Marks And Spencer Share Discussion Threads

[essentialinvestor] 05/10/2022 19:15

KGF worth keeping an eye on, it's been a highly reliable recovery buy during previous
recessions. Kingfisher traded down near £1 in both the GFC and March'20 COVID plunge
low. Silchester, who are usually pretty shrewd have just doubled their holding
to over 10%, But Marshall Wace still short KGF, might wait for MW to close their
short - not holding ATM.

[wigwammer] 05/10/2022 19:05

True, but the MKS shares were issued at 185p, and can now be picked up for almost half that amount. So to a buyer at current levels the dilution plus cash pledged equates to around £500m, rather than the original £800m. It has resolved the issue of how they get their products online (plus given them a stake in a much larger online business).

[essentialinvestor] 05/10/2022 17:31

Agree and made a similar comment this week, it's working out where the value is.

Some of the de-rating is down to the Ocado jv stake, which during the pandemic
looked like a genius move, from memory MKS share was approx £60 million profit.

If that is now barely profitable then they arguably issued a shed load of extra shares for what..

[wigwammer] 05/10/2022 17:13

I don't think anyone can be in doubt that it's a tough time for retailers. Identifying that is the easy bit. The hard part is identifying when all the bad news is priced in. M&S now down to the levels seen during the depths of the pandemic, when customers weren't even allowed into the shops. I'm not sure the outlook for the average M&S customer is quite that brutal. But hey ho. Market is a short term voting machine and long term weighing machine, so who knows where it goes over the next week or so..

[debsdowner] 05/10/2022 17:00

ET

I think everyone remembers MARKS having a billion pound profit but it didn't last long before the share price slipped.

I also remember Philip Green bidding for MARKS although MARKS have done poorly since I think Philip Green would have drained the company like he did with BHS.

Philip Green is a gambler OK he understand some retail but he isn't the best operator.

It's a difficult market for most retailers at the moment with so many things going on and although MARKS tend to have better off customers not all their customers are well off and even TESCO have middle class customers because of their size.

[wigwammer] 05/10/2022 16:23

M&S vs Tesco customer... different wealth, different demographic, different geography.

[sikhthetech] 05/10/2022 15:31

EI,

I remember that too...Plus they only sold M&S branded food. How things changed quickly years ago...

I'm happy to drip feed around the 90s mark.

[essentialinvestor] 05/10/2022 15:27

Debs, Next got to near £51 this morning!, I sold yesterday at £48.26 thinking
that was a decent price, having bought a few following the warning.

Thanks for highlighting, just bought a small amount back but expect markets
have one leg lower, which may now be underway.

[blueball] 05/10/2022 15:22

Still 30% overpriced imo.

[debsdowner] 05/10/2022 15:20

ASOS down 7.2% NEXT down 6.2% it is a bleak day for retail I suspect this was down to TESCO results.

[essentialinvestor] 05/10/2022 15:19

I'm old enough to remember the year MKS made over £1 BN on pre tax and when they
would not accept credit cards!, such was their UK retail dominance in clothing.

For younger people that may be difficult to relate to, but it's true.

[diku] 05/10/2022 15:17

Norman era was different in comparison to today...but media tend to cotton onto it..look at Woodford the 5 star fund manager...one time wonders with a bit of luck...

[debsdowner] 05/10/2022 15:17

OCADO bounced back yeterday but being hemmered today most retailers having a bad day look like MARKS to break down again.

No support until 70s.

[porsche1945] 05/10/2022 15:13

Capital raise caused terminal problems along with overpaying for shxtty Ocado plus that idiot from Asda who has done nothing for 20 years except some arsing about with the self harming currency trashing brexit loony party(tories) Will go same way as Debenhams, another Jurassic park U.K. company. Terminal.

[diku] 05/10/2022 15:11

Probably mortgage free...asset rich but cash poor...I read recent article in media one third home owners are mortgage free...no doubt those who bought in 70', 80's and 90's and those who bought just before 2008 probably paid off near half of mortgage...hence CB's kept low rates to keep this cycle going...

[debsdowner] 05/10/2022 14:53

diku, I entirely agree but they must be suffering like all other retailers and outlook getting worse every day.

Dont forget some of their customers live in large houses may be retired and they will struggle like everyone else.

[philanderer] 05/10/2022 14:49

And another from TSCO this morning.

[diku] 05/10/2022 14:29

Sad to see MKS price trading in pence again...

[debsdowner] 05/10/2022 14:00

diku 50% of people still working from home.

shoesize Trustless fallen again in the polls worse than Borris or Corbyn and Kwasi fallen even further will only 10% of voters like him.

Tesco results shocked the market not me of course cos I knew shoppers were watching their pennies.

But they were warned here time and time again by shoesize and myself MARKS would drop further. 5% down at moment quite a fall today and US market to open yet !

[shoesize19] 05/10/2022 12:25

Trustless and Quazi , have not got a clue of how to run even fruit and veg market stall.

£0.75 penny shares on there way .

Shops are becoming empty due to lack of customers , that are struggling to feed and heat there Homes.

At least working at the office people keep warmer than working at home .

[diku] 05/10/2022 12:00

Think as Lord Sugar said recently working from home is nonsense...it may be good within certain sectors but should not be of choice or encouraged...but some compnaies have cottoned onto it to cut costs...in the process footfall economy suffers...how many are actually putting in proper days work working from home...how to do monitor....then there is the telephone line disruption or the person says sorry my computer is today slow...because they are probably on cheap slow internet package...

[debsdowner] 05/10/2022 11:26

50% of workers still workinfg from home which is shocking

The recovery in visitors to UK high streets and retail parks slowed last month, another indication that consumers were cutting back.

Data analytics group Springboard reports:

The uplift in footfall from 2021 diminished for the third consecutive month in September to just +6.8%, from +8.6% in August and +15.6% in July
Footfall in high streets was +9.5% higher than in 2021 (+13.9% in August), +7.7% higher than 2021 in shopping centres (+7.5% in August)
Around half of all employees continue to work at home for at least part of the working week impacting the recovery of footfall in high streets
Footfall in retail parks was just +0.3% higher than in 2021 in retail parks (1.7% below 2021 in August)

[diku] 05/10/2022 11:07

Think Truss didn't expect to win the contest...as though she was put in there to counteract candidates against Sunak winning...split the votes...Bojo loyalist were at play...

[debsdowner] 05/10/2022 11:00

diku I agree she isn;t the sharpest knife and not as sharp nor got the personality of Borris.

She does repeat herself a lot and not as sharp as Rishi Sunak who would have been a better PM. The labout members are going to regret voting her in.

When she gets into difficulty with questions she doesn't answer the question and relies on helping people with their fuel costs, so if someone tells her people will not struggle with their mortgages she reverts to the fuel criss and Putin.

But her attempt to cut top rates of tax disrupted markets and bond yields it also put pension funds at risk. She has caused immense damage since she has become MP.

On other matters even NEXT is down over 4 % today no doubt after TESCO warning.