Marks And Spencer Share Discussion Threads

[essentialinvestor] 05/1/2012 10:47

Appreciate your view, however remember they always need to close at
some point - longer term it's the profitability of the business and
dividends that determine the share price

[robertfaulkner] 05/1/2012 10:05

Agree Essential, but picking on just one retail company (a British icon at that, and me being an unlucky shareholder, I must admit) to make a fast buck by selling, borrowed shares just sticks in my craw.

I know they say shorters only speed up the inevitable, but I'd like to see them get their comeuppance just once, so they know in future it's not a one way bet

[essentialinvestor] 05/1/2012 09:43

Rob in fairness it's not just MKS, it's much of UK retail.
See what the next update brings - if you are a long term investor
just enjoy the dividends.

[robertfaulkner] 05/1/2012 09:30

Nasty article in FT about MKS being the most shorted FTSE stock, they apparently know this by the amount of MKS stock being borrowed.

If MKS could have the balls to do a share buy back of the equivalent of the next expected div with the promise that the total shares cancelled will push up the next div for remaining shares (so the div seeking funds don't have to sell) MKS could really catch the bear shorters by the nuts

[gruss] 22/12/2011 11:45

IMO good move. Dont take any notice of the brokers with their upgrades and downgrades. They have not got a clue. They make it up as they go along. Also long term should do very well. Good luck!

[gswredland] 22/12/2011 11:30

Yep me too Gruss yesterday at 302. Looking to keep long term and the dividend is really good and seems to covered well.

[gruss] 22/12/2011 08:19

Yet again bounced off the support level. Had to top up again.

[old crow] 21/12/2011 14:47

Essential

The Crows reckon you could be right, thats why we sold out our holding at a profit before the new year

Now around 302 would love to buy for a quick profit but am scared.

Keep Crowing

[essentialinvestor] 21/12/2011 14:31

I have a small bet with a friend who works at MKS head office,
that the share price will finish 2011 below £3 a share - it's near but no
cigar currently.

[yewtrees] 08/12/2011 16:18

25% off M&S menswear for a few days. Certainly got the shoppers spending today at M&S Lakeside.

[gswredland] 08/12/2011 12:59

Thanks Argyle

[nickward] 08/12/2011 12:56

Still short, tight stops in case Euro buddies come up with a plan. The old Tory indecision about Europe is starting to open a few cracks. Some of us
Non-Tories are aware that being inside the tent peeing out may be a lot better in the long run although short term it could be a little uncomfortable. One thing is for sure; our government are nowhere near as clever as they like to believe they are so expect plenty more mistakes.

[argylerich] 06/12/2011 18:51

From the ADVFN evening round-up:


Retailers were sold off across the board after some gloomy comments from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Consumers are keeping "a tight rein on their spending, despite Christmas being so near", the BRC said today. Total sales were up 0.7%, against a 2.8% increase in November 2010, the retailers' lobby group said. Next and Marks & Spencer were falling lower on the Footsie while Home Retail, Dunelm and KESA Electricals secured the bottom three spots on the FTSE 250.

[gswredland] 06/12/2011 18:37

Any thoughts about what brought this down today? Broker downgardes?

[nickward] 02/12/2011 12:55

Gruss

Thanks, I have plenty of head room on the biggy, the top up is a bit of a punt but I have a tight stop and I am well hedged with good gains on Barrat, GKN, BP and others over the past cuple of weeks. US non farm payrolls seem to be the driver and optimism about Europe so things could change quickly; you just have to be prepared. Good Luck

[gruss] 02/12/2011 08:34

Cant help feeling something is afoot or perhaps wishful thinking. Despite of Investecs downgrade the shares are very strong again.


Nic keep a tight reins on those shorts. I dont want tears before Christmas. lol

[nickward] 01/12/2011 15:33

Topped up my short on this at 328.5 earlier, already in the blue. I am relying on Mr Osborn to deliver a truely miserable Christmas for retailers. I have a tight stop on this new trade just in case the Euro buddies pull something out of the bag and the market goes into some kind of euphoria.

[argylerich] 01/12/2011 11:34

Get a room! somebody else's preferably!

[nickward] 01/12/2011 10:56

White Fox/ Jeffian

You old Tories are all the same; you still think the Labour party is responsible for all the woes. Take a look at the legacy of Thatcherism, over 3 million unemployed during her reign, when I left University in the eighties youth employment was worse than it is now. I was lucky, I found employment in a few months of leaving but many of my peers were unemployed for years. That is why I vowed at the time never to vote Conservative in my lifetime and a good proportion of my generation stuck to that vow. Not only did Thatcher put millions out of work she also laid our industry to waste in favour of financial services. It was the Tories that built the economy on financial services not the Labour party. To use a Tory phrase 'they inherited it'. Labours legacy is they did not have the nounce to reverse it during their time in office. Now we are in a mess but it is not all the fault of Labour, far from it, it is fundamentally the fault of the conservatives for building such a flawed economy in the first place. The Tories have catastrophically failed this country, their mismanagement of the economy is astounding, and not one thing they promised on the economy has been delivered.

"Look after unemployment" that's what JM Keynes said during the great depression "and the budget will look after itself". In other words a credible deficit reduction plan depends on growth. We have no growth because they cut extravagantly and wildly. This is fundamental economics and they got it wrong! A government can always cut its spending but it can't control it's income, if a cut in spending leads to a fall in income it is no nearer to balancing the books than it was before. The fundamental rules of economics have been broken by this government and the truth is now beginning to appear through the smoke screen of rhetoric. Ed Balls was even decent enough to give the government a clue, at the outset of the ill fated cutting exercise, when he said cutting spending without anything in place to encourage growth was a poor decision. It beggars belief that the elementary rules of sound economics have not been employed by this government. This in turn lends credence to the Trade Unions theory that there is an agenda by the Conservative party. Consequently we are now returning to a 70's class war and a North-South East divide like we haven't seen over thirty years. There is already grumbling by residents in some Northern cities that they would rather be in Scotland than England. Mark my words consequences of this governments agenda driven policy will not be good for Britain, they will destroy it. It seems to me and many other people that the Toxic Tory party is back with a vengeance.

[gruss] 30/11/2011 20:24

OLD CROW

Good for you and pleased a profit was made. I think the reason the share price rose today was because the UK Malls were very busy due to the public sector strike. With me I am hanging in there but leaving my options open.

[old crow] 30/11/2011 18:30

GRUSS
Today lost my nerve and sold out at 327p for a nice profit,
was worried after xmas trade and customers spent all their cash
where will the income come from.

Keep Crowing

[gruss] 30/11/2011 11:26

No doubt the rise so far today is due to some wag doing the bid rounds.

[white fox] 29/11/2011 20:26

Aye, hence the reason I have never voted Labour. However much prudence rhetoric they gave, you always knew in the end they would splurge it until we were near bankruptcy.

[jeffian] 29/11/2011 18:41

No, of course I don't. It was just a bit of empirical observation from the field! Make of it what you will.

Regus....aah....well they got quite close, didn't they?! The whole edifice is still built on sand (have a look at how much of their vaunted cash is tenants' deposits!) and there may yet be tears before bedtime.

As for GB being the saviour of the Western World and any problems now being experienced all being the fault of the Coalition......errrm, he was in the driving seat for 13 years. I think you will find he was pretty much involved in the build-up to the accident before you praise him for his actions after the crash. First Healey, then Brown - spend all the money and run into a brick wall. If Labour get back, Balls would do just the same. It's in the political DNA, I'm afraid.