Gamesinvestor1
26 Feb 2019
Ocado Joint Venture Looks like there might be some action at last :- [link] Marks & Spencer has confirmed for the first time that it is in talks with Ocado about a potential joint venture that would push the retailer into online food deliveries. Speculation has been brewing in recent months but it has since emerged that M&S is looking to take a 50pc stake in a joint venture that would split Ocado in two. The deal would satisfy Ocado boss Tim Steiner’s desire to focus on its technology business - which it is licensing to supermarkets around the world - and M&S’s need to make its food business fit for the digital era. It is thought that M&S will pay between £800m and £900m for a stake in the new venture, according to the Evening Standard which first reported the news… Games
stutes
21 Feb 2019
MKS and Sbry The CMA appears to be set on blocking Sbry/Asda merger, if the deal is blocked, perhaps MKS should merge with Sbry? It would allow both companies to use surplus retail space.
Gamesinvestor1
14 Feb 2019
MKS or NXT? Which would you pick? [link] Games
Gamesinvestor1
05 Feb 2019
Ocado Losses Maybe the losses mean they are prepared to offload the lorries and the distribution centres to M&S on the cheap? [link] Games
NewBill1703
29 Jan 2019
A stretch too far.....? Gamesinvestor1: Yes they might just become a customer, but the talks are about MKS buying the delivery division - hence my references to £2bn which in my view would be a massive drag on MKS balance sheet and force a debt downgrade. It won’t be for me if they do. Yes, Games, if that is indeed the plan… but the reports were vague, with no corroboration from either party. That was one interpretation I saw, but alongside quite a few other, less seismic ones. FWIW even if the delivery division is worth £2.3bn (which I doubt - that was one analyst’s valuation, I understand), it would take ND/EBITDA above 3x - doable for a defensive consumer staples biz or a utility, etc, but hardly tolerable for a challenged UK discretionary retailer. And I can’t imagine they’d be able to show more than a marginal return on that capital for many years at least. We will see… I am guessing, if anything, some kind of partnership model as customer or collaborator. But in this day and age, wise never to rule anything out! What price the resultant rights issue??!
Gamesinvestor1
29 Jan 2019
A stretch too far.....? Bill the non strategic part of Ocado is worth £2.3bn. There is little chance of them selling the platform to M&S. Yes they might just become a customer, but the talks are about MKS buying the delivery division - hence my references to £2bn which in my view would be a massive drag on MKS balance sheet and force a debt downgrade. It won’t be for me if they do. Games
NewBill1703
28 Jan 2019
A stretch too far.....? Gamesinvestor1: M&S already carrying debt on its balance sheet at 2.75 times operating earnings, how can it afford Ocado, valued at over £2Billion? Well, Ocado is valued at well over £6billion, Games?? Sure, if they bought it all… But they can’t… and I am not sure they are buying anything here. There is a whole series of possible “deals†here, as commentators have pointed out, and the most likely has to be some sort of much less capital intensive option - quite possibly even just signing up as a customer. And that might well be quite a good result, given where they are right now - and where they’re not (ie. online in Food!) Keep the faith, Games, Archie know what he’s doing! Er… I think…
Gamesinvestor1
28 Jan 2019
A stretch too far.....? M&S already carrying debt on its balance sheet at 2.75 times operating earnings, how can it afford Ocado, valued at over £2Billion? Games – Buy this and I’m selling despite Archie’s pedigree!
Gamesinvestor1
28 Jan 2019
Ocado deal? Why? Does it make sense to lose even more money by growing a bigger loss making delivery service? Ocado want rid of it because they know it’s a munter and the real value is in their software. Games
Akis1999
13 Dec 2018
M&S Report I should have kept my M&S shorts! It screamed “bad, bad, badâ€, yet, because M&S is the weird stock of preference of folks in old peoples’ homes, it has defied fundamentals and I still remember the Stuart Rose years of insanity (regarding share price). So I chickened out and closed my conviction shorts! Damn.
Gamesinvestor1
13 Dec 2018
M&S Report Akis, You could have shorted anything of late m8 with this market drifting as it has been. I’ve been adding new stuff, but only tentatively. M&S, Next and other retailers have been gripped by the negative sentiment associated with anyone with the audacity to try and sell something in a shop. Interesting that Next online is now a bigger contributor to the retail outlets, the Chairman has bought a boat load more stock, and M&S whilst not as slick as Next in the online game is also gaining ground. The cafe’s are always packed at M&S so perhaps they could float that off as a separate business lol !! Games - Is this a long game or a long demise?
Akis1999
13 Dec 2018
M&S Report I should have kept my short at 305 …
Ripley94
11 Nov 2018
M&S Report Lots of gloom here Z scores ect . They were 270p in March 312p now i make that a 15 % + gain. Did you consider averaging down 8 months ago .
Gamesinvestor1
09 Nov 2018
M&S Report Akis, no just the capital. With the dividends added back it’s just about palatable.
Akis1999
09 Nov 2018
M&S Report Recently, I felt and bet on a drop from 300. It went on to 310 instead. After the initial shock it must have been deemed that the news is not all that bad for 300, so up to 310 it went. Revenues have been static past few years, profits are dropping, the High Street is hammered, online shopping ever on the increase, on the £25 mil profit last year P/E is 200 !!! and on the £117 mil profit the year before, P/E is 43 ! Total madness.
