Marks And Spencer Share Price (MKS)

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Share Name Share Symbol Market Type Share ISIN Share Description
Marks And Spencer Group Plc LSE:MKS London Ordinary Share GB0031274896 ORD 25P
  Price Change % Change Share Price Shares Traded Last Trade
  1.50 1.09% 139.60 10,445,861 16:35:18
Bid Price Offer Price High Price Low Price Open Price
140.10 140.40 141.20 137.85 138.80
Industry Sector Turnover (m) Profit (m) EPS - Basic PE Ratio Market Cap (m)
General Retailers 10,181.90 67.20 1.30 107.4 2,727
Last Trade Time Trade Type Trade Size Trade Price Currency
18:28:14 O 34,201 139.29 GBX
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Marks And Spencer (MKS) Latest News

Marks And Spencer News

Date Time Source Headline
13/1/202106:17ALNCSupermarkets Urge For Intervention Over Northern Ireland Food Supplies
11/1/202118:09ALNCMarks & Spencer Saves Jaeger From Collapse But Stores Set To Close
08/1/202109:17ALNCIN THE KNOW: Mixed Bag For M&S As Lockdowns Stifle Festive Sales
08/1/202107:58ALNCTOP NEWS: M&S Clothing In Bruising Festive Lockdown Hit But Food Grows
08/1/202107:14ALNC*Harworth Group Says Second Sale Was For GBP2.6M, Net Initial Yield Of 5.5%
08/1/202107:00UKREGMarks & Spencer Group PLC 3rd Quarter Trading Statement
06/1/202116:36UKREGMarks & Spencer Group PLC Holding(s) in Company
06/1/202111:09ALNCPRESS: Marks & Spencer Nears Deal To Buy Jaeger Fashion Brand
04/1/202114:19ALNCIN THE KNOW: Shore Likes Marks & Spencer Goodmove To Athleisure Focus
04/1/202109:00UKREGMarks & Spencer Group PLC Total Voting Rights
More Marks And Spencer News
Marks And Spencer Investors    Marks And Spencer Takeover Rumours

Marks And Spencer (MKS) Discussions and Chat

Marks And Spencer Forums and Chat

Date Time Title Posts
16/1/202121:58Marks & Sparks, chat and charts8,058
16/1/202108:21JUST Marks And Spencer (MKS)1,299
15/1/202114:15Archie Norman bringing home the M&S bacon631
11/10/202012:35M&S about to go down the drain1,286
22/5/202010:00MKS8,907

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16/1/2021
08:20		Marks And Spencer Daily Update: Marks And Spencer Group Plc is listed in the General Retailers sector of the London Stock Exchange with ticker MKS. The last closing price for Marks And Spencer was 138.10p.
Marks And Spencer Group Plc has a 4 week average price of 122p and a 12 week average price of 87p.
The 1 year high share price is 191.60p while the 1 year low share price is currently 73.90p.
There are currently 1,953,387,035 shares in issue and the average daily traded volume is 6,804,761 shares. The market capitalisation of Marks And Spencer Group Plc is £2,726,928,300.86.
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05/1/2021
14:38		johnwise: Will the Marks and Spencer share price beat the FTSE 250 index in 2021? The last three months have seen the Marks and Spencer share price (LON: MKS) (MKS.L) comprehensively outperform the FTSE 250 index (INDEXFTSE: MCX). In that time, the retailer’s stock price has gained 34%. That’s more than double the 15% posted by the index of UK mid-cap shares. An improving outlook for the Marks and Spencer share price? https://investomania.co.uk/2021/01/will-the-marks-and-spencer-share-price-beat-the-ftse-250-index-in-2021/
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16/12/2020
07:45		xxxxxy: Price growth across the UK slowed to almost nothing last month, as second lockdowns across much of the UK dampened demand.Data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Wednesday showed consumer price inflation dipped to 0.3% in November.The data undershot economists' forecasts of 0.6% and was well down on October's reading of 0.7%.The ONS said inflation was weighed down by falling prices for clothing, food and non-alcoholic beverages."Throughout 2020, we have seen clothing and footwear prices follow a different pattern compared with previous years," the stats body said."We recorded increased discounting during March and April, probably in response to the lockdown, then prices were relatively stable (compared with previous years) to August. Between August and October, prices broadly increased as usual, but this has been followed by a fall between October and November, whereas prices tend to rise between these two months."The ONS said longer Black Friday sales may have contributed to falling clothing and footwear prices.Games, toys and hobby items all saw prices rise as Brits began Christmas shopping. The largest upward contribution to price rises came from recreation and culture - items such as computer games.When housing costs are included, annual inflation was 0.6% last month. Both measures of inflation fell by 0.1% on a monthly basis.How average prices changed between October and November. Photo: ONSConsumer price inflation has crashed since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, well undershooting the Bank of England's 2% target. Inflation is a key measure of economic health as its rate can influence the speed at which economies grow.Consumer price inflation measures the growth or decline in price of a typical basket of goods and services - everything from supermarket shopping to TV streaming subscriptions.The ONS said 72 items usually in the basket were unavailable in November due to lockdowns, accounting for 13.9% of the basket by weight."The number has increased from eight in October but is down from 90 in April, the first full month of lockdown," the stats body said... Yahoo Finance
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27/11/2020
08:24		debsdowner: MARKS share price went up too hard and was bound to pull back and profit takers could pull the share price well down again. Some made a profit of over 30% or even more than 40%.
