won't forget this, when it really counted who this company supported. I will be closing my account with IG after this, never to return.
sufc, you do realise that Blackrock owns shares on behalf of their customers who are invested in their funds right? They own a bit of everything so they can sell customers exposure to the market via index funds etc. They are not in the insurance business.
Dean, if you search 'imperial brands financial calendar' you'll be taken to a page with the dates on for upcoming events. From there it states ex-div is 18th Feb and payment is 31st Mar. Capital Markets event next Weds should be interesting though.
From the press release dated less than a month ago: "As 2020 is a pause year, the Board’s current intention is to keep the final 2020 dividend flat. From 2021 the Board intends to grow the dividend at low to mid-single digits." The info is there for those that care to look.
As per 12th Nov Capital Markets event, the dividend will be kept flat for 2020 which equals a final payment of 12.64p early next year. It should then rise progressively at 3-6% from there. EPS is expected to grow faster than div payments.
Rising from £12 to nearly £15 in less than a month is pretty good in my book. There will always be a market-wide discount due to the nature of the business. BATS is sitting on a yield of almost 8%, so IMB sitting on 9% doesn't seem too farfetched.
For me it would be Legal & General, no debt, div yield 6.8%, double-digit profit and div growth over recent history, no impact to profit this year from COVID and management have just committed to low-mid div growth over the medium term.
Gender balance, race balance... why not simply hire the most competent person for the job regardless of other factors? The police officers that stood around whilst George Floyd was suffocated were all from different backgrounds and look how that ended. Personally, I think LGEN and other asset managers should do more to curtail the excessive executive remuneration that has resulted in huge inequality and which is causing society as a whole to destabilise. That and climate change strike me as two big impact areas to focus on.
It's Legal & General Assurance (Pensions Management) Limited (PMC) that has been making the sales, looks like it is selling client pension assets so I'd guess they might have recently lost a large client. Have asked IR to confirm.
From Aviva website: "we have decided to take the opportunity to review our longer term dividend policy, in light of our strategic priorities and the future shape of the group, with the objective of a sustainable pay-out". Sounds like COVID provided good cover to reset an unaffordable dividend to me, good luck with your investment.
If Aviva is swimming in cash why did they ditch the final dividend and then cut the interim from 9.5p down to 6p? The dividend only costs them £1.2bn a year so you'd think they could have dipped into that £13 billion? Something doesn't quite add up there.
zebbo if you google 'direct line dividend history' it's the first link.
https://www.directlinegroup.co.uk/en/investors/shareholder-centre/dividends.html
I'll take Direct Line hovering around the £2.90 level as well as a 22p div in the bank versus losing 15% on Tesla shares in two days. It won't take long for moves like that to scare off the speculators in tech. In contrast to the doom and gloom I am quite bullish on the UK over the medium term, my average earnings yield on UK holdings is over 13% and dividend yield is 8% with little debt to speak of as well. Even if there is little to no growth for the foreseeable in the UK it's hard to not get a reasonable return when that is the value on offer. GLA
From the DLG report: "The ex-dividend date will be 13 August 2020"
You need to own the shares prior to the ex-dividend date in order to receive the payment. Any shares sold today will be entitled to the payment on 4th Sept.
Libero bear in mind that 19% of the rise in solvency ratio to 192% was due to £260m of subordinated debt which was announced on May 29th. Had it not been for the debt raise we would be sitting on a solvency ratio of 173%. Page 21 of the H1 results presentation has a good walk-through. As an aside, I got the impression from the finance director that the company won't be returning to the 160% solvency ratio levels until the pandemic is fully in the rear-view mirror.
Libero, I agree with your point below regarding valuation and found your earlier insights into the business helpful. For me the analysis is rather simple, I believe DLG is a net beneficiary to the changes forced upon us by the pandemic and the share price should recover similarly to that of our competitor Admiral. I believe we should be trading at the same levels as pre-pandemic (mid-Feb) which was 350p, I would then say it could go a bit further due to the discount it trades on even at the 350p level. For example, Admiral is currently trading on a 6%+ dividend yield, however, DLG would still be trading at 9%+ dividend (+ buyback) yield even at 350p! I have included buybacks in the yield calculation as these are another form of shareholder return and could easily be swapped for a special dividend. Both companies appear to be able to cover current shareholder payouts from cash flows so it is simply the market viewing Admirals earnings as more 'valuable' than DLGs. I understand the buyback and dividends are on hold currently but as long as the cash flow engine isn't impaired then these should resume relatively soon.
My core holding has an average price of £2.88 and I've recently opened a CFD position at an average of £2.71 which I intend to hold until results (although very tempting to sell today!). Look forward to your thoughts on the 4th Aug. Cheers