Marks And Spencer Share Discussion Threads

[isis] 10/6/2011 17:14

Lloyds has fallen 25% and many others have fallen more than 10% too.

Let's see what US earnings bring, these in between phases tend to give everyone the Jitters and allows the shorts to play havoc.

[artnouveau] 10/6/2011 17:11

If you'd asked me two weeks ago if M&S would fall from £4.10 to £3.58 in matter of weeks I wouldn't have taken it seriously. So, given Next, Halfords and M&S are performing well in the current retail environment I am surprised by the size of their fall in shareprice. Simple as that. ArtN

[isis] 10/6/2011 17:06

Great call? FTSE down 400 points DOW down 600pts! LOL

[artnouveau] 10/6/2011 17:05

Have to say great call on the short side for those trading retail stocks. For me I'm buying in the medium term and looking to re-increase my holding again next week in my ISA. ArtN

[nickward] 10/6/2011 14:25

isis

Call it top slice if you will, it is still a short position, another good short currently in progress from 830 is ENRC now at 767.

[isis] 09/6/2011 21:45

Argos has been affected mainly by the slump in Electricals which most people have, even those on benefits all have the latest gadgets.
M&S said it was exiting Electrical Goods earlier this year - not that it was ever a major player anyhow:-

HOME RETAIL SHARES SLUMP AS SALES SLIDE


Argos owner Home Retail has sparked more worries about the stuttering ­economic recovery

Friday June 10,2011
By Philip Waller
Have your say(0)
ARGOS owner Home Retail sparked more worries about the stuttering ­economic recovery yesterday by unveiling a sales slump and saying confidence was returning to credit-crunch levels.
Home Retail, which also owns the Homebase chain, said belt-tightening shoppers were turning their backs on big-ticket items such as digital TVs in addition to audio equipment and video games.
The group blamed a bigger-than-expected fall in the sales of consumer electronics for a 9.6 per cent decline in Argos sales in the 13 weeks to May 28, against forecasts of a 4 to 7 per cent decrease.
In a consumer electronics market down about a fifth, Argos held on to its share by selling more laptops, while sales of smaller items like toys, garden furniture and barbecues also did well.
Chief executive Terry Duddy said it was clear shoppers were tightening their belts amid growing concern about the economic downturn, tax rises and government cutbacks.
"Underlying confidence has dropped off significantly and is getting back to credit-crunch levels," he said.
Belt-tightening shoppers are turning their backs on big-ticket items
Shares in Home Retail fell more than 13 per cent to a two-and-a-half-year low, declining 27¾p to 175p, after it said trading conditions proved more difficult and volatile than anticipated between March and May.
Argos now expects a mid-single-digit decline in like-for-like sales in 2011-12. The company said a store refurbishment programme at Argos was helping to offset the problems, with 150 stores upgraded and a further 200 face-lifts planned this year.
Argos is also hoping for a boost from the roll-out of children's clothing ranges next month and a new Argos TV channel.
Homebase boosted sales by 1.6 per cent and gained market share as the warm Easter weather fuelled demand for seasonal items like garden furniture and plants. Sales of such ­big-ticket items as kitchens suffered but demand for fitted bedroom furniture and ­bathrooms carried on as the company rolled out a new installation service and in-store displays.


Read more:

[tigerbell] 09/6/2011 21:37

isis, I to have gone short on M&S, bought in at £3.88 and making a very tidy profit, using igmarkets, swing trading cfd's, but I will just as easy go long if the graph tells me that the next trend is an upward one, trading is trading and emotion is the last thing that I feel about any share, it's just trading imho.

[isis] 09/6/2011 19:41

nickward - but M&S have gone from 200p - 400p

Perhaps you are just trying to Top Slice?

[nickward] 09/6/2011 18:15

Alphahunter
Retailing is my favourite short; any retailer with a whiff of hardship is a good bet. It can get choppy, so you need to be ready to close quickly if the scales tip because there are Longs out there, still buying into dips, who haven't changed their mind set yet. Banks are another favourite, they are all still technically bankrupt in my view, and any other business in their position would have been liquidated long ago. Also banks could also get turned-over for failing to meet their lending targets for small business if Cameron and Osborn have the balls to do it. It will take some balls and I doubt if either of them any have any. However the government are terrified of bad publicity -NHS Privatisation, Selling Forests and Prison Reform have all led to U turns so if the media blows it up a bit who knows. The banks still have few skeletons in their cupboards that they are keeping quiet about and that makes them good for a short when conditions are right. Obviously you need to do your own research which I am sure you do otherwise you wouldn't have gone short on M&S. Best of luck

