Card Factory Share Discussion Threads

[scobak] 03/10/2024 20:18

Dipping his toe in the water, so to speak.

[bountyhunter] 03/10/2024 19:23

That's my point that he's not wasting it, he clearly believes it's a sensible tine to buy and a director buy is far preferable to a sale even if only for 4.5k.

[riverman77] 03/10/2024 19:17

Well he's not wasting 4.5k - at the very least he'll almost certainly get his money back in a few years. It's not as if he's thrown the money down the drain. Buying such tiny amounts almost looks worse than not buying at all.

[bountyhunter] 03/10/2024 17:54

But why would even a director waste 4.5k if he didn't believe it was a good time to invest? I seriously doubt that it's an altruistic gesture.

[farrugia] 03/10/2024 17:42

4.5k is nothing for a director. its bad enough that sometimes you get director buys yet the stock still continues its downward trajectory. Director purchases have to be bulky to mean anything.

[bountyhunter] 03/10/2024 17:25

No one throws away 4.5k

[gswredland] 03/10/2024 11:19

Looking like this is heading back to the low 90's again

[napoleon 14th] 03/10/2024 10:31

CARD - up your prices!
There's enough headroom to do that.
The competition (for what's left of it) still can't match a statrting price of 79p
instead of 59p. I suspect rises could be implemented across the range
without seriously impacting our competivity whilst seriously improving profits
and the share price.

[fft] 03/10/2024 09:53

The only positive point is that CARD is not AIM so no potential IHT issues arising from the budget at the end of this month. But many investors seem to be nervous about what RR may do/plan and perhaps a relief rally will only start early November.

[fft] 03/10/2024 09:49

Absolutely regarding the floor. It will be interesting to see what BB does. He knows retail way better than we do. I would guess he is waiting to see more details of the USA deal - though, given his contacts elsewhere I suspect he already is way ahead of us on this. If it is a viable way forward that greatly offsets/reduces the impact of UK wage increases, that would be a big positive for the share price Roll on the USA update !

[everton448] 03/10/2024 09:17

Problem is it is hard to see where the floor for this is now. 90p seems very likely but could easily hit 80p given that the market no longer seems to believe that the full year results will meet expectations and it traded at 90p when confidence in meeting those expectations seemed greater

[farrugia] 03/10/2024 09:16

Rising salaries for low margin businesses is a problem. I don't mean Card Factory in particular because if their cards are so cheap they could probably increase them a bit to compensate. But what about other more 'normal' businesses like Flowtech Fluidpower and Headlam Group...etc What is the real issue these companies are underperforming like so many others. Could it be that the hike in salaries is basically eliminating any profit they make? And then on top of it if you're lucky enough to make any profit government takes 25%.

[amt] 03/10/2024 08:55

I don't think people are that altruistic.

[everton448] 03/10/2024 08:50

Sort of purchase that says I have to buy some because I am the senior independent director but I don't really have much confidence in the business so I'm not going to put and serious money into it. Absolutely risible.

[fft] 03/10/2024 08:35

Would have been better not to have done it.

[johndoe23] 03/10/2024 08:32

A whopping 4.5k

[amt] 03/10/2024 08:30

Director buying, so obviously they think its cheap

[johndoe23] 03/10/2024 08:25

Looks nailed on test of 90p now

[brucie5] 02/10/2024 14:43

ggrantsu, good post. I hold for a 3rd party income folio, where I bought from hereabouts; I did think of selling into the rise and then again on the recent update, but the restoration of the interim dividend signifies a strategic confidence, which makes the recent pullback deeply tempting. Suffice to say, I'm hovering over the buy button, though I fully expect it to touch .90 on this extreme bout of pessimism. But this is where value investors can really have the edge over the more flighty momentum seekers. While I get the pressure of rising wages, the question is to what extent this compromises the business model, which seems simple and scalable. And possibly, they just have to put up the price of their cards, to the extent that they don't drive their regular customers away. I tend to buy my occasional cards from Sainsbury's and if i want one, will hardly look at the cost, if the product suits the sentiment I wish to convey.

[bbonsall] 02/10/2024 09:31

You never know things might change when we know who the US partner is! Going to be active across all the States in time for Christmas.
Also, remember how undervalued this cash generating, profit making, dividend paying and debt reducing company is. At existing EPS of 14p this should be trading north of £2. Even if EPS were to fall to 10p it should still be trading at £1.50 plus.

[everton448] 02/10/2024 07:11

Back into the 90s today by the look of things. I wonder if it will test 12 month lows? Likely to be a lot of doubts about whether the end of year targets will be met.

[chester9] 01/10/2024 21:05

They have invested in a workforce management system. This then needs to justify itself by saving Card more than its cost. It sounds like the fun has gone as people like working with people. Not just thin on the ground and feeling unloved. Getting people at the right time is hard, but if they are too thin they may lose a lot of experienced team, good observation Elsa.

[elsa7878] 01/10/2024 20:05

My local store (not saying where) I've always used as a barometer of how the company is doing. Good location and busy town. Word is that the card market has been increasingly difficult with people saying the cost of postage has meant they are buying fewer cards. Also to compensate for additional staff costs, hours have been cut across the store such that 3 full time staff is now 2 and a half. This is worked out on the basis of head office stipulating a maximum number of hours per week per store. The consequence has been that the 2 members are having to work much harder and are frequently on till duty and not on the shop floor. The repercussions have been felt both in terms of getting product on the shelves and on shoplifting. The manager had said they were applying for work elsewhere, which bearing in mind I have known them for about a year and how enthusiastic they had been is a huge loss.