Mereo Biopharma Share Discussion Threads

[p0lzeath] 23/11/2007 11:58

That Daily Mirror hack needs sacking LOL ;-)

[taffee] 23/11/2007 11:56

I tell it how it is....I guess you're the english gent who apologises to the car driver who knocks him off......or perhaps 'thanks for all your posts,shame they turned out to be unsubstantiated,perhaps we could meet for golf'

Where did the fd appointed rns any moment come from?

[momentos] 23/11/2007 11:53

Taffee you didn't go to the same "finishing school" as Michael Morris, by any chance, did you?

[taffee] 23/11/2007 11:50

well thats a bit rich wbjunior, I mean I read your apparently well informed posts with interest in the past which have turned out to be totally UNinformed.

Who was your contact?...david brent?

I would be delighted if you never posted here again.

[wbjunior] 23/11/2007 11:36

Tufty took your advice and got out completely, No Holding in Marchpole now. Good luck all holders I will keep an eye on the thread from time to time. Momentos thanks for all your input, best wishes and have a good Christmas all......................wbj

[momentos] 23/11/2007 11:20

Just how uninformed are City journos? Bring back Anil Bhoyrul I say!



Lee Cooper jeans came apart at the seams yesterday after bosses revealed a big slump in profits.

Shares in owners Marchpole plunged by a third to 63p, after profits dived £3.8million to £1.2m.

The group, which owns 10 brands of jeans around the world, blamed ambitious growth plans for the drop.

"The company is no longer reliant on just one single brand and is instead now a global business," said boss Michael Morris.

The firm also announced that Lee Cooper would launch a premium denim line - to be sold at high-profile US stores such as Bloomingdale's.


You WHAT?!?!?

[ba5hir is back] 23/11/2007 10:57

Discounts and discounts wont help margins!

[momentos] 23/11/2007 10:57

ARGY, im a buyer at 30p, not before!

BTW I can't see morris buying more for one simple reason: He will probably want to flog the company at some stage in the future.

He will already have taken a potential hit due to the CGT changes, why would he want to buy more of the company now?

[ba5hir is back] 23/11/2007 10:57

Things will get worse not better.

[ba5hir is back] 23/11/2007 10:56

disable ad Black Friday gets under way in US
Shoppers out in force, but critics say it won't be as big as usual
by Stuart Miles

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
23 November 2007 9:40 GMT - Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the US that start the mark of the Christmas season has got under way in the US.

However many critics are worried that the day which usually refers to the day when retailers swing from red ink to black in the books won't be as fruitful as in previous years.

"Retailers are worried because they are not sure what is going to grab the customers' attention," said C. Britt Beemer, chairman of America's Retail Group told the Associated Press. "Everybody believes that early specials are the most successful retail events of the year."

In an attempt to boost sales in the run up to Christmas Wal-Mart opened its doors at 5 a.m this morning for those not too hung-over from the festivities of Thanksgiving, offering massive discounts on TV's, digital cameras and everything in between.

Four times the number of deals from last year, Toys "R" Us is offering 101 door busters everything from Barbie to Hasbro's FurReal toys in a hope to draw in the punters.

Most shopping chains and companies are pulling out the stops with massive discounts and offers as they hope to beat the economic downturn and gloom of the US economy.

"Retailers are becoming more creative in advertising strong promotions that they hope will ultimately help them move strongly into the black this year," Thomson Financial said in a report.

But the most recent official data from the Commerce Department showed that retail sales rose by just 0.2% in October, compared with September's 0.7% gain according to the BBC.

Here in the UK without the Thanksgiving push, Christmas shopping carries on as usual.

[momentos] 23/11/2007 10:55

No proof it was a buy or a sell.

The 806,451 equates to 2.96% of shares. It all but guarantees an RNS unless

- it was a buy from nil holding
- it was a sell of complete holding
- it was a unit trust trade

Funnily enough the company has been rushing through RNS's on director buys etc to try and support the price. So if it was a circumstance requiring RNS, and we haven't had one yet, that suggests a sell to me. Otherwise the RNS would have come out 5 mins after the company received notice!

[argy2] 23/11/2007 10:52

I reckon it was momentos or that was wbj's 25% buy back.

[cosnova] 23/11/2007 10:48

whoever brought the 1.4 mil on Wednesday are today sitting on a paper loss of nearly £100k.

