Let us think the unthinkable and bring the UK steel industry to the market and make a profit for the taxpayer. The market could do with a big cyclical play… Government in a changing and unpredictable world should be pragmatic. I say that in relation to the future of steel production in the UK. The FTSE…
Unilever’s Q1 results were encouraging. The shares, as usual, look highly rated. They have understandable and legitimate technical reason to move downwards, particularly in the run up to the momentous referendum in June. These are not shares for chasing, despite the positive results, because of the high rating, which discounts almost everything positive and could…
The Hydro Carbon gnomes in Switzerland! Have we seen the bottom of the oil market and how strong should we expect it to get from here? Only madmen (and mad women, of course), charlatans and economists believe that they can forecast oil prices. If they could, it would be a perfect (as in ‘perfect market’…
What’s in a price? Barclays at 150p! The valuation ignores the significantly better prospects that arguably lie ahead. A bargain basement offer? If the UK economy is still suffering from the gargantuan world banking collapse eight years after implosion began, then so too are the banks. Barclays’ share price has been unable to resist the downward pull…
The Marks & Spencer trading statement is really encouraging despite the usual disappointment with clothing sales. This time that disappointment is qualified. The share look like a ‘buy’ and here I give my reasons for believing that. I took a gander at the share price chart to see where Marks & Spencer had got to…
IAG are flying and here are the reasons why. The company has transformed itself into a larger and more complex business. However, the trans-Atlantic route still seems to be driving growth at the moment. IAG has generated a large amount of cash from its strongly rising operating cash flow. It is estimated by the market…
The Greggs (GRG) share price took a downturn on results but then bounced sharply on above average share trading volume. I assume that the results did not generate enough selling to accommodate buyers, presumably looking for good near-term dividend income. The shares appear to go XD of a 21.2p ordinary dividend on the 20th of May.…
Having dutifully laboured to come to a conclusion on this complex and historically momentous event, I lay out what seem to me to be the important facts, probabilities and arguments. The uncertainty of the coming Brexit decision is beginning to spread uncertainty to markets. The outcome will be momentous. We need maximum honesty and objectivity…
Rolls-Royce at 688p on news of 350 operational staff hirings in the UK and plans for new Trent Engine test beds for the UK and Germany. Rolls-Royce has a massive order book and has been investing in plant and people. In any event, everyone in the UK wants Rolls-Royce to succeed, from Thatcherite Tories to Labour trade unionists.…
Our world seems to be speeding up and getting less coherent. Probably it was always incoherent, but we were once led to believe that it was generally in good order and fit for purpose, to use the words of the urbane ‘home counties’ villain in the BBC’s Sunday night thriller The Night Manager. For example,…
