Robert Sutherland Smith

Greggs (GRG): Food For Thought
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Greggs (GRG): Food For Thought

3 mins. to read

There is an old saying that ridiculously overvalued shares can get even more ridiculously overvalued. Competitive markets may be perfect (the theory that public knowledge permeates every corner of the public domain) but those who buy and sell shares know they are far from perfect in the everyday meaning of the word. Greggs which was…

Barclays (BARC) – Discounting the risks?

Barclays (BARC) – Discounting the risks?

3 mins. to read

Barclays Bank (BARC) saw a 60% fall in underlying earnings in the year to 31st December 2013, which was modestly and partly recovered with a 13% increase in earnings last year to 31st December 2014. The company has recently produced its Q1 results to 31st March 2015. So what do they tell us about its…

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) – Q1 results have Biblical flavour

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) – Q1 results have Biblical flavour

3 mins. to read

The first quarter results and statement from GSK has a biblical flavour. We are exalted to raise our gaze unto the hills from which cometh our salvation; which the regulators less poetically translate as future and forward statements. It was an occasion for a transcendental gazing into the future because the Q1 results were not…

Ladbrokes – the eyes of the cobra

Ladbrokes – the eyes of the cobra

3 mins. to read

It was a mere fifty days or so ago – yes, as little time as that – when I last looked, mesmerised, into the captivating gaze of pure speculation; the eyes of the cobra. I refer of course to my late February views on Ladbrokes (LAD), the once proud owners of Hilton Hotels, now reduced…

BP: holed just above the waterline

BP: holed just above the waterline

2 mins. to read

BP’s first quarter results come from a rather battered company that looks (in my imagination) a bit like one of those destroyers returning to port at early dawn, having encountered Captain Lansdorff’s pocket battleship the “Admiral Graff Spee”, at the mouth of the River Plate all those years ago. Its superstructure is in a sorry…

Tesco – After the Kitchen Sink

Tesco – After the Kitchen Sink

5 mins. to read

Everyone has heard the bad news but what does it mean and how much of it has been discounted by the recent share price from the low of 155p? The biggest item to be seen in the last set of preliminary figures reported by the company for the year to February 2015 is the exceptional…

GlaxoSmithKline: a share supported by a good yield, a potential special shareholder return and potentially supportive news flow.

GlaxoSmithKline: a share supported by a good yield, a potential special shareholder return and potentially supportive news flow.

3 mins. to read

GlaxoSmithKline: a share supported by a good yield, a potential special shareholder return and potentially supportive news flow.   When I first started to put pen to paper on this pre-trading statement appreciation of GlaxoSmithKline, the share price was 1626. In terms of years, Shakespeare was dead and buried by 1626. The share price now, as…