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10/11/2020
15:18		qantas: sarkasm10 Nov '20 - 08:18 - 1117 of 1117 0 1 0 Investomania Is the Marks and Spencer share price undervalued? Could the Marks and Spencer Group Plc (LON:MKS) (MKS.L) share price be worth more than its current valuation? November 10, 2020 Robert Stephens, The Marks and Spencer Group Plc (LON:MKS) (MKS.L) share price has experienced a tough time over the course of the past few years. In my view, it has been left behind by many of its retail peers in terms of its lack of extensive online exposure. This may have contributed to a fall in its stock price from 490p five years ago to around 110p today. [x] The company’s latest investor update showed an insight into why its stock price has underperformed many of its peers in the past few years. It made a net loss and is still in the process, to my mind, of reorganising its business to adapt to changing consumer tastes. For instance, it is rejuvenating its clothing offering, while at the same time seeking to adapt to a growing trend towards shopping online. The Marks and Spencer tie up with Ocado has a lot of long-term potential in my opinion. The joint venture has a 16% market share of the online UK grocery retail industry. In my view, this provides the business with exposure to what could prove to be a fast-growing part of the wider retail sector. Sure, the return of normality after Covid-19 is likely to mean that some shoppers will return to buying their groceries in store. But, in my view, many consumers will now have seen first-hand the benefits of having their groceries and other clothing and homeware items delivered. Therefore, I believe that the online retail sector will continue to grow at an above average pace in the long run. For this reason, I think that the Marks and Spencer share price could gain ground over the long run. Its increasing online focus may help it to follow other retailers that are in the process of successfully transitioning from a bricks-and-mortar model to a multi-channel offering that maximises a store footprint alongside an online operation. I was also encouraged to see that the company is seeking to become more efficient and is aiming to improve its supply chain so that it can respond faster to changing consumer tastes. I think its slow pace of change may have contributed to it falling out of favour with an increasingly demanding UK consumer. At 110p, the Marks and Spencer share price has fallen 78% in five years. In my opinion, the company’s shares may include a fairly substantial margin of safety that could mean they offer capital return potential over the long run. Between now and then, I’m sure there will be challenges ahead for the business. However, I feel that an increasingly online focus, efficiency gains and a large amount of goodwill among shoppers could contribute to the stock outperforming the wider index in the long run. Disclosure: the author has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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10/11/2020
08:18		sarkasm: Investomania Is the Marks and Spencer share price undervalued? Could the Marks and Spencer Group Plc (LON:MKS) (MKS.L) share price be worth more than its current valuation? November 10, 2020 Robert Stephens, The Marks and Spencer Group Plc (LON:MKS) (MKS.L) share price has experienced a tough time over the course of the past few years. In my view, it has been left behind by many of its retail peers in terms of its lack of extensive online exposure. This may have contributed to a fall in its stock price from 490p five years ago to around 110p today. [x] The company’s latest investor update showed an insight into why its stock price has underperformed many of its peers in the past few years. It made a net loss and is still in the process, to my mind, of reorganising its business to adapt to changing consumer tastes. For instance, it is rejuvenating its clothing offering, while at the same time seeking to adapt to a growing trend towards shopping online. The Marks and Spencer tie up with Ocado has a lot of long-term potential in my opinion. The joint venture has a 16% market share of the online UK grocery retail industry. In my view, this provides the business with exposure to what could prove to be a fast-growing part of the wider retail sector. Sure, the return of normality after Covid-19 is likely to mean that some shoppers will return to buying their groceries in store. But, in my view, many consumers will now have seen first-hand the benefits of having their groceries and other clothing and homeware items delivered. Therefore, I believe that the online retail sector will continue to grow at an above average pace in the long run. For this reason, I think that the Marks and Spencer share price could gain ground over the long run. Its increasing online focus may help it to follow other retailers that are in the process of successfully transitioning from a bricks-and-mortar model to a multi-channel offering that maximises a store footprint alongside an online operation. I was also encouraged to see that the company is seeking to become more efficient and is aiming to improve its supply chain so that it can respond faster to changing consumer tastes. I think its slow pace of change may have contributed to it falling out of favour with an increasingly demanding UK consumer. At 110p, the Marks and Spencer share price has fallen 78% in five years. In my opinion, the company’s shares may include a fairly substantial margin of safety that could mean they offer capital return potential over the long run. Between now and then, I’m sure there will be challenges ahead for the business. However, I feel that an increasingly online focus, efficiency gains and a large amount of goodwill among shoppers could contribute to the stock outperforming the wider index in the long run. Disclosure: the author has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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03/11/2020
11:05		paulof2: In my eyes here there is a lot already baked in to the price. As is the case for the market in general - look at ABF yesterday majority of business made up of primark stores with no online component. Lockdown for month and 350m lost sales and yet the share price remained flat as another lockdown already factored in. I’m sure it is the same here which is why the share price didn’t move on the news. An outlook which states lockdown is bad will have no impact on the price in my eyes because it’s not new information. We know that already and the price has held up well. I’m interested to know how they actually have been performing for the past few months. They may still be operating at a loss but I believe they have been trading a lot better than expectations which I think will demonstrate after this next lockdown there is green shoots appearing. A big expectation beat for the quarter would not surprise me at all and I think will offset the impact of another lockdown that we already know about. I’m not saying they will be making a big profit, but quite frankly they don’t need to for the share price to rise. An update that is not horrendous will do it, even if it still isn’t great.
