Member Info for Trent700

I've just sent this off to RF.

Good afternoon Mr Findlay.
I am a shareholder of Marston's with a modest holding, but I have a couple of questions to ask relating to a couple of points that have caught my attention of late.
My first point relates to the tie in with Brains.  I can see some benefit of linking in with them, but the detail of the rationale behind your reasoning may be, along with what the coatings are, and what we are likely to get out of it for ourselves.
Another point I've come across, was that When can Shareholders expect to see the Management Agreement promised for the 5th February?
Intial agreement stated we were to manage 156 pubs within Brain's estate, yet I understand that the analyst's presentation states 107 plus 30 under par Pubs, where are the remaining 19 pubs?
Also, with the Platinum approach that was made, I understand that there were at least 3 different offers were made. I get that 2 of them were low value offers, which I can understand as being dismissed out of hand, however, it seems strange that no mention of these approaches were made to shareholders via an RNS. My own view of the 3rd offer of £1.05 being rejected, to me is entirely justified. As when "Normality"resumes in life after lockdown, the value of the business will very easily reach beyond this figure.
Speaking for myself, I am invested here because of the service I have received in a couple of the Marston's pubs I have been in. I have mentioned one of the pubs myself and family have visited in Stourbridge while visiting friends that live in the area to you a while back.

I appreciate that you have a lot on your plate at the moment, but I would appreciate your thoughts on these questions when you have a moment please.

Thank you.

@Clairesmith.

That sounds like a win to me.

I'm not gonna be able to do it until Monday at the earliest now but I will get on to it.

Fairdealer. Tell me what you want putting in. And if anyone else can think of anything stick it on here. But if you could keep it brief, it would be helpful.

Fairdealer.

Some valid points. Some of your points do need answers. One way to find out would be to email RF and ask for direct answers.

Shall I take the lead?

Good morning London 69.

Yes, Indeed. I get your point on waiting to see what transpires sp wise on it's own merit. I rather think that you perhaps look at things a little more clinically than I do with this one. I'll be joining you in raising a glass of two when the pubs open and we are proved to be right.

Have a good day mate.

@London69.

Looking at current sp, I would say that expecting to see £1.05 on the open market in the short to med term is a reasonable assumption to make. The probability of reaching beyond that med to long term as lockdown restrictions ease and pubs re-open is also a reasonable assumption to make.

Based on that logic I believe it to be a fair assessment of why I'd said that RF was correct in rejecting. Platinum's approach.

Don't get me wrong here. I detest de-rampers. I hate them with a vengence, so I am not de-ramping here. If this share was in a position where it was worth £2 a pop, and Morgan was long gone, I'd pay that all day long for it.

I just think that with his bullying, arrogance and rhetoric he is causing a lot of reputational damage to the business, and ITV seem to be more than happy to tolerate it.

@ Cookoo. I'm not sure mate, but I doubt it would have been a private jet. Either way, he did the exact opposite of what he tried to "instruct" the rest of us to do.

I'm more than happy to give ITV the benefit of the doubt over not knowing he was plotting his Antigua trip, but not for not being publicly seen to have disciplined him for it when they found out, as Sky did with Kay Burley for much less.

As I say, it's a credibility issue for the channel.

@ Solly1 which figure are you going with then? 18,000, 18M or 8M?

Or are you guessing the average usual audience share?

Either way, that leaves approx 48 Million viewers, all in the same lockdown as gmb's viewers, all for whatever reason are swerving the programme.

Food for thought for advertisers paying a premium for such numbers on what is traditionally percieved as "Prime time" slots, don't you think?

@NigeCo

Yes, I saw a comment on FB on this. They say that on Monday just gone, GMB had it's "record high" viewing share of 28.5%. That as a stand alone headline sounds good, doesn't it.

Equally, 71.5% of the rest were either watching/listening to or doing something else.

With that in mind, I did a quick Google search of the UK population for a "beer mat" scribbling calculation of roughly how many were watching the channel on that day as a numbers value as opposed to a percentage.

Based on a reported populus of approximately 66M living in the uk, the 28.5% watching came in at approx just over 18M watching.

To me, this does not seem to be as much of a "captive audience" as it could be.

Just my thoughts, or course

Just for full disclosure, I'm not invested here, but one factor (among others) I take into account before I invest my money in any company, is now they are perceived on social media.

On the plus side, while we are in lockdown, there are more people at home and watching tv. This is good for commercial channels that sell advertising space. I get that.

However, The big thing that's putting me off is how ITV are seen to be supporting Mr Morgan through his (easily) contradictory comments that are constantly called out by others. As I'm sure that those on this board who also have Twitter & Facebook know all too well that virtually everything he says is routinely called out, and his favoured course of action is to block those whos points he cannot answer.

Then of course there was his trip to Antigua over Christmas after he publicly told the rest of us to stay at home, suck it up, etc etc while meanwhile, ITV ran a pre-recorded programme, which of course created the illusion that he was indeed staying at home and seemingly working.

I get that they might not have known he was planning to do this, but we all know what Sky News did to Kay Burley for much less. The fact that ITV did not at least so the same to him, but instead let him stay on air speaks volumes. Here, IMHO lies the problem.

Is anyone else concerned about the reputational damage this man is causing to ITV?

Considering how he makes the programme all about his rants and opinions, to the point where no Gov't Minister would go near the programme for 6+ months. Out of desparation, they even had to chase Matt Han**** into the BBC's building and beg him for an interview. This for a channel that delivers news cannot be good

It looks to me that RF was right to bin off their approach. £1.05 (and beyond) is easily achievable in the short to medium term now with possible easing of lockdown and I understand that beer & fag duty not being increased.

Anticipation of some level of normality resuming would be my guess.

Welcome on board andecc

@Barchid.

Exactly mate. I've made and lost money myself in the past, for various reasons, my actions while experimenting with different investing strategies with my actions, inactions, greed and so on. Nobody's fault but my own. That said, I've learned one very important lesson. A harsh teacher is an effective teacher.

@ Peaks. Judging by your negative demeanure, I'm guessing that you've been caught short.

Way of the world, kiddo. It happens to the best of us. I've been caught out with my pants down myself a few times in the past. You just have to bite the bullet & learn from the experience.

Considering. I was expecting some level of retrace today with Platinum walking away.

The good news with the possible end of lockdown in sight is fantastic news. Let's hope the dream becomes reality.

This morning. It's been reported that they are hoping/expecting pubs to open in April.

Fingers crossed that this is so.