Own up who on this bb was the buyer!

[chap1889] 23/11/2007 10:26

0o0 - MMs soaking them all up though. Still 3v1 on L2.

[chap1889] 23/11/2007 10:24

"but because of what I've achieved"

says it all

[0o0] 23/11/2007 10:22

The mystery 5,000 seller is still busy it seems. Loads of them going through on plus.



Click the more button

[argy2] 23/11/2007 10:19

Sadly he has lied to the City before and they don't forget easily.Being a nasty bit of work too doesn't help.

[momentos] 23/11/2007 10:18

Perhaps a little email to Mr Morris is due suggesting he might be

- out of his brain if he thought an 850k bonus was acceptable
- out of his brain if he thought this performance didn't merit a profit warning
- out of his brain if he thinks investors will just immediately trust his change of expansion strategy from the US to emerging markets.
- out of his brain if he thinks we trust the accounts.
- out of his brain if he thinks we cant work out why no-one wants to be his FD.

Lovely guy!

[momentos] 23/11/2007 10:13

Thats a wonderfully conciliatory attitude towards shareholders.

[taffee] 23/11/2007 10:12

Tumbling Marchpole considers going private
By Tom Braithwaite

Published: November 20 2007 02:00 | Last updated: November 20 2007 02:00

The deputy chairman and largest shareholder in Marchpole said investors in the fashion company were "out of their brains" and he would consider taking it private after its shares fell by more than a third.

The loss of a contract to distribute Yves Saint Laurent clothing caused turn- over in the six months to September 30 to fall from £38.6m to £29.9m. Pre-tax profit dropped from £4m to £453,000.

Michael Morris, executive deputy chairman, said he "could not believe" the share price reaction to the interim results. "They must be out of their brains," he said.

The shares fell 34½p, or 35 per cent, to 65p. Asked whether he might consider trying to take Marchpole private, Mr Morris - who owns 19.4 per cent - said: "I should have done that when the shares were 2p. I don't know, maybe I [still] should. Maybe I'll discuss that with the board."

John Stevenson, analyst at Shore Capital, Marchpole's broker, backed Mr Morris's assertion that the company was improving: "We are confident that Marchpole is well positioned to deliver an improved profit performance from here on in, although we accept investors may seek further evidence of stability in the short term to restore confidence."

Earnings per share fell from 10.2p to 1.2p, while the interim dividend is cut from 1.5p to 1.1p, although Marchpole said it intended to maintain its total pay-out at 3.75p.

While the loss of the YSL contract had a material impact on both sales and profitability, Marchpole argued that it was making good progress in expanding its alternative brands.

Interim turnover excluding YSL rose from £10.1m to £29.9m as Marchpole pushed into Russia, eastern Europe, the Middle East, India and east Asia. Distribution of Emanuel Ungaro and Ungaro Homme in Europe was "encouraging".

Marchpole, whose licence agreements span Lee Cooper and Jean Charles de Castelbajac, said US trading was "extremely difficult". North America saw turnover slide by more than half and the loss widen from £110,000 to £628,000.

Mr Morris said he was confident the company would strengthen its existing brands. "When I took Yves Saint Laurent on 30 years ago . . two people out of 1,000 were aware that Yves Saint Laurent did men's wear. Everybody takes it that Yves-Saint-Laurent do men's wear [today] not because of Yves Saint Laurent but because of what I've achieved."

[deanroberthunt] 23/11/2007 10:10

Whilst they remain economical with the truth, to put it mildly, we nor the market can ever have any visibility on future earnings...

would have thought a fully listed share would have to be more upfront about it all, but obviously not, more for the boys.

[chap1889] 23/11/2007 09:57

"4.7 mill expected this year"

says who? anybody investors can trust? as you say, this is the key issue for many.

[momentos] 23/11/2007 09:22

Turnover is a fairly meaningless measure of performance / value, unless other detail is known.

Unless they can give confidence that they are able to re-establish margin then they could have £200m turnover and be worth half their current share price THats the problem.

[taffee] 23/11/2007 09:17

not on volume though....looks cheap and yields almost 7%.

BUT can you trust the management...well they have increased turnover 200% and are expanding in emerging markets, make a profit(4.7 mill expected this year)

worth a punt surely