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26/10/2020
12:10		neilhumphreys: SBS IN Enter News, Quotes, Companies or Videos CORONAVIRUS Resources LATEST UPDATES THE VACCINE RACE CASE COUNT THE COVID STORM SERIES COOKIE NOTICE We use cookies for analytics, advertising and to improve our site. You agree to our use of cookies by closing this message box or continuing to use our site. To find out more, including how to change your settings, see our Cookie Notice DANIEL HERTZBERG HEALTH To Find a Coronavirus Vaccine, GlaxoSmithKline Is Bonding With Its Biggest Competitors The hunt for a solution to Covid-19 is producing an unlikely team of rivals in the cutthroat world of pharmaceuticals By Joseph Walker Oct. 24, 2020 12:00 am ET SHARE TEXT 85 Listen to this article12 minutes 00:00 1x The Covid-19 pandemic is turning some fierce drug-industry foes into the best of frenemies. The pharmaceutical giant standing at the center of this team of rivals is GlaxoSmithKline GSK 0.57% PLC, the world’s largest vaccine maker by sales. The British company is jointly developing a Covid-19 antibody drug with a San Francisco upstart, offering rivals a proprietary ingredient that is designed to boost a vaccine’s power and planning to share research study results. “We felt this very unusual situation required something that GSK hadn’t done before, and something we hadn’t seen in the industry before either,” says Roger Connor, president of Glaxo’s vaccines business. What makes Glaxo’s collaboration so unusual is that competition typically defines the relationship among drugmakers. Company researchers race to be first to bring a new kind of therapy to market or work on treatments that can outdo older medicines, while marketers roll out campaigns designed to boost sales at the expense of rivals. WSJ NEWSLETTER Notes on the News The news of the week in context, with Tyler Blint-Welsh. Notes on the News I would also like to receive updates and special offers from Dow Jones and affiliates. I can unsubscribe at any time.I agree to the Privacy Policy and Cookie Notice. SIGN UP In the age of Covid-19, old adversaries are uniting around a common enemy: the new coronavirus. Their nascent partnership is now visible in everything from trials to research to manufacturing. Glaxo and eight other pharmaceutical firms even took the rare step of issuing a joint pledge last month to seek regulatory approvals for their vaccines only after proving their safety and effectiveness in large, final-stage clinical trials. How far along each of the vaccines are Testing stages typically move from 'preclinical,' before the vaccine is deemed appropriate to test in people, to the three phases of human clinical trials. So far, 44 candidates have made it to clinical trials. Preclinical Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Type of vaccine Viral vector Genetic code Weakened virus Proteins Ten of these have advanced into phase 3, which tests whether the dose that would be given to the public works safely. Note: Data as of Oct. 19 Source: World Health Organization The most common area of cooperation thus far is manufacturing. Some longtime rivals are striking deals to stretch their capacity to meet anticipated demand. Roche Holding AG is helping manufacture an antiviral drug in development by rival Regeneron. Amgen Inc. will help make Eli Lilly & Co.’s antiviral drugs if the treatments are authorized by regulators. Pfizer has dedicated manufacturing capacity to turning out doses of remdesivir, an antiviral made by rival Gilead Sciences Inc. The camaraderie also extends to the traditionally cutthroat realm of research. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. scientists contributed to research on a vaccine in development by BioNTech SE and Pfizer Inc., and were co-authors on a paper this summer detailing the results. In another rare move, Merck & Co.’s research and development chief called his Glaxo counterpartment in April to pass along a tip that one of Glaxo’s molecules showed promise in Merck’s Covid-19 lab tests. Glaxo’s most prominent contribution to this new era of collaboration is its decision to share a proprietary vaccine component known as an adjuvant—an ingredient that helps boost a vaccine’s protective power by rousing the body’s immune response. Glaxo now has agreements to supply that ingredient to four vaccine developers, including French drugmaker Sanofi SA, and stands ready to produce one billion doses of its adjuvant next year. It normally produces tens of millions annually. Glaxo had a potentially critical role to play in the response to Covid-19, as one of the world’s largest vaccine sellers. Its most prominent contribution thus far is a proprietary ingredient that helps boost a vaccine’s protective power. That ingredient, known as an adjuvant, is being prepared for safety and testing at a Glaxo site in Wavre, Belgium. PHOTO: GLAXOSMITHKLINE Some analysts say the company could enjoy benefits from selling its adjuvant for Covid-19 shots without impairing its lucrative vaccine business. “There is political capital to be gained from what they’re doing, and there may be some financial returns to be had as well,” says Andrew Baum, a Citigroup Inc. analyst who follows health care. Glaxo says it doesn’t expect to profit from its Covid-19 vaccine collaborations during the pandemic, and it will invest any short-term profits in coronavirus research and pandemic preparedness. “The adjuvant can be equally important—maybe crucial—to the vaccine being effective,” says Hal Barron, Glaxo’s chief scientific officer and president of R&D. “We thought that’s where our unique opportunity to make a difference could be. The Team of Rivals The alliance among drugmakers took hold in mid March as Glaxo closed labs amid a sharp uptick in Covid-19 infections around the world. Suddenly, Dr. Barron had to figure out how to run a global R&D organization under lockdown. He and his team debated which workers should be deemed essential and continue to work on-site, and which clinical trials should be paused and which ones to continue. It was up to Hal Barron to chart a path forward for Glaxo's research and development operations in the early days of the coronavirus shutdowns. He called a friend who heads drug research at Johnson & Johnson, looking for advice. ‘I’ve never been in a situation like this before. I wasn’t sure what the right thing to do was.’ PHOTO: MARK JAYSON QUINES FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL “I’ve never been in a situation like this,” he says. “I wasn’t sure what the right thing to do was.” Dr. Barron called Mathai Mammen, a friend who heads drug research and development at Johnson & Johnson. They compared notes on how to decide which drug studies to pause and which scientists were essential enough to continue coming in to the office. Toward the end of the call, Dr. Mammen invited Dr. Barron to join a larger group of R&D chiefs to share information about the virus and approaches to drug development, Dr. Barron says. Glaxo had a potentially critical role to play in the response to Covid-19, as one of the world’s largest vaccine sellers. Sales of its shots totaled about $9.4 billion last year, the most of any of the top four vaccine-makers globally. The company also had a history of rallying its employees to respond to pandemics. In the years leading up to the 2009 swine flu pandemic, it spent $3.2 billion on R&D, acquisitions and manufacturing in preparation for a flu pandemic. On Sunday, March 8, many of the biggest drugmakers convened for a group call. Aside from Drs. Barron and Mammen, participants included the heads of research from AstraZeneca PLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Novartis AG , recalls Andrew Plump, president of R&D at Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. , who was also on the call. Dr. Barron, Glaxo's chief scientific officer and R&D president, joined a group of other industry R&D chiefs for a March 8 call to share information about the new coronavirus and approaches to drug development. PHOTO: MARK JAYSON QUINES FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL “Things were happening so, so quickly, with organizations closing down and quarantining, and beginning work-from-home policies,” recalls Dr. Plump. “We were all scrambling. And there was also an immense amount of interest in all of us stepping up and trying to provide solutions.” By the end of that call, the research bosses resolved to keep the virtual meetings going and to open up the group to other companies and, occasionally, government officials such as Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, and officials from Operation Warp Speed, a $10 billion U.S. government initiative to speed the development of drugs and vaccines for Covid-19. For months, they met regularly using videoconferencing software. Concerns about running afoul of antitrust regulations were alleviated when federal regulators made it clear that research cooperation in the fight against Covid-19 was permissible. The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission issued a joint statement on March 24 stating “there are many ways firms, including competitors, can engage in procompetitive collaboration that does not violate the antitrust laws.” SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS Should drug companies collaborate more often on developing new drugs? Why or why not? Join the conversation below. With that statement, “we felt that we had enough cover to do what we needed to do,” says Dr. Plump. The group established a mandate to tackle short-term problems, such as developing reliable laboratory tests to screen the thousands of drug molecules the companies had stored in their libraries against the coronavirus. They also agreed to dramatically increase the speed at which they shared clinical trial data with one another, posting the anonymized data within one week of receiving results from their Covid-19 studies. Outside researchers are allowed to scrutinize the data to learn more about the virus. The Big Picture Glaxo began reaching partnerships on its own, too. One developed from a call Dr. Barron received in mid March from his friend George Scangos, chief executive of a small San Francisco drug-developer with a focus on infectious diseases. Dr. Scangos asked whether Glaxo would be interested in collaborating with his company, Vir Biotechnology Inc., on a Covid-19 monoclonal antibody drug that is engineered to mimic the natural antibodies the immune system makes to fight the virus. A Vir Biotechnology scientist, right, examines the Covid-19 cells under a fluorescent microscope. PHOTO: MARK JAYSON QUINES FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL A plate of live infected Covid-19 cells, left. PHOTO: MARK JAYSON QUINES FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL A Vir Biotechnology scientist, right, examines the Covid-19 cells under a fluorescent microscope. PHOTO: MARK JAYSON QUINES FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL A plate of live infected Covid-19 cells, left. PHOTO: MARK JAYSON QUINES FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 1 2 “If we’re going to do this, we need to go fast, because every day matters,” Dr. Scangos recalls saying. Usually, such deals might take several months to a year to hammer out. Dr. Scangos and Dr. Barron set a goal of signing an agreement within three weeks. Some of the calls involved saying, “OK, if that’s important to George—done,” recalls Dr. Barron. “And he would say, ‘OK, if that’s important to you, done. Let’s move this thing along. Can’t lose the big picture.’̶1; The companies announced a deal on April 6, within 18 days of starting negotiations. Under the terms, Glaxo would purchase a $250 million stake in Vir at $37.73 a share, a 41% premium to the company’s average share price over the previous three months. Clinical trials are under way and the companies expect potential authorization for the drug in the first half of 2021. Glaxo is working with Vir Biotechnology Inc. on a Covid-19 drug designed to mimic natural antibodies the immune system makes to fight the virus. Here Vir scientists work on the project inside Vir’s labs in San Francisco. PHOTO: MARK JAYSON QUINES FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL One Team Glaxo was even more aggressive in its pursuit of vaccine makers that wanted access to its adjuvant, the ingredient that boosts the immune response to a vaccine. One was Sanofi, which said in February it was developing a Covid-19 vaccine candidate. Mr. Connor called David Loew, the head of Sanofi’s vaccine unit, to see if the French drugmaker would be interested in pairing its vaccine with Glaxo’s adjuvant. “This is an unusual call to have, but this is an unusual circumstance,” Mr. Connor recalls telling Mr. Loew during the initial call, in March. Executives say the company settled on its adjuvant strategy as a way to contribute to the Covid-19 response without losing focus on its pre-pandemic mission of reinvigorating the company’s product pipeline or disrupting its existing vaccine manufacturing supply chain. The company’s senior management had been overhauled a few years earlier amid shareholder disillusionment over the company’s mixed record in launching new blockbuster drugs. Its adjuvant was already proven to work with other vaccines, reducing its risk, and would be less of a manufacturing logistical challenge. During pandemics, adjuvants are especially valuable because they can increase the potency of vaccines, allowing companies to produce more doses from each batch it manufactures. Glaxo’s adjuvant, called AS03, is a combination of vitamin E and liver oil taken from sharks. The company used it to enhance the effectiveness of its vaccine for the H1N1 pandemic in 2009. To find partners for its adjuvant, Glaxo launched an internal project led by a team of Glaxo drug hunters who looked for anyone working on a key vaccine component—a protein known as an antigen—that would cause a person’s immune system to build up defenses against the new coronavirus. The hope was that people who got the antigen through vaccination would develop antibodies and perhaps other defenses that could protect against Covid-19. Glaxo’s drug hunters mapped every antigen in the works for Covid-19 using squares on a PowerPoint slide. Every square contained the name of a potential partner, details about the vaccine and a contact person who had spoken with Glaxo. The slide resembled a digital quilt, with some 100 squares. Some in the quilt approached Glaxo seeking help. Glaxo reached out to others. The campaign was “quite unusual for us,” says Mr. Connor. “Going out and offering it to the world was something quite, quite different.” On that first call with Sanofi, Mr. Connor said he remembers telling Mr. Loew: “‘There is an opportunity here for us to do something together, which means that we could ultimately go faster for the world and make a difference to the common enemy, which is the virus itself.’”; Within 36 hours, they agreed to create a joint task force that would start exchanging information and planning how to make the partnership work while the companies worked out a formal agreement. “We knew that the world was waiting,” Mr. Connor says. Initial meetings, held by videoconference among employees across multiple time zones, were “slightly awkward” as the rivals turned teammates felt each other out, said Thomas Triomphe, Sanofi’s executive vice president for vaccines. The companies hope to have results from early-stage studies in late November or early December, Mr. Triomphe said. They aim to start a 30,000-person study by the end of the year and to have the vaccine approved in the first half of 2021, he says. “When you’re facing a public-health crisis there is no team with a blue T-shirt and a team with an orange T-shirt. Very quickly, there was only one team,” Mr. Triomphe said. Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8 Appeared in the October 24, 2020, print edition as 'The Power of Good Chemistry.'IN Enter News, Quotes, Companies or Videos CORONAVIRUS Resources LATEST UPDATES THE VACCINE RACE CASE COUNT THE COVID STORM SERIES COOKIE NOTICE We use cookies for analytics, advertising and to improve our site. You agree to our use of cookies by closing this message box or continuing to use our site. To find out more, including how to change your settings, see our Cookie Notice DANIEL HERTZBERG HEALTH To Find a Coronavirus Vaccine, GlaxoSmithKline Is Bonding With Its Biggest Competitors The hunt for a solution to Covid-19 is producing an unlikely team of rivals in the cutthroat world of pharmaceuticals By Joseph Walker Oct. 24, 2020 12:00 am ET SHARE TEXT 85 Listen to this article12 minutes 00:00 1x The Covid-19 pandemic is turning some fierce drug-industry foes into the best of frenemies. The pharmaceutical giant standing at the center of this team of rivals is GlaxoSmithKline GSK 0.57% PLC, the world’s largest vaccine maker by sales. The British company is jointly developing a Covid-19 antibody drug with a San Francisco upstart, offering rivals a proprietary ingredient that is designed to boost a vaccine’s power and planning to share research study results. “We felt this very unusual situation required something that GSK hadn’t done before, and something we hadn’t seen in the industry before either,” says Roger Connor, president of Glaxo’s vaccines business. What makes Glaxo’s collaboration so unusual is that competition typically defines the relationship among drugmakers. Company researchers race to be first to bring a new kind of therapy to market or work on treatments that can outdo older medicines, while marketers roll out campaigns designed to boost sales at the expense of rivals. WSJ NEWSLETTER Notes on the News The news of the week in context, with Tyler Blint-Welsh. Notes on the News I would also like to receive updates and special offers from Dow Jones and affiliates. I can unsubscribe at any time.I agree to the Privacy Policy and Cookie Notice. SIGN UP In the age of Covid-19, old adversaries are uniting around a common enemy: the new coronavirus. Their nascent partnership is now visible in everything from trials to research to manufacturing. Glaxo and eight other pharmaceutical firms even took the rare step of issuing a joint pledge last month to seek regulatory approvals for their vaccines only after proving their safety and effectiveness in large, final-stage clinical trials. How far along each of the vaccines are Testing stages typically move from 'preclinical,' before the vaccine is deemed appropriate to test in people, to the three phases of human clinical trials. So far, 44 candidates have made it to clinical trials. Preclinical Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Type of vaccine Viral vector Genetic code Weakened virus Proteins Ten of these have advanced into phase 3, which tests whether the dose that would be given to the public works safely. Note: Data as of Oct. 19 Source: World Health Organization The most common area of cooperation thus far is manufacturing. Some longtime rivals are striking deals to stretch their capacity to meet anticipated demand. Roche Holding AG is helping manufacture an antiviral drug in development by rival Regeneron. Amgen Inc. will help make Eli Lilly & Co.’s antiviral drugs if the treatments are authorized by regulators. Pfizer has dedicated manufacturing capacity to turning out doses of remdesivir, an antiviral made by rival Gilead Sciences Inc. The camaraderie also extends to the traditionally cutthroat realm of research. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. scientists contributed to research on a vaccine in development by BioNTech SE and Pfizer Inc., and were co-authors on a paper this summer detailing the results. In another rare move, Merck & Co.’s research and development chief called his Glaxo counterpartment in April to pass along a tip that one of Glaxo’s molecules showed promise in Merck’s Covid-19 lab tests. Glaxo’s most prominent contribution to this new era of collaboration is its decision to share a proprietary vaccine component known as an adjuvant—an ingredient that helps boost a vaccine’s protective power by rousing the body’s immune response. Glaxo now has agreements to supply that ingredient to four vaccine developers, including French drugmaker Sanofi SA, and stands ready to produce one billion doses of its adjuvant next year. It normally produces tens of millions annually. Glaxo had a potentially critical role to play in the response to Covid-19, as one of the world’s largest vaccine sellers. Its most prominent contribution thus far is a proprietary ingredient that helps boost a vaccine’s protective power. That ingredient, known as an adjuvant, is being prepared for safety and testing at a Glaxo site in Wavre, Belgium. PHOTO: GLAXOSMITHKLINE Some analysts say the company could enjoy benefits from selling its adjuvant for Covid-19 shots without impairing its lucrative vaccine business. “There is political capital to be gained from what they’re doing, and there may be some financial returns to be had as well,” says Andrew Baum, a Citigroup Inc. analyst who follows health care. Glaxo says it doesn’t expect to profit from its Covid-19 vaccine collaborations during the pandemic, and it will invest any short-term profits in coronavirus research and pandemic preparedness. “The adjuvant can be equally important—maybe crucial—to the vaccine being effective,” says Hal Barron, Glaxo’s chief scientific officer and president of R&D. “We thought that’s where our unique opportunity to make a difference could be. The Team of Rivals The alliance among drugmakers took hold in mid March as Glaxo closed labs amid a sharp uptick in Covid-19 infections around the world. Suddenly, Dr. Barron had to figure out how to run a global R&D organization under lockdown. He and his team debated which workers should be deemed essential and continue to work on-site, and which clinical trials should be paused and which ones to continue. It was up to Hal Barron to chart a path forward for Glaxo's research and development operations in the early days of the coronavirus shutdowns. He called a friend who heads drug research at Johnson & Johnson, looking for advice. ‘I’ve never been in a situation like this before. I wasn’t sure what the right thing to do was.’ PHOTO: MARK JAYSON QUINES FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL “I’ve never been in a situation like this,” he says. “I wasn’t sure what the right thing to do was.” Dr. Barron called Mathai Mammen, a friend who heads drug research and development at Johnson & Johnson. They compared notes on how to decide which drug studies to pause and which scientists were essential enough to continue coming in to the office. Toward the end of the call, Dr. Mammen invited Dr. Barron to join a larger group of R&D chiefs to share information about the virus and approaches to drug development, Dr. Barron says. Glaxo had a potentially critical role to play in the response to Covid-19, as one of the world’s largest vaccine sellers. Sales of its shots totaled about $9.4 billion last year, the most of any of the top four vaccine-makers globally. The company also had a history of rallying its employees to respond to pandemics. In the years leading up to the 2009 swine flu pandemic, it spent $3.2 billion on R&D, acquisitions and manufacturing in preparation for a flu pandemic. On Sunday, March 8, many of the biggest drugmakers convened for a group call. Aside from Drs. Barron and Mammen, participants included the heads of research from AstraZeneca PLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Novartis AG , recalls Andrew Plump, president of R&D at Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. , who was also on the call. Dr. Barron, Glaxo's chief scientific officer and R&D president, joined a group of other industry R&D chiefs for a March 8 call to share information about the new coronavirus and approaches to drug development. PHOTO: MARK JAYSON QUINES FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL “Things were happening so, so quickly, with organizations closing down and quarantining, and beginning work-from-home policies,” recalls Dr. Plump. “We were all scrambling. And there was also an immense amount of interest in all of us stepping up and trying to provide solutions.” By the end of that call, the research bosses resolved to keep the virtual meetings going and to open up the group to other companies and, occasionally, government officials such as Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, and officials from Operation Warp Speed, a $10 billion U.S. government initiative to speed the development of drugs and vaccines for Covid-19. For months, they met regularly using videoconferencing software. Concerns about running afoul of antitrust regulations were alleviated when federal regulators made it clear that research cooperation in the fight against Covid-19 was permissible. The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission issued a joint statement on March 24 stating “there are many ways firms, including competitors, can engage in procompetitive collaboration that does not violate the antitrust laws.” SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS Should drug companies collaborate more often on developing new drugs? Why or why not? Join the conversation below. With that statement, “we felt that we had enough cover to do what we needed to do,” says Dr. Plump. The group established a mandate to tackle short-term problems, such as developing reliable laboratory tests to screen the thousands of drug molecules the companies had stored in their libraries against the coronavirus. They also agreed to dramatically increase the speed at which they shared clinical trial data with one another, posting the anonymized data within one week of receiving results from their Covid-19 studies. Outside researchers are allowed to scrutinize the data to learn more about the virus. The Big Picture Glaxo began reaching partnerships on its own, too. One developed from a call Dr. Barron received in mid March from his friend George Scangos, chief executive of a small San Francisco drug-developer with a focus on infectious diseases. Dr. Scangos asked whether Glaxo would be interested in collaborating with his company, Vir Biotechnology Inc., on a Covid-19 monoclonal antibody drug that is engineered to mimic the natural antibodies the immune system makes to fight the virus. A Vir Biotechnology scientist, right, examines the Covid-19 cells under a fluorescent microscope. PHOTO: MARK JAYSON QUINES FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL A plate of live infected Covid-19 cells, left. PHOTO: MARK JAYSON QUINES FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL A Vir Biotechnology scientist, right, examines the Covid-19 cells under a fluorescent microscope. PHOTO: MARK JAYSON QUINES FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL A plate of live infected Covid-19 cells, left. PHOTO: MARK JAYSON QUINES FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 1 2 “If we’re going to do this, we need to go fast, because every day matters,” Dr. Scangos recalls saying. Usually, such deals might take several months to a year to hammer out. Dr. Scangos and Dr. Barron set a goal of signing an agreement within three weeks. Some of the calls involved saying, “OK, if that’s important to George—done,” recalls Dr. Barron. “And he would say, ‘OK, if that’s important to you, done. Let’s move this thing along. Can’t lose the big picture.’̶1; The companies announced a deal on April 6, within 18 days of starting negotiations. Under the terms, Glaxo would purchase a $250 million stake in Vir at $37.73 a share, a 41% premium to the company’s average share price over the previous three months. Clinical trials are under way and the companies expect potential authorization for the drug in the first half of 2021. Glaxo is working with Vir Biotechnology Inc. on a Covid-19 drug designed to mimic natural antibodies the immune system makes to fight the virus. Here Vir scientists work on the project inside Vir’s labs in San Francisco. PHOTO: MARK JAYSON QUINES FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL One Team Glaxo was even more aggressive in its pursuit of vaccine makers that wanted access to its adjuvant, the ingredient that boosts the immune response to a vaccine. One was Sanofi, which said in February it was developing a Covid-19 vaccine candidate. Mr. Connor called David Loew, the head of Sanofi’s vaccine unit, to see if the French drugmaker would be interested in pairing its vaccine with Glaxo’s adjuvant. “This is an unusual call to have, but this is an unusual circumstance,” Mr. Connor recalls telling Mr. Loew during the initial call, in March. Executives say the company settled on its adjuvant strategy as a way to contribute to the Covid-19 response without losing focus on its pre-pandemic mission of reinvigorating the company’s product pipeline or disrupting its existing vaccine manufacturing supply chain. The company’s senior management had been overhauled a few years earlier amid shareholder disillusionment over the company’s mixed record in launching new blockbuster drugs. Its adjuvant was already proven to work with other vaccines, reducing its risk, and would be less of a manufacturing logistical challenge. During pandemics, adjuvants are especially valuable because they can increase the potency of vaccines, allowing companies to produce more doses from each batch it manufactures. Glaxo’s adjuvant, called AS03, is a combination of vitamin E and liver oil taken from sharks. The company used it to enhance the effectiveness of its vaccine for the H1N1 pandemic in 2009. To find partners for its adjuvant, Glaxo launched an internal project led by a