Fisher (james) & Sons Share Discussion Threads

[phillis] 07/7/2020 12:59

?
I know we certainly disagreed about the Stooge poster on RPC

[bouleversee] 07/7/2020 12:16

Curious to know why Phillis has been filtered.

[phillis] 07/7/2020 11:33

Hmm!

Still seems overvalued despite the fall from grace

[our haven] 24/6/2020 12:24

Interesting going's on this morning and now a price extension.Something afoot?

[florenceorbis] 09/6/2020 07:20

FSJ Peel Hunt Buy - 1,800.00 Initiates/Starts

[tday] 12/5/2020 09:49

Years ago I was a fan of FSJ, but IMHO the shares have been overvalued for a long time. The PEG isn't great, so unless and until the p/e drops further, I will remain on the side-lines.

[garth] 05/5/2020 07:39

bouleversee,

Take care of yourself. Worries press in. But life is more precious than any of those other things that tend to weigh on us. I find it so easy to worry and strive - but what good does it do me? Sometimes sitting and reading, enjoying the fresh air of the garden and listening to the birds is exactly what body and soul need. Maybe this is a time to make a truce with some of the bits of the garden you can't manage? Long grass and wild flowers have a beauty of their own if we can find the grace to make peace with them.

Best wishes.

G.

[roddiemac2] 04/5/2020 19:30

boule,

hxxps://sirjohnfisherfoundation.org.uk/

Worth a read: note his involvement in the evacuation of Dunkirk and the D day landings.

They give grants of about two million a year to very good causes.

Don`t let all the bad news get to you. We don`t have a TV. I prefer to read a newspaper. I have spent a little more than two years clearing the land here ,and planting trees. I would turn my attention to the house again( I fitted a kitchen last summer and installed partial central heating) but I can`t get the materials now. I see this as a blessing in disguise . I was a part time builder for many years :part time being the operative words. My aim was always to do just enough to finance my interests.I am working harder on this place than I did before I retired , over twenty years ago.I have been effectively self isolating since I bought the place!

[bouleversee] 04/5/2020 14:50

What does the JF Foundation do? Perhaps it could help us elderly pensioners who have invested in FSJ all their adult life, encouraged sprogs to do the same, gifted FSJ shares to grandsprogs, sung FSJ's praises to all and sundry and now find ourselves losing half of our life-savings, and (in my case, anyway)almost all, literally, of dividend income, and not enough time left to make it back again, in my case at any rate. Hope the rest of you are luckier.

I keep thinking it's a bad dream from which I will wake up; so many bizarre experiences (inc. burglary, conservatory roof exploding) so difficult to deal with when self-isolating in solitary confinement and nobody to have a laugh with about it all, with no help in garden or house so absolutely no time even to finish reading the newspapers let alone watch anything on TV. Where and when will it end? A long, long sleep is beginning to sound very appealing.

[roddiemac2] 04/5/2020 13:58

The Regent Trust Co was the dealing arm of the Sir John Fisher Foundation.

To have the Sir John Fisher Foundation as a holder of nearly 23% of the shares must be a stabilising force in the market for the shares.

[roddiemac2] 01/5/2020 13:48

illis,

I too rely on dividends and capital gains ( remember them ? ) to supplement a very small government pension. " foolhardy or brilliant " ----my position exactly. Is this beginning to sound like:- might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb ?

Thanks for your comments about the Regent Trust Co. It has been three years since I had a copy of the printed annual accounts. As you know , they always showed a list of notifiable holders, and I remembered Mr Jackson ( trustee of the Sir John Fisher foundation )showing as about 16%: now 22.975%.I have spoken with someone at the Sir John Fisher Foundation, and was told that The Regent Trust Co. has merged with The Sir John Fisher Trust. The regent Trust Co.was also set up by Sir John Fisher and always held FSJ shares. I am guessing that the regular payments made from the Regent Trust Co to the Sir John Fisher Foundation were the dividend payments from their FSJ shares. Perhaps the Regent trust Co. was included in the list of major holders in the printed annual accounts. I don`t remember. I hope I have not caused too much confusion on this subject. I got the wrong end of the stick initially.

[illiswilgig] 01/5/2020 13:07

Boule,

no problem, I wasn't trying to answer a question as such, but your mention did make me more intrigued.......

from your message no1953

.....and now we have the Regent Trust Co. selling their entire 7.67% holding, and the price dropped back to around 13.10 before starting to climb again. What gives, do you suppose?....

.....for what its worth, I followed Roddie's example and bought a few more this morning at 1285.... and just to be clear I share your pain, as I live from my investment earnings and estimate my dividend income will have fallen by around 2/3 this year. Should just be ok, but my recent purchases with scarce cash may prove to be foolhardy! Or brilliant? time will tell,

cheers

[bouleversee] 01/5/2020 12:11

I have no recollection of asking about this sale/transfer (must be getting even more ga-ga than I had realised) but thanks both for the explanation.