[isis] 09/6/2011 09:57

M&S were one of the first to do this and it is very useful:-

Tesco boss: internet sales and stores can work together
Clicks and bricks are the way ahead, says new Tesco chief executive Philip Clarke, as he explains vision for world's third-largest retailer

Share

Zoe Wood
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 8 June 2011 20.18 BST
Article history

Tesco chief executive Philip Clarke says the retailer must become 'multichannel' if it is to stay successful. Photograph: Tesco/PA
The most powerful man in British retail says the industry is entering a new era as the worlds of online and offline sales collide.

In his first official speech as Tesco chief executive on Wednesday, Philip Clarke said new technology was changing the way consumers and companies behaved and announced various initiatives, including offering groceries as part of its "Click & Collect" service for the first time.

"A decade ago most people put the internet in a silo, a discrete part of their business," he said. "Our big opportunity is to become a multichannel retailer, using our stores to support our online offer and vice versa."

For the last decade the vogue has been for home delivery, as the internet turned the traditional bricks and mortar retail model into "bricks and clicks", but Clarke told the British Retail Consortium conference the digital revolution had "turbocharged globalisation" and was "leapfrogging old structures".

"We now live in a multichannel world," he said, adding that three in 10 UK adults now owned a smartphone and 5% a tablet computer. "So when we talk about the future of the high street, we have to see it in this context, not put it in some silo or reserve. That's not how consumers view the world anymore. Their high street, their computer, their smartphone – all these offer different ways of shopping and all are converging."

The migration of retail sales to the internet had been considered bad news for established chains like Tesco, but Clarke said store groups were in the ascendant: "If you can put the two together [internet shopping and stores] you have an advantage, at least for now," he said.

Clarke said that by the end of this year shoppers would be able to collect orders of electricals, clothing and homewares placed through its home-shopping business, Tesco Direct, from 600 stores, double the existing number. After a successful trial he said the service would be expanded to include food shopping, although the retailer, which is due the update the City on first-quarter sales next Tuesday, gave no date for the start of this.

Last month Clarke presented his new vision for the world's third-largest retailer to staff, promising to continue to course set by Sir Terry Leahy, whom he replaced in March. "I see my job is to build on the terrific legacy I have inherited ... that does not mean sweeping changes. Far from it." He has modified Tesco's strategy to include a number of new goals, including the creation of global retail brands, and becoming a multichannel retailer in all 14 of the countries where it trades.

Clarke also promised to nurture its domestic business, which despite ringing up almost one pound in every seven spent on the UK high street has lagged behind rivals such as Sainsbury's and Morrisons in sales growth. Despite is recent underperformance, Tesco remains the dominant force in UK retail, with a market share of more than 30%. It is estimated that 13% of all the MasterCard and Visa credit card transactions in the UK are made on a Tesco credit card.

UK grocery sales had been weaker in May than in the previous month, when trade benefited from the good weather and extra public holiday, said Clarke. He added that shoppers were "very, very hard pressed" by higher petrol prices.

He added that inflation in Tesco stores was much lower than a recent British Retail Consortium survey, which measured it at 4.9%. Shoppers were reducing the impact of higher prices by buying more goods on promotion and switching to cheaper own-brand goods, he said.

The Tesco boss also said he was "anxious" to be involved in the government-backed review of the high street being carried out by TV retail guru Mary Portas, who in a recent interview was critical of the impact of big retailers like Tesco, and made reference to the recent riot that severely damaged a Bristol store: "You don't just want huge chains with no meaning to the community," she said.

Asked if Tesco was too big, Clarke said: "We need to be valued not only by our shareholders, but by the communities we serve." He said the chain played a "vital" role on high streets around the country: "I look forward to engaging in a wider debate about the future of the high street."

[alphahunter] 09/6/2011 08:05

Covering half my short position now.

[isis] 08/6/2011 11:49

I always find Alphaville very bearish and do the opposite of what they say, has worked so far. ;-))

[alphahunter] 08/6/2011 11:47

Hop, back in, Tesco just said May quieter than April but still see slow consumer recovery. Add to that that Ahold struggled to pass on food price increases as per yesterday's conf call, the backwind from rotation into defensive stocks seen in the last two months may tail off for retailers.