team of Glaxo drug hunters who looked for anyone working on a key vaccine component—a protein known as an antigen—that would cause a person’s immune system to build up defenses against the new coronavirus. The hope was that people who got the antigen through vaccination would develop antibodies and perhaps other defenses that could protect against Covid-19. Glaxo’s drug hunters mapped every antigen in the works for Covid-19 using squares on a PowerPoint slide. Every square contained the name of a potential partner, details about the vaccine and a contact person who had spoken with Glaxo. The slide resembled a digital quilt, with some 100 squares. Some in the quilt approached Glaxo seeking help. Glaxo reached out to others. The campaign was “quite unusual for us,” says Mr. Connor. “Going out and offering it to the world was something quite, quite different.” On that first call with Sanofi, Mr. Connor said he remembers telling Mr. Loew: “‘There is an opportunity here for us to do something together, which means that we could ultimately go faster for the world and make a difference to the common enemy, which is the virus itself.’”; Within 36 hours, they agreed to create a joint task force that would start exchanging information and planning how to make the partnership work while the companies worked out a formal agreement. “We knew that the world was waiting,” Mr. Connor says. Initial meetings, held by videoconference among employees across multiple time zones, were “slightly awkward” as the rivals turned teammates felt each other out, said Thomas Triomphe, Sanofi’s executive vice president for vaccines. The companies hope to have results from early-stage studies in late November or early December, Mr. Triomphe said. They aim to start a 30,000-person study by the end of the year and to have the vaccine approved in the first half of 2021, he says. “When you’re facing a public-health crisis there is no team with a blue T-shirt and a team with an orange T-shirt. Very quickly, there was only one team,” Mr. Triomphe said. Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8 Appeared in the October 24, 2020, print edition as 'The Power of Good Chemistry.'
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01/10/2020
18:54		xxxxxy: Customer Warning: Food prices may go down as well as upOctober 01, 2020By Catherine McBride LAST FRIDAY the BBC headline news included an item entitled: Shoppers could pay more after no-deal Brexit. The story was planted by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) who said that tariffs would add £3.1bn a year to the cost of importing food and drink unless the UK and the EU can strike a free trade agreement.  In order to illustrate how dire these price rises would be without a trade deal, the BRC warned us that tariffs of 48% would be added to beef mince, 16% to [preserved] cucumbers1 and 57% to cheddar cheese. The British Retail Consortium also tried to convince the BBC audience that consumers on lower incomes were their 'main concern' however if retailers were really concerned about people on lower incomes shouldn't they be looking for alternative suppliers? Towards the end of the article the BBC admitted that the price rises would only amount to an annual increase of £112 per household, or just over £2 per week. For most people in the UK this is well within the regular discounts and BOGOF deals available in most supermarkets. While for people on lower incomes they are more likely to alter their purchasing habits rather than pay the higher price. The UK's new tariff schedule has been published and can be found here. The Tariffs on imported commodities will vary by commodity: some will be a percentage of their import value (cucumbers); others will be a fixed tariff per kilo (cheddar) while commodities such as beef will have both a fixed price per kilo as well as a percentage of the import value. Although the prices of imported EU foods would go up if the tariffs are passed on to consumers, the examples that the BBC decided to use are unlikely to eventuate.  It cannot be said often or simply enough: it makes no sense for a supermarket to import a cheap product like minced beef, if the tariff added to it would put it in the same price bracket as a British steak. Supermarket buyers are not stupid. No one would buy the imported mince, especially as locally produced mince would be available at an un-tariffed price, so importers will stop importing it. The price differential between Irish and British beef is not large enough to negate this sized tariff. This won't be great news for Irish farmers who rely on the UK's much larger market – but it could be a real boost to UK beef farmers if they have spare capacity. If not, then there are plenty of beef producing non-EU countries lining up to do trade deals with the UK. The BBC's cheddar example is even more unlikely to eventuate. Imported Cheddar will have a fixed tariff of £1.39 per kilo added to its price. The BBC claimed this would increase the retail price of Cheddar by 57% implying that the underlying cheese must be priced at only £2.44 per kilo. I am guessing that this is another mistake. Because try as I might, I have not found a cheddar that retails at £2.44 a kilo. Most 300g blocks cost more than that. There is an alternative explanation: that retailers are planning to add to the tariffs. This may be justified to cover their administration costs but pushing a cheap mass-produced cheese into a price bracket where it would be in competition with higher quality cheeses, would only lower sales.  Tariffs of this size would even hurt the market leaders: Irish made Pilgrims Choice is the UK's 2nd largest selling cheddar brand and its Extra Mature Cheddar retails for £6.83 per kilo2,slightly cheaper than the UK's largest selling brand, British made Cathedral City, whose Extra Mature Cheddar retails for £7.28 per kilo. If Pilgrims Choice has tariffs of £1.39 per kilo added to its import price, it would retail for at least £8.22 per kilo, almost a pound per kilo more expensive than its rival. This will be a major problem for Pilgrims Choice but not for UK shoppers. UK shoppers will be able to switch to a UK made cheddar very easily. Most cheddars available in UK shops are made in the UK, using UK milk, so their prices will be unaffected by the new tariffs. That is probably why the owners of Pilgrims Choice, Ornua, reportedly stockpiled 40,000 tonnes of cheese in the UK in 2019 in preparation for the March 2019 Brexit deadline. No doubt they will be doing the same now. If so, shoppers should be even more suspicious of any January retail price rises. Advocates for remaining in the EU, or making the UK into an EU colony, like to imply that the UK relies on imported EU food but these figures are heavily inflated by the use of the values of food rather than volumes. Much of what is imported from the EU consists of high value, branded products – products that are generally not bought by consumers on the lowest incomes. So the imposition of tariffs on these products will not affect low income consumers. If the concern is really whether there will be food shortages in the UK in January if there is no UK EU trade deal, then we should be looking at the volume statistics of how much food the UK produces, how much is imported from the EU and how much could be sourced from outside the EU in the future.  