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Always happens with a distressed share. A segment of LTHs disappear to lick their wounds never to return, who are replaced by a wave of bottom feeders, enthusiastic and fresh to battle, convinced they've found a raving bargain.

Very.

BOO, MADE, JOUL, STU...... on it goes... We could do with a change of sentiment, or luck, or something!

Can't quite believe the extent to which online retailers are getting walloped atm - down 50-80% in a year would be a typical performance for many. Sadly, I'm in a number of them, lol.

Improved volumes I can believe - seen loads of Dx lorries rushing around nw London.

Anecdotally, they look run down and could all do with a good clean - maybe they're too busy, lol.

Reports today of people loading up on credit cards just to stay afloat - if the Great British Consumer comes under siege later in the year, that won't be good for Joules (or most of my other consumer-facing stocks for that matter).

Anyway, I'm in so time to take the positivity pill...

Agree. In these situations Blackrock is often first to the door. They say they have sufficient liquidity but de-stressing the balance sheet via a capital raise must be one of the options they have in mind when talking about a review of their going concern status.

I've taken a small 'sporty punt' here...

Yup, overall BGS hasn't done anything in 3 years, but it's been volatile within - when it moves (up or down), it really moves.

I'm afraid I came too late to the party here and missed the stellar returns of a few years ago. Although the companies this trust invests in are small cap, growthy and domestically focussed, somehow I feel performance is influenced by markets in their oversized neighbour, China, which have been weak lately.

But it would be nice to see these 'wins' translate into share price rises... patience, patience... lol.

... but no update on the corporate governance issue including any news on the lifting of the share suspension. How long must we wait?

I'm unconvinced of the talents of the managers. I think they opportunistically took over management on a juicy 1% of NAV (no performance fee) when the Trust was in a somewhat distressed state, with the BOD urgently scrabbling around trying to find a successor to Woodford. There were few takers given the Trust's indebtedness and the 'toxicity' (as it was seen) of the Woodford portfolio, so it was an easy 'win' for the Schroder Juniors. The loss on JMAT wasn't huge, but I fear it's indicative. I hated their pompous hubris when announcing that investment. Very poor.

So, future success remains almost entirely dependent on the punts of a manager sacked more than 2 years ago. Can anyone tell me that two of the Trust's biggest holdings outside of ONT, namely Atom Bank and Rutherford Health, have a great future? We've been waiting *years* for them to come good.

I'm sorry to be so negative, but before I'm accused of being a shorter or some such, I should say that I originally bought large at 80p and then topped up aggressively at 40p, with no sells, so am heavily underwater. I have never had and will never have such a big loss in pounds, shillings & pence as with this investment. Ok, I've made it back elsewhere, but it sure took a while.

Why don't I just get out and crystallise my loss? Curiosity (because this is indeed a "special situstion")... plus, a big kick of loss aversion.

Stating the obvious, an investment here is a bet on Woodford's legacy picks coming good. If you want talented specialist managers funding interesting private equities on a continuing basis, look elsewhere. Check OCI, which illustrates the returns available from private equity investing done well. Thank God I also invested in that.

Thanks. I am a surprised they need to borrow money to fund an increase in working capital simply because they need to hold a bit more stock.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_tZx_JKfQY

Nice one, hellyeah.

Anybody concerned about the debt? In the statement they say:
"We are exploring a range of options to meet the resultant working capital funding requirement, including discussing the current level of our working capital facilities with our long-standing UK lenders. Studio currently has a fully drawn revolving credit facility of £50m and, with a 12-month EBITDA of c.£50m, is well within its key gearing covenant of 1.75x."

Researching another stock, I came across this piworld interview with Schroder's Andy Brough, dated 30/04/21.

He gets plenty wrong (for instance in the video he makes a 3-minute pitch for Studio Retail Group, which tanked today), but later, when bringing up THG in the context of high P/E companies and poor quality accounting, he *totally nails it*. Around 35:30.

https://www.piworld.co.uk/education-videos/piworld-andy-broughs-3-minute-stockslam-other-gems/

Could somebody help me out please? In the update they highlight an 82% increase in revenues and 70% increase in adjusted EBITDA on 2020 numbers.... but the company only floated in October 2020. So, when making the 2020 comparison, are they including the 9 months when it was still private?

Or soon to put in another low-ball offer?

Very quiet board, given what happened today.

Everybody in their bunkers?

Myself, I'm surprised at the extent of the decline considering it was all pretty much telegraphed in the statement of 25th November.

...to sell.

It's a funny old company this one. When I compare the awful trading update of just 2 months ago against this one... it's bizarre... and I feel sorry for those who felt compelled in December.