Member Info for Yanar

Shorts coming through on ALY in advance of the update circa 16th Feb. Of note will be the UK on-line sales and the new overseas offerings (a major shift out of UK retail). Before people start capitulating it should be noted that ALY have been operating out of 538 Future Retail Stores in India between the last reporting period to date - this has not yet been shown in any previous figures. Also through the Nanjing concession in China, plus Chinese online sales. Both of these new offerings have the capacity to exceed the general falls associated with UK retail. Now is the time to buy, not sell. Expect a resumption of dividend in 2018.

AJ16. De-ramper!

AJ 16. You are a serial de-damper!

Not the Chinese, but the Indians. Future Retail (India) has taken a very close interest in Laura Ashley Lately. Probably kicking the tyres as we speak. Future Retai are seeking “brands” to compliment their portfolio - they have been collecting a few over the past 12 months. The Laura Ashley “brand” will sit well with their portfolio...... the money is in the brand! Take over highly likely IMHO. http://www.futureretail.in

Are you on drugs or something? Nice de-ramp, but no cigar!

The Chairman - Khoo Kay Peng is aged 78. He owns/controls 61% of the total shares in Laura Ashley. I think he will put the business up for sale!

It's not all bad news.... the company maintained it share of sales and ACTUALLY made a profit - albeit reduced. The question is who is going to make a play at buying/taking over this company? The chairman/major shareholder will probably be looking for an exit, because of his age - will this happen over the coming months or years? Who may buy it and at what price?

Three signs. 1. The number of store and on-line discounts at Laura Ashley are reducing. Are ALY winding back discounts, because sales are picking up? 2, The ALY catalogue came through our post box today. It was very good and felt quality (when companies are struggling the go thin and cheap - this was far from it). 3. We ordered a tripod lamp earlier this week. It still hasn't arrived. When I called, the lady said they are experiencing high volumes at the moment. It will be in store by the weekend. High volumes? Sounds positive. I think we will see some positive movement in the SP when the next RNS is issued over the coming weeks.

..... Future Group, India.

Yes.... but the order book does not show “dark pools,” which are batches of hidden orders maintained by large players who do not want their trading intentions known to other traders. The presence of dark pools reduces the utility of the order book to some extent, since there is no way of knowing whether the orders shown on the book are representative of true supply and demand for the stock. Manipulation can cause the SP to swing dramatically..... then swing dramatically back, as we are about to see here - to 20p imho.

The SP was walked down to sub 10p on no news (the profits warning was already baked into the 18p to 20p share price range imho). Now the MMs have loaded up, they are going to walk it back up. Seen this so many times!

So who bought 10.1 Million shares today? This has clearly been driven down, a MM has swooped in and swept up a lot of shares. Watch the price rocket now!

......... Basically Laura Ashley have had a bad year (a one-off blip), NEXT also has a blip, so did M&S, in line with the rest of the market - doesnt mean the sky is going to fall in! Even during the darkest years of the last crash ALY maintained profit and dividend. I don't subscribe to this value trap none sense. The pundits have been spouting value trap from 2007 to present, and the SP has defied this. When they have a good year the SP will bounce back. Let's put this into perspective sales are down 3% ish and profit is down from 11m to 7.8m for the first 6 months... just a blip!!!

Rumour is, we are in takeover territory now. Watch this space.

Yes I have heard of "value trap" - it was mentioned after the last crash, and subsequent years from 2008 to present. The SP has consistently defied this assumption by appreciating dramatically and offering a healthy dividend in the year following the last sales and profit warning.... all the way upto circa 30p last time. Sentiment has driven both ALY and the wider sector down, not fundamentals. Buy on Fear.

The company is still generating a profit and paying dividends. But on fear!

I don't. I think the bottom has been overshot and someone is taking advantage. Laura Ashley have been aggressively gaining market share at the expense of Next, M&S and Debenhams - as per their recent updates. With an RNS due in the next 8 weeks and a 0.5p dividend, this is looking rather attractive IMHO.

You might find this IS the bottom..... buying shares on a rise normally means (for the average punter) it is too late!

Lots of stop losses triggered today. Looks like someone is putting a big buy through. Nows the time to buy imho!

0.5p announced (interim), plus think we will see 1p (Final). This would give circa 9% at the current rate....... and always "buy when the market capitulates", as we have seen here. One to tuck away in an ISA/SiPP and reap the dividend rewards over the coming years. I did the same in 2009. Best performing share stock appreciation+dividend I've ever held!