Some potential Non-EU suppliers have already rolled over existing trade deals with the UK, so will be competing with EU farmers for UK business. As a rule of thumb, the EU is a high cost producer of most agricultural goods – even though EU farmers are subsidised by the Common Agricultural Policy payments. And this has nothing to do with higher standards: the EU simply has higher costs of labour and land and a higher currency than most alternative suppliers. Defra surveys UK agriculture each year and calculates the net amounts of produce supplied by UK farmers. A table of the results for the past 3 years is below. ?In general, the proportions supplied by UK farmers are higher than we have been led to believe by the BBC and other groups promoting stories of empty shelves. Although for most commodities the EU provided the additional 10 or 20% of UK consumption, this was caused by EU rules rather than UK consumer choices. The additional tariffs and non-tariff regulatory barriers of the EU's Customs Union either prevented or made it uneconomic for UK importers to source agricultural commodities from many countries outside the EU. It is therefore disingenuous for anyone to claim that the UK relies of the EU for food, as the EU barriers to trade make this a forgone conclusion. Leaving the EU without a trade deal could lower the price and increase the variety of most imported food in the UK.  Even classical European products such as Olive Oil can be sourced from countries outside the EU. Not only do the eastern Mediterranean countries and the North African countries grow olives and produce olive oil, they generally do so for a much lower cost than the EU. And some of them have already rolled over trade agreements with the UK: South Africa makes fantastic olive oil, as does Morocco, the world's second largest exporter of table olives. The British Retail Consortium should possibly have a look for alternative suppliers before putting up the prices of EU imports.3 Similarly, fruit requires heat units to ripen and picking fruit is labour intensive so many countries with lower costs of living and warmer climates will be able to supply the UK with better quality fruit for a lower price than the EU. So, although the UK imported all but 16% of its fruit consumption in 2019, 2.3 million tonnes of the UK's net fruit imports came from outside the EU while only 1.2 million tonnes come from within the EU. Bananas, pineapples, and mangoes are imported from tropical countries while apples, pears and berries are imported from the southern hemisphere with low tariffs only when they are out of season in the UK. So, if tariffs are added to EU fruit and vegetables, often produced in heated greenhouses – as the BBC says about everything except the EU: 'other suppliers are available.'  But besides the potential for import substitution from less expensive non-EU suppliers, the UK should also look at areas where it could increase its own food production. The most obvious area is dairy products. The UK is a net exporter of milk by volume but a net importer of dairy products by value, importing higher value products such as butter, yoghurt, and cheese.  Even though the best butter available in the UK is also made in the UK, using UK milk: incredibly the UK still imports a large amount of butter. I accept that companies based in countries with small populations, such as Ireland and Denmark, need to export if they want to grow their revenues: but Danish Lurpak is the UK's largest selling butter or spread, while Ireland's Kerrygold claims to be the UK's 3rd biggest selling block butter. Both of these brands are already more expensive than many UK produced butters. However the imposition of an additional £1.58 per kilo tariff would certainly disrupt their business model and may even force Arla, the owner of Lurpak, to move its production to the UK as happened with Anchor Butter, originally made in New Zealand. The more I think about this, I am sure that there will be many UK dairy farmers who are secretly hoping that the UK and the EU don't sign that trade agreement. Meanwhile the BBC should stop trying to scare British shoppers. The UK food supply is much more resilient than the BBC thinks.  
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27/9/2020
10:09		waldron: THE MOTELY FOOL Should investors buy into the Ocado share price ahead of a second lockdown? Rupert Hargreaves | Sunday, 27th September, 2020 | As the coronavirus crisis continues, speculation is growing that the government could announce a second national lockdown to control the spread. This could have significant implications for the stock market, although some companies would fare better than others. The Ocado (LSE: OCDO) share price is one investment that may produce large returns for investors in the event of a second wave. Is the Ocado share price undervalued? Many investors, including myself, may recoil at buying Ocado shares at current levels. Indeed, the stock looks highly overvalued right now. The company as a whole is worth over £22bn, but it is not profitable. And analysts don’t expect this to change. They’re forecasting losses for at least the next two years. However, despite Ocado’s losses, the company’s top line is exploding. Revenue is projected to hit £2.3bn in 2020, up from £1.7bn in 2019. It will hit £2.6bn by 2021 according to current projections. A second lockdown could help the business beat these forecasts. In the second quarter of 2020, demand for Ocado’s services surged as customers flocked to the company’s online offering. Demand was so high that the business had to stop taking on new customers. This time around, Ocado may be better prepared. The business has hired thousands of new staff and knows what to expect. A second lockdown may lead more customers to the company. These new customers may stay with the group rather than returning to old providers. Investor rewards Considering the company’s growing importance in the UK grocery market, I think the Ocado share price could be an excellent long-term investment. As more and more customers rely on the business to provide their weekly shop, the group’s profit margins should increase thanks to economies of scale. As such, while analysts might not be expecting any profits from the business in the next two years, in the medium term, I reckon Ocado has the potential to become a highly profitable enterprise. That’s without considering the group’s technology. Ocado’s robotic warehouses are in demand. The coronavirus crisis has made it clear that retailers cannot always rely on humans. This could accelerate the demand for the firm’s technology in the years ahead. As other retailers around the world rush to automate their supply chains, the Ocado share price may benefit. The bottom line All in all, the combination of the company’s grocery business, and its technological expertise, seem to suggest that the outlook for Ocado shares is bright. As the company continues to capture market share in the UK grocery market, it should benefit from economies of scale, which could drive profit growth in the medium term. At the same time, rising demand for the company’s technology may provide much-needed cash flow to help the business’s drive for growth here in the UK. I reckon these tailwinds will help drive the Ocado share price higher.
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18/9/2020
14:32		qantas: debsdowner Ocado has not helped the MKS share price and they own 50% of Ocado UK. They may buy out MKS for 2.16 billion.
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