Member Info for Trent700

It's not such a bad thing that we didn't get those franchises.

Ok, I'm a bit shocked at the drop in the sp because of it and a bit worried about the ramifications of it. But after swatting up a little on it, I think I'd prefer us not to have it than SGC run the risk of taking on what could well be a difficult/possibly unmanageable liability hanging over the company.

I would rather have shares in a business that is making a smaller profit, and possibly paying a smaller dividend in the future, but still paying one.

Fair enough, the share price will drop a little further should that happen, but the point for me is that it will still be a viable business paying a divvi.

I'd rather have that, than hold into a company that has recklessly taken on a massive gamble on taking on a franchice that could cripple it.

Agreed. Trouble is, they seldom are.

Things could get much worse I'm afraid.

If the Labour Party wins the next GE, we'd more than likely get Dianne Abbott as Home Secretary.

That really does scare the $hit out of me.

Than sells so far this morning. Encouraging.

A good point about the American side of things.

But that said the board must have had some kind of Idea of what the script was with these franchises, as they would/should had an idea of what was on offer and what the costs were for some time. But you have a point, perhaps they should have kept the US operation until this was resolved.

@ Martin1.

I'm curious as to how much profit there is/was from those franchises. From memory, the East Midlands one was a good one for us & I don'treally remember too many reported negative issues from it.

This is quite a blow for us, but as I say, it looking through the link that has been posted on here by someone else relating to Richard Branson, reading between the lines it sounded to me like the Government want too much money for these franchises. More than Sgc wanted to pay by the sounds of it. we tried to negotiate something a bit more favorable, but this has seemingly gone down like a lead balloon.

That being the case, then in the long term it's better that than running a franchise, or franchises we cannot make any money out of, or worse making a loss.

I don't know if you remember this or not, but I remember National Express walking away from a rail franchise it was losing money on a few years ago. Doubtless it's share price dipped on the back of that but they seem to be doing well enough now.

@ Moniman.

After reading your link, I do sort of share your point about Richard Branson, especially with some of the things he is supposed to have behaved. Sueing the NHS, doesn't go down too well with the average man in the street. To say nothing of his meddlings over Brexit.

Of course, it is a cause for concern for SGC holders, with having such a large stake in Virgin.

But Brian Souter is reputedly no fool. He, I imagine will not want to spend Billions of £'s more on a franchise that he may not get any kind of return on, and who could blame him for that? I don't so Im guessing he tried to negotiate a better bid for these franchises but this has clearly failed. This may well not be a bad thing.

National Express walked away from a loss making rail franchise a few years back and they seem to be getting by ok. Just an observation.

Softcell, exactly right. I never ramp/dermal any share. I buy for my own reasons and leave others to do the same.

As I said, it's strange how Worldgoround has never been seen on this board before, and as with other shares that dive, gentlemen like this turn up with nothing better to do than stir the pot.

Maybe he has a point, maybe he is talking through his @rse. Time will tell.

Worldgoround. That's your opinion of course. And strange how you have not been seen on this board before.

Are you correct in your post? Who knows. Maybe, maybe not. Now go p155 on someone else's parade.

Ouch. Not good.

But that said, this low sp is not such a bad thing. As a long term holder myself, as long as the divvi is maintained (and I don't see any reason why not) then those like myself that reinvest it would get a few more extra shares out of it.

To me this one is reasonably recession proof. Plenty of people will always get the bus to work & back home again. Doubtless if/as times get tougher others may well ditch the car and get the bus, especially if they don't work too far from home.

The only downside I can see here is if the loss of these rail franchises eats into revenues/margins by a lot and affects future divvis. Hope I'm wrong and not too much damage is done. Time will tell.

Thanks Ian.

I do have a bit of a soft spot for Stagecoach. I have for some time to be fair, and I did think it was going to get a bit of a beasting today on the back of that rns, but didn't foresee it being this bad. I think it will recover though to some degree over time as it is a good well run company.

I have traded the swings on this one a couple of times & got a few freebies out of it.

I sold one of my other holdings and topped up here. Bought another 552 shares and averaged down a bit.

Wise decision? We shall see.

I quite agree. In the past, I've used East Midlands Trains many times in the course of getting to & coming home from work, along with First Transpenine & Northern rail.

Of the 3, I much preferred the EM trains, they are very pleasing to the eye inside the carriage, and the train crew top notch. First were great when I was working at the weekend, as having a season ticket I always got a complimentary upgrade to first class between the boarding/alighting stations. And Northern Rail, well I only used them when I had to.

Tfl be fair, I only bought into Sgc because of the service I got on emt.

Scary start this morning. Seems to have recovered back to where it was so this end seems to be factored into the sp now.

I'm considering using this sp drop to add here.

Exactly.

I would understand it more of Stagecoach was running Northern Rail after the debacle there but they were not.

Well have to see if it tanks or rises because of this. Fingers crossed.

A nice boost for profits once This is established there.

English Democrats leader starts High Court battle to prove UK has ALREADY left the EU on March 29 and further Brexit negotiations are pointless
Robin Tilbrook said Theresa May’s extension to the Brexit date was ‘null and void’
He said he had asked for the High Court to hear the case on an expedited basis
The English Democrats leader said Britain would be out of the EU on WTO terms

The leader of the English Democrats has launched a High Court battle claiming that the UK has already left the EU.

Robin Tilbrook argues that Britain left the union on March 29 as originally planned, saying the PM’s extension was not legally valid.

The legal bid will be seen as a Brexiteer equivalent to Gina Miller’s battle with the Government over triggering Article 50 in 2016.

Speaking to MailOnline last night Mr Tilbrook said the argument that Britain had already left was ‘very strong’.

In the judicial review application, the English Democrats argue that Mrs May did not have the power to extend the exit date past March 29.

‘Her purported request for an extension of the date of departure and the Government’s purported agreement to such an extension is and was unlawful and is and was null and void,’ the legal argument reads.

Parliament’s website asserts that the Commons and Lords agreed a legally valid extension to the original date.

Mr Tilbrook said: ‘What we’re hoping to achieve with it is a declaration that we’re already out. If you’ve read it, you can see that the argument’s very strong.

‘We’ve done it all, we started a month or so ago. We’ve served all the paperwork in advance and we’ve issued it today.

‘I fully expect it to be heard fairly soon. I’ve asked the High Court for it to be heard on an expedited basis. I think the argument’s strong that we’re out.

The English Democrats argue in their legal application that Theresa May (pictured last night) did not have the power to extend the exit date past March 29

‘The Government’s proceeding on the basis that we’re still in. We’re saying that’s not the case. If there’s a declaration from the High Court that we’re out, the Government’s got a new reality to deal with.’

The legal argument was posted online next to a donation button for the English Democrats but Mr Tilbrook insisted the High Court battle was ‘not an electioneering position’.

He said: ‘What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to raise money, obviously bringing a case like this is enormously expensive and we’re trying to raise money for the case.

‘We asked people to help us to bring a case, we have brought a case and we’re going to pursuit it.

‘The whole point of our case is that we’re out. This isn’t an electioneering position, this is a legal case.

‘We’re all pretty confident that our legal case is a strong one.’

If the case is successful then the UK will be outside the EU on WTO trading terms, Mr Tilbrook said.

He went on: ‘I don’t think from a standing start people on the Leave side were arguin

It seems genuine that this is happening.

Apparently, the original idea came from an appeal court Judge, and was followed up.

It sounds to me to be the Brexiteer's equivalent to Gina Miller.

This, should be very interesting.