Tesco has been strong lately, on the possibility that they could pull the plug in the US? Now I'm really off to Alphaville.

[alphahunter] 08/6/2011 11:29

Isis,



1) estimates, not census
2) +2.7m since "the 2001 Census".

for good measure, I'm pasting the chart for France:



Ah, la belle France, avec sa politique familiale volontariste, sa politique de reduction d'impots en fonction du nombre d'enfants a charge, ses nombreuses creches municipales pour familles modestes, ses conges parentaux etendus, etc, etc,...

Sorry, I can't make it in Polish! I thought there was a net outflow of Poles in the last two years given the dire state of our economy compared to Poland's and the weaker financial arbitrage between the two countries for low-skilled labour according to one of the very good Polish redecorator that did my place 12 months ago.
The GBP/Zloty exchange rate has not improved since: ( I'm sure that Ryanair has a better idea than me though.

I think that the booking and complex multi-tiered tariff system for train tickets is a shamble, I'm not sure that the Poles have got much to do with it.

Well, I'm glad that you are active in the equity market.

Now I'm late for the Alphaville Session. I'm off.

[isis] 08/6/2011 10:47

Alpha - the figures on population are taken from the 2001 Census - we have over 1million Poles alone from then and there is an immigrant Baby boom.
A lot of people never even filled in the Census, everywhere is packed to the Rafters, you can't even got on the Tube Platforms in London and you have to book an appointment just to buy a Train Ticket!

[alphahunter] 08/6/2011 10:45

Isis,

I personally don't rely on rallies here and there, in the Summer or for Santa to manage my positions unless I have very good reason to override a bottom-up view with a top-down call.

As far as the dividend is concerned, come on, the stock is already trading ex-dividend, the shorts have already been charged for it and you'll get it in your bank account soon. But check your facts, just like the "UK has the second largest population in [Western] Europe".

No offence.


Nickward,

Any stocks or sectors you are currently looking at or you are already short?
Cheers

[isis] 08/6/2011 10:09

May have a Summer Rally next month as earnings come out in the US.

There is also 10.8p in Dividends to come, shorts seem to have forgotten. ;-))

[nickward] 08/6/2011 09:42

Tigerbell

Thats because guys like me are shorting it, this is my second short from 400p this year and your close to the mark, looking for £3.40 short term. Economic hardship should start to hit in about 6 months time with the cutbacks filtering in. It doesn't take much to take a huge chunck of the margin away when areas of the country where the cuts will hurt the most (the North) start to cut back. The poor performance from Northern branches will quickly strip the profits out of Southern operations. It won't take much a 20 to 30% cut back in spending in the North of the country would have a very significant effect on profits.

Only my opinion, others may differ, thats what makes this game fun!

[alphahunter] 08/6/2011 09:36

Execution, execution, execution,...!

1) Researching the info
2) Interpretating the impact
3) Executing the trade

Well, as much as I can say that the short position opened at 400p in MKS has paid off (down more than 4% even after adjusting for the dividend payment), I am actually kicking myself for not EXECUTING the other idea, e.g. for not opening a long position in Majestic Wines as per the post dated 24th, up 3.7% since in a declining market. As I'm no momentum player (never really got the rational behind: buying stocks that other have done ahead of you and are happy to sell them back to you), I won't chase it.

I will need to close this MKS position - again the brokers did raise their forecast (I was expecting the opposite given the emphasis on cost and investments in the release) and need to replace it with another short holding. I have just read the Governement Construction Strategy papers and this - combined with an allegedly sharp decline in order intake - make me thinks that UK-Centric (and US if one listenned to Bernanke yesterday) construction-dependent companies may face some heavy headwinds - a bit like Defence stocks did last year ahead of the spending review -.

[tigerbell] 07/6/2011 16:46

Well for some reason, this price keeps falling, looks like it won't start going up again until it hits around £3.40ish, IMHO, should take around 3-4 weeks, this is my view as a chartist, bearing in mind I've not been doing this long, has anyone else got any views on this price.

[artnouveau] 07/6/2011 11:47

I wonder where people are cutting back though. M&S figures don't show anyone cutting back on their goods and each and every time I go in an M&S it's stacked with shoppers, particularly on the food side. ArtN

[tigerbell] 07/6/2011 11:37

Maybe this explains the reason for the drop in price, saw this article on sky news:
High Street Spending Falls Back Again
7:21am UK, Tuesday June 07, 2011

The latest retail sales figures give a much clearer picture of the spending squeeze facing the UK high street.


