Member Info for unhooked

I've already tried catching a falling knife with this share and my hand is suitably bloodied - I won't be adding more. The running commentary on the share price is not because I expect riches next week, far from it, it more reflects my deep shock at the seemingly endless rout. Yup, I better stop looking daily at this - into the dusty drawer it goes!

I'm getting a buy quote under 30p - 29.80p to be precise - that's approaching the all-time lows of March 2020. Remarkable.

...decline. If there are any mug LTHs like me left, this share has not finished with us yet! Today's decline possibly caused by the trashing of the management and company at last night's Mello, per a poster on the other forum.

*don't

5001, really? That's a sad indictment of the UK... and I know why... despite our great heritage, we doesn't put any value on engineering any more. Here, bright graduates want to be traders or banksters or some such. In India, where I was brought up for a part of my early life, they love engineering - over there it's on a similar status to medicine or the law. If their kid is clever and they have the dosh, they all want them to study engineering at Imperial College. If you check Imperial, there's hardly a Brit enrolled there. Sorry, deviating a bit, but that's my take on why Costain can only get low-rent projects which they can't deliver on budget. Sad.

Slave, right. Costain used to be involved in all these prestigious and relatively high margin projects abroad, what happened to those? Nowadays the company can't even price up a by-pass correctly.

Entirely possible Mando, I'm just catching up with this fact. The main thing is he hasn't cashed out but has his money tied up in shares. Good.

I feel much better. If MM wants to get his hands on lots of cold, hard cash, he's strongly incentivised to get the share price up by Spring 2022, right?

Ah, I thought he'd been paid his £800 ml bonus in cash, but no, they are in shares which he cannot sell until March 2022. So not £800 ml then, more like £200 ml... whoops!

Don't be amazed by the 25% drop. Well, be amazed on fundamentals perhaps, but not on market sentiment - I've a couple of holdings which have dropped more than 50% in the past 3 months, on no relevant news!!! It's just an awful time to be investing in the UK and has been since about April. So disappointing after the gains we enjoyed from vaccine news in November 2020 to April 2021. It feels like we've given it all back.
Anyway, I must be a glutton for more punishment as I've just bought in here!

Since we're playing an honest game of 'admit your worst LTHs', mine would be Standard Chartered Bank: still two thirds down after purchase several years ago - loss aversion keeps me in it, but if I'm honest to myself I know I'll probably never get my money back in my lifetime, lol.

Interesting (and sad) to see many LTHs of this share. In a way, I can understand why when I remember what a storied company Costain is and what a fine reputation it once had. My old man (long deceased) was a senior civil engineer and had many dealings, including joint venture projects in the middle east, with Costain. He considered them to be amongst the very best out there - superb civil and consultant engineers - and that was the general view of Costain. Where the f did it all go so wrong??

Thanks for the explanation. My insight is that it's a damn sight easier trading an appreciating share then a declining one!

They tipped Venture Life and Purplebricks, lol - kiss of death!

Vox Market's recent tips have been rubbish. Can't see any news to explain today's 8% decline. A major holder selling?

Well, you were spot on with yr prediction 42trader, wish I'd listened to you! Let's see if this support level holds.

CaneToad, you say 90% lose money trading, but also tell us you've never lost a penny trading Capita. What's your secret?

Wathchman, thanks, I didn't actually know she was his wife. Ok, that could be a large potential overhang.
Charles, cheers, that ft link works!
Antropica, fwiw, I'm also in AWE. I think you're right to draw some parallels with these 2 recent IPOs. The stories differ, but the way reputational issues dovetail with natural uncertainties, because both are new to market, seem to be similar. I recently bought in there.
Back to Darktrace. Given Lynch's close association & mentoring of some of the board (as Charles says), if this goes the wrong way I could see them becoming directly implicated and this getting messy! Ah, to get one's hands on an unbiased legal appraisal!

You are reading my mind Antropica. I am also concerned that I cannot find any well reasoned arguments about the financial effects, if any, of a negative outcome. If the case is spooking the markets and affecting recent share price movements, as Lending suggests, then does it imply direct financial consequences? Again, Lynch may be a founder, or the founder, but he doesn't actually have an official role at the company. These are criminal proceedings. That said, presumably they relate to the Hewlett-Packard takeover of Autonomy, Lynch's previous venture, which has been the subject of a long standing and major civil case. Darktrace is a recent IPO and money managers are getting all hot under the collar about esg considerations. In that context, could reputational alone be enough to send the share price into a tail spin?

I'd say these are really important matters for shareholders (or prospective shareholders, like me) to think on.

Sadly I can't read that article - it's behind a paywall.
Who is Patel, please?
Although Lynch is a fairly major shareholder (4.4%), I don't think he's on the board and nor does he have any (official) managerial role at the company. Therefore what financial effects, if any, might the extradition might have on Darktrace? I'm noting these are criminal not civil proceedings.
I'm not being lazy, I've trawled the internet trying to get answers before asking here. Be grateful for any thoughts.