Ben Richardson, CEO at SulNOx, confident they can cost-effectively decarbonise commercial shipping. Watch the video here.
Combination of things really - near enough everybody is in the same boat in retail and suffering for the same reasons - if ASOS are struggling to make decent profits in the current environment then others are too and the last thing any decent company should be doing is looking to expand/takeover others when the economic outlook is uncertain - if you look at RBS as an example - they over expanded by getting into a bidding war with Barclays to buy ABN Amro and look how that ended!
today - perhaps some shorts have started closing given the news in the press about an emergency budget next week to give the go ahead for the energy price increases to be absorbed by the Government.
I'd eat my hat if ASOS was taken over - can't see why they would be but that's my opinion only.
That in the statement they have said that there was a marked slow down during August because of the concerns over the rising energy costs. I don't think we've had the bounce we were hoping for as whilst we know that the energy prices are now being capped, the exact detail of how its being structured has not really been provided - maybe once that is known we will start seeing the re-rate we are all hoping for.
Seem to be influencing retail at the moment - not the figures themselves but the caution they are sounding in respect of the future - what is interesting is that they've said something along the lines that so far the consumer has been resilient but to me they have had to put out the cautious tone in view of the known information prior to the results being posted - ie that increasing energy costs are going to have an impact. Hopefully the news due out shortly will change all that.
That all the negative news articles and broker downgrades come out just as the unexpected rescue package for the energy/cost of living crisis is about to be revealed - I feel this mornings actions are the MM's just trying to get as many cheap shares as they can before the rise in the share price following the news later - fingers crossed anyway.
If you don't mind, I think I'll add my two penneth worth on what I see happening here in the short/medium term nature. If you look back at my comments from last year when certain individuals were trying to pump the company/share price, I actually said that until we see a change in the long term trend, or circumstances surrounding the reasons for the decline in the share price changing, then it was best not to "average down" and just trade the swings.
As it turns out, the downtrend has been far more protracted than anyone would have envisaged, but the reasons for the share price being hammered to my mind have materially changed going forward. Supply chain issues have changed, and the only reason the share price has continued to decline over the last few months is the uncertainty in respect of the cost of living crisis. If Truss comes out with a "magic bullett" on Tuesday and says the Government are going to cover the additional energy costs for the next two years then that is going to be an absolute game changer in my view - its already been commented that if she does do that, then it sorts out inflation as the energy crisis is the biggest contributor - if that proves to be the case, then unions have no leg to stand on insisting on larger pay rises and should settle for the 5% as that is a meaningful increase in people's standard of living. If it is "the magic bullett", then consumer confidence will return (which has been gradually eroding over the last six months) and life will return to "normal" as will the ASC share price.
I think the only thing stopping the share price from moving forward is the lack of detail at the minute but come Thursday that should all change - all in my opinion of course.
Anyone that managed to sell on the spike this morning and buy back in on the dip would have done quite well - ready for another run up at some point today - hopefully the shorts are going to start closing now if they have any sense.
So we haven't heard anything from the ASC board either confirming or denying the story in the press on the weekend which isn't a surprise really as they are buggered if they do, and buggered if they don't. Personally I don't believe what was printed purely because I can't see how the company could brief specific fund managers without a non disclosure agreement being in place in which case if there were "limited people" being briefed it could easily be traced back.
In addition, for anyone not following the goings on with Bed, Bath and Beyond in the States over the last couple of months, the CFO was recently charged with market fraud with the accusation being that he colluded with one of the company's major shareholders to "pump and dump" the share - I think he himself sold something like $20 million of shares and following his charge has jumped off something like the 18th floor of a New York tower block to his death on Friday.
The stock markets around the world are certainly a murky place to be and people just have to go with what they feel/believe about a company - I remember following the warehouse fire where the share price dropped from something like £50 to £17 in a day that Libernum Capital kept saying sell and putting out negative articles on the company - bit like Shore Capital now with their recommendations.
Just now has said that the CEO's of all the large energy companies in the UK are currently meeting with "Team Truss" to hammer out a rescue plan in respect of energy costs - what is being leaked is that energy prices will be capped at what they are now for the next 2 years for domestic and business users.
Are saying the signs are that the markets are finally giving hints of a bullish resurgence - as I said on the weekend, I think all that's needed is confirmation of what will happen with the energy crisis in respect of the strategy to be adopted and if it is massive as is being leaked then I think finally the markets will start to recover properly as all the uncertainty will be removed.
Is down to Putin stopping the supply of gas through Nordstream 2 - anyone watching the US markets on Friday saw the big sell off from around 6.00 pm when the announcement came out that the Russians weren't going to open Nordstream 2 - gas has gone up by over 30% since then.
I wouldn't worry about comparing our drop against BOO, as there's so few number of shares on issue the swings in respect of the share price are more severe in both direction - I don't think it will be long before the tide turns so keep the faith.
Anyone see the Sky News report on either Friday or Saturday night talking about Putin cutting off Nordstrom 2? Basically they were saying that a lot of countries are managing to source their energy from other countries other than Russia so Putin's latest move could backfire on him - I wonder if that's why the G7 decided to cap the prices to prompt a reaction from him. What Sky were saying is that the demand may never come back for Putin and if that was the case then he would no longer be able to fund his war. If countries are indeed getting their energy from elsewhere I think they should bomb the Norstream 2 at the point it leaves Russian land and that would really bugger up Putins plans.
It has been suspected for a long time that the hedge funds pay reporters to put out an article with FUD - my thinking is it's conveniently been published over the weekend so that they can perhaps get their last "drop of blood" before starting to close - what I don't think was envisaged was the "press leak" about the £100 billion package being put together to sort out the energy crisis - fingers crossed for a good few days now.
Impact of that may be counter acted by all the "gossip" following an interview on BBC1 where it has been suggested that there's a big rescue package coming in respect of energy costs - if you read the BOO board it explains it better there.