Patisserie Share Discussion Threads

[bbmsionlypostafter] 07/6/2019 22:57

This should be good, can't wait.


Luke Johnson
‏ @LukeJohnsonRCP
6h6 hours ago

Back on the chain gang...I resume my column about business in The Sunday Times this weekend.

[diku] 22/5/2019 18:57

Once upon a time when there were no mobile phones people did a good days work...how many are interested in looking at their mobile phone at every opportunity during work?...

[the big fella] 22/5/2019 18:57

Why are some stores still trading? I thought the plug was pulled? Went to Ashford on Sunday and it was standing room only?

[smcni1968] 22/5/2019 18:53

"Easy for armchair critics to sneer at Jamie Oliver's difficulties. But if had not taken a risk and started the business there would have been no jobs. Only entrepreneurs ultimately create jobs: not armchair critics."LJ's opinion

[pvb] 12/5/2019 16:56

..Uh ho. I see he's another climate change (cough!) 'sceptic'. Imagine my surprise! :-)

Mind you, he seems to be re-Tweeting rather than Tweeting.

His website - - remains a blank.

[bbmsionlypostafter] 12/5/2019 10:31

I thought LJ had closed down his twitter account, maybe I got that wrong.

Anyway, it's active.

[meijiman] 04/5/2019 20:20

I see a book on the shelf called Success........

[lefrene] 02/5/2019 12:33

Thanks for the link. You'd think that The City would want Johnsons head on a pole, given the money he persuaded his lenders to pump into a lost cause, and yet here he is with his feet under the table!

[bbmsionlypostafter] 02/5/2019 12:09

Links fixed hopefully.

[bbmsionlypostafter] 02/5/2019 09:41

Whitewash ahoy!

Private Eye 1495, 3-16 May 2019

[bbmsionlypostafter] 08/4/2019 16:02

10.4.2019 will be 6 months of TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF TRADING ON AIM for CAKE.

Where's Lukie?

[diku] 25/3/2019 23:12

pvb...I remember the saga with Independent Insurance as well...

[pvb] 25/3/2019 17:49

... Umm. Makes you think.

Then again, why just high tech? Reminds me of long ago, a company called Independent Insurance, which was very profitable, more so than its rivals.

It was an unlisted holding of the then F&C Enterprise IT (?) and was then floated. At one F&C Ent. AGM somebody asked questions about rumours circulating about Ind. Ins. The then chairman of F&C Ent. (also chairman or something of Equitable Life) declared that their people had looked over the books of II and declared "There is no black hole in II".

Following this reassuring comment I considered investing directly, but was a bit slow off the mark - fortunately!

Before I got round to buying the shares: Bang!

[lefrene] 25/3/2019 14:14

The thing is PV was obviously not trading as claimed, you only had to go and check out a few shops outside of London and outside of tourist hotspots. So if institutions are that slack in checking out easily understood businesses, then what are they like when dealing with high tech industries?

[savagedstock] 25/3/2019 13:59

post 3113

fair points...i would also add that most AIM analysts are not there to analyse, but to be glorified mouthpieces of the company - it's marketing not research. Most AIM analysts cannot actually 'analyse'.
Even when the companies get bigger, the potential investment banking fees play a disproportionate role keeping analytical objectivity at bay. That's why you have had MIFID and rules on research must be paid for....removing the internal subsidy between investment banking and research has regrettably removed the demand for objectivity - after all isn't that what a fund manager should be doing - proprietary research, so they are paying to save time.

Overall it is a mess, with the investors getting a raw deal.

[edmondj] 25/3/2019 07:20

There's been plenty healthy scepticism of accounts from analysts over decades, e.g.

1980's: Terry Smith's 'Accounting for Growth' where his broker employer tried to suppress the original note because it essentially said most FTSE 100 companies published distorted accounts.

1990's: 'Can't Recommend A Purchase' note on Maxwell Communications.

2000: various analysts sceptical of Autonomy, that still playing out.


A chief problem seems when a company grows from small cap status where you don't get especially rigorous study - investors drink the Kool Aid from company brokers in a promotional role - then when it reaches a size where a new cadre of analysts examines the accounts, this is when they may hit criticism.

Possibly on AIM there was not a lot of free float for an industry specialist to do the margin comparisons that pulled the veil from PatVal's figures.

[diku] 24/3/2019 22:59

Hello...down ticker...

[lefrene] 24/3/2019 20:45

topvest, I do so agree that all the signs were there that the numbers didn't add up, but people feel they can rely on major auditors to reassure them that the numbers really don't lie. People should be able to look to professionals to provide a professional service, but as with so many things, in the end you can only rely upon yourself.

My guess Pat/Val was being 'dressed' to sell onwards, but somehow it all got away from them.

[konradpuss] 24/3/2019 20:41

Well L.J. has started Tweeting again. Next will come a few 'contrition' articles and then he is away.

You cannot keep a good man down!

He will rise from this unless he goes to jail!

[effortless cool] 24/3/2019 20:02

Luke Johnson's got nothing better to do nowadays.

[pvb] 24/3/2019 19:59

It is curious how there are people voting down pretty well every post on here. Wonder what that's about?

[diku] 24/3/2019 19:10

If it is too good to be true then you end up not investing/punting at all...it should be more about holding accountable to those in charge...they need to put in a days work and more...reality is very different...