I think I shall sit on the fence.

[illiswilgig] 01/5/2020 11:44

Hello Roddie, Trust you are well?

Must say the apparent purchase by the Sir John Fisher Foundation intrigued me as well and following comments from both bouleversee and yourself I've had a closer look.

Acording to the Charities commission accounts, the Sir John Fisher Foundation is a well run charity and grants almost all of its annual income, almost all from FSJ shares, to a wide range of local and regional charities, and some national ones as well. Around 2 million a year according to the 2019 accounts - there is a full list of donations at the end of the report which can easily be downloaded from the charities commission website.

But they don't have the cash to buy more shares, nor would a charity normally be allowed to do so. So how did they acquire them and why would RBC dispose?

I found a clue in the accounts and also in the sale RNS by RBC.

RBC list the subsidiary disposing of the shares as 'The Regent Trust Company ltd'

and idly looking through the notes of the Foundation I noticed an annual donation from The Regent Trust Company (JM Fisher Settlement).

It looks to me as if the Regent Trust Company may have wound up and passed their capital onto the Foundation to do the job? Which would make some good sense?

cheers

[roddiemac2] 01/5/2020 09:59

With little visibility of just about everything, the broader market is yoyoing. Most shares are moving in unison, so perhaps this is partly responsible for FSJ falling since the AGM statement. I note that only just over a couple of thousand shares have been traded so far today. Yesterday there were 27,489 traded in 277 trades. That is an average trade size of 99 shares: hardly a panic.

I bought some between 1320p and 1358p some days ago. I am happy to hold.I may add more.

Bouleversee mentioned the Royal bank of Canada selling. It looks as though the Sir John Fisher foundation took some or all of those. I have asked for confirmation of that. the Foundation`s trustees must understand the business as well as anyone. If they did buy the shares , then that is a vote of confidence from a big long term holder.

The BOD have taken all the precautionary measures possible.

[bouleversee] 30/4/2020 13:11

I see HL have FSJ as a very strong buy today. This is the dividend history for the past few years, starting with yr to Dec 31, 2019, when the final wasn't paid:

Dividend growth:
-64.24%
10.10%
9.75%
9.87%
8.18%
Dividend yield:
0.60%
1.80%
1.80%
1.70%
2.00%
Dividend cover:
6.47
2.83
2.74
2.94
2.9

The yield was never very high in relation to share price and was well covered so things must be pretty bad if they cancel it and the share price still drops like a stone.

I should be interested to know Roddie's views. My children have cash in their ISAs and am considering suggesting they should top up but we all have quite a lot between us and I really don't understand what is happening here.

[bouleversee] 30/4/2020 11:48

I have also held for very many years but have never sold any and my lovely profits have been much reduced. If one is retired and relies on dividends to a large degree there is no money to buy more shares when prices drop and dividends are axed.

I can't help wondering whether the new CEO is as good as the old family member who is no longer in post.

[otemple3] 30/4/2020 11:37

I have followed this for years having bought it in during the 2009/10 collapse and sold a number of years later for a nice profit (that could have been so much more!). See this as a quality operator and in normal times would be snapping up shares at this price but these are not normal times! Happy to watch for now but will definitely be looking to add some at 12,11,10 (if it goes that low).

[illiswilgig] 30/4/2020 11:01

Quick update - I see that the market has taken a dim view of this mornings statement.

You can be surprised the price is so low. Equally you can be surprised that the share price remains so high? I wouldn't be surprised whatever the market price does at the moment. The one thing I do know is that the price doesn't reflect the true future value of the company. Because nobody knows what that value will be.

The price is being set by a tug-of-war between those that think the business will do worse and those that think the business will do better. As a result the price is somewhere in the middle and appears to move randomly as neither team gains an advantage, until suddenly at some future point its all over and the price will move decisively on way or another.

Just my opinion.

[bouleversee] 15/4/2020 10:24

So we have had the Finance Dir. buy a chunk at nil cost via his LTIP and sell some to pay the tax (nice work if you can get it!) after axing the dividend helped send the share price down and now we have the Regent Trust Co. selling their entire 7.67% holding, and the price dropped back to around 13.10 before starting to climb again. What gives, do you suppose? I must say I am surprised that the price has fallen so much from the high.

[bouleversee] 23/3/2020 15:18

Wise words, Illis. I can't be bothered to work out my total paper loss any more. Am off to cut my 5 lawns or as many of them as I can manage before I run out of energy. That's assuming my neighbour is still around to stsrt the mower for me as that is beyond my strength. It's a Honda Easy Start, ironically, and jiggered my neck for weeks lasT time I tried. LOL.