Wh Smith Share Discussion Threads

[ydderf] 15/1/2004 10:00

Not so, I sold 80% of my holding a few days ago (and noted it here) for a derisory 35k profit, holding the rest and hoping for a sharp fall, but expecting a bid.....

[m.t.glass] 15/1/2004 01:07

Maybe. Maybe not. Fidelity are tarts. They buy into and sell out of more stocks than most others put together. I mostly ignore. That applies whether they are buying or selling. If you followed them into and out of everywhere they went you'd go giddy.

[detmij] 14/1/2004 22:32

I've got it yddrF. The F is for Fidelity, so now we know its you who have added over 3 million shares to the Fidelity holding in the last few days!!!
Well done. It sure made the shorters get burnt. Keep buying yddr Three cheers for yddrFidelity.

Hip Hip
Hip Hip
Hip Hip

[detmij] 14/1/2004 22:19

I'm amazed. On all rational grounds this should be trading much lower. The only possible explanations are that:

yddrF has bought so many it is now pushing the price onwards and upwards. Have you yet got a 3% stake so we get to know who you are?

or

bid on way for the group

or

shorts are being closed as they fear a bid and see better opportunities elsewhere. No bid in reality.

These shares are defying gravity

I really had not expected this and cannot remember who said these may hit £3 beofre ever seeing £2. As I am not a trader but hold for the medium/long term could any bidder please hold off until the next tax year. Unlike yddrF I don't have peps or ISA's and I don't want to be stung by CGT.

Many thanks. Last year analysts said the value of a bid could be £5.25. Articles I have read this year were all in £2.60 region.

[ydderf] 14/1/2004 20:11

bid coming, probably

[jungle jim] 14/1/2004 19:55

I've seen it all now. 2 weeks after a profit warning plus humungous drop and the share price has not only regained it's previous levels, it's up. Would anyone like to take a stab at explaining that?

[daverob] 14/1/2004 15:34

RNS today shows someone with Fidelity buying 3m shares in last week it would appear - is this affecting todays rise I wonder ?

[m.t.glass] 14/1/2004 00:45

Three more heads have rolled as Killer Kate wields her axe. The IT systems boss among them. The Brands Director and Stores Director the other two.

[andyj] 13/1/2004 22:27

Hmmm good point, I'll go there tomorrow have a read of all the 'papers, mags and books, little chat with the aforementioned smiley young Miss (to make sure...)and depart without buying a thing, just like everyone else seems to.....

[ursus] 13/1/2004 21:03

sure it's a bird and not freddy in cross-dressing mode, andy?

[enochthenocker] 13/1/2004 15:33

My local SMWH has one main door which serves as entry/exit. Next to that door are three tills and two staff + small Q of customers - However, diagonally opposite the entrance/exit in the dusty recesses of the very far corner of the store is another till with three staff on and around it. It, and they, are so well hidden that only the most ardent and enthusiastic shopper would, or could, find them.
Either, as Rone says the management don't bother to look around their own stores, or they are completely incompetent and ineffectual.

[rone] 13/1/2004 13:49

ursus
Before Christmas, there were many 'distressed' shoppers out buying presents. They rarely shopped during the year and used shops like Smiths to get ideas and buy 'easy' gifts. Smiths have some good central sites so it was easy for them to visit.

After Christmas, the distressed shopper hibernates until forced out into the open again. The supermarkets step up a gear and the likes of Boots and Smiths become ghost towns with demotivated staff and senior management who obviously don't visit their stores as often as they should.

I've held shares for many years; perhaps 2 too many!

[ursus] 13/1/2004 13:35

what a fast turnaround, fred. when you were buying the shares before Christmas, you were saying how busy your WHS branch was.

[ydderf] 13/1/2004 13:16

same story in my local too, the staff have all fallen asleep and most of the newspapers are last week's......and in the CD aisles, the local romanies have set up an encampment!

[rone] 13/1/2004 11:14

FTreader
Same story at Walton on Thames. Have they given up?

[ftreader] 12/1/2004 13:15

Just popped down to my local WHSM to see what incredible bargains are on offer with all this stock overhang. Not a sausage, a barren, disorganised and desolate place it was. Nothing worth buying, empty and the usual clueless staff. No hurry to buy into these methinks, unless there are some hidden assets I am unaware of...

[this time next year] 12/1/2004 12:52

diane.e - thats my theory too.
ydderF - yes, people have been shorting SMWH for a while (not me, only opened mine last week), so it is understandable that the sharp drop with the profits warning was an opportunity to close their positions - hence the price pulling back a bit.
However, I expect people will be opening new short positions this week now the downtrend is re-established. The company may have a rosy future - restructuring, takeover etc.., but in the short term sentiment is very bad, and I am pretty confident the price will continue to fall for the next few days or weeks at least.

[diane.e] 12/1/2004 11:28

Isn't this just a pullback from the established downtrend and an opportunity to add to a short position ??

[ydderf] 12/1/2004 10:18

let us suppose that insiders and thoughtful hedge funds and speculators began to short the shares from the mid 350's........and that most of the bounce was simply a profitable closing of positions......we live in a wicked world my FTreader friend!

[ftreader] 12/1/2004 07:07

This is most strange, there is a well flagged profits warning the shares drop, then recover to the pre-warning price. What is going on? Is there a bidder lurking somewhere? Have all the shorts been closing at once?

[yf23_1] 11/1/2004 23:21

churchtower
Care to enlighten us as to what particular signal you are looking at ?

There is bearish engulfing on the candlesticks but one would expect a pullback anyway as the gap on the profit warning hsa now been fully filled.
This is not a top reversal though, as its not occurring at a top.
A top implies a rising major trend with failure and then reversal, SMWH is in a downtrend.
Continuation of the downtrend will probably only be confirmed after a rejection of a longer term moving average after some consolidation near the current price.

[churchtower] 11/1/2004 22:32

Friday produced a top reversal signal. If in get out - if out go short. CH.

[ydderf] 10/1/2004 11:21

Detmij - have you heard of PEPS?