While April's spike in trading - thanks largely to the late Easter, good weather and Bank Holiday bonanza - lifted takings for stores, predictions of a fall in sales last month proved true, according to the British Retail Consortium.

The BRC says shoppers shied away from clothing, footwear and big ticket items in May, with sales values 2.1% lower on a like-for-like basis compared with a year ago.

It says the figures, which also showed a 0.3% drop in total sales, demonstrate that rising inflation, low wage growth and uncertainty surrounding Government cuts have all hit confidence.

[isis] 03/6/2011 16:52

Director Buy:-

Director/PDMR Shareholding
Share this article
TIDMMKS

RNS Number : 8509H

Marks & Spencer Group PLC

03 June 2011

NOTIFICATION OF TRANSACTIONS OF DIRECTORS, PERSONS DISCHARGING MANAGERIAL RESPONSIBILITY OR CONNECTED PERSONS

This form is intended for use by an issuer to make a RIS notification required by DR 3.1.4R(1).


(1) An issuer making a notification in respect of a transaction
relating to the shares or debentures of the issuer should
complete boxes 1 to 16, 23 and 24.
(2) An issuer making a notification in respect of a derivative
relating to the shares of the issuer should complete boxes
1 to 4, 6, 8, 13, 14, 16, 23 and 24.
(3) An issuer making a notification in respect of options
granted to a director/person discharging managerial responsibilities
should complete boxes 1 to 3 and 17 to 24.
(4) An issuer making a notification in respect of a financial
instrument relating to the shares of the issuer (other
than a debenture) should complete boxes 1 to 4, 6, 8,
9, 11, 13, 14, 16, 23 and 24.

Please complete all relevant boxes in block capital letters.

1. Name of the issuer

MARKS AND SPENCER GROUP PLC

2. State whether the notification relates to

(i) a transaction notified in accordance with DR 3.1.4R(1)(a); or

(ii) DR 3.1.4(R)(1)(b) a disclosure made in accordance with section 793 of the Companies Act 2006; or

(iii) both (i) and (ii)

DISCLOSURE RELATES TO POINT (i)

3. Name of person discharging managerial responsibilities/director

ROBERT SWANNELL

4. State whether notification relates to a person connected with a person discharging managerial responsibilities/director named in 3 and identify the connected person

N/A

5. Indicate whether the notification is in respect of a holding of the person referred to in 3 or 4 above or in respect of a non-beneficial interest

DISCLOSURE RELATES TO POINT 3

6. Description of shares (including class), debentures or derivatives or financial instruments relating to shares

ORDINARY 25p SHARES

7. Name of registered shareholders(s) and, if more than one, the number of shares held by each of them

HEARTWOOD NOMINEES

8 State the nature of the transaction

PURCHASE

9. Number of shares, debentures or financial instruments relating to shares acquired

30,000 ORDINARY SHARES

10. Percentage of issued class acquired (treasury shares of that class should not be taken into account when calculating percentage)

DE MINIMIS

11. Number of shares, debentures or financial instruments relating to shares disposed

N/A

12. Percentage of issued class disposed (treasury shares of that class should not be taken into account when calculating percentage)

N/A

13. Price per share or value of transaction

GBP3.788

14. Date and place of transaction

3 JUNE 2011, LONDON

15. Total holding following notification and total percentage holding following notification (any treasury shares should not be taken into account when calculating percentage)

100,000 ORDINARY SHARES

16. Date issuer informed of transaction

3 JUNE 2011

If a person discharging managerial responsibilities has been granted options by the issuer complete the following boxes

17 Date of grant

....................................

18. Period during which or date on which it can be exercised

....................................

19. Total amount paid (if any) for grant of the option

....................................

20. Description of shares or debentures involved (class and number)

....................................

....................................

21. Exercise price (if fixed at time of grant) or indication that price is to be fixed at the time of exercise

....................................

22. Total number of shares or debentures over which options held following notification

....................................

23. Any additional information

24. Name of contact and telephone number for queries

ANDREW GREEN

020 8718 9984

Name and signature of duly authorised officer of issuer responsible for making notification

ANDREW GREEN

Date of notification

3 JUNE 2011

END

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

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