WhoSparticus
02 Oct 2015
Re: You with Tempus or Questor ? They have to say something, that is what they are paid for. They don't actually know much more about it than you or me. FWIW I'm holding.
nk1999
02 Oct 2015
Re: You with Tempus or Questor ? Telegraph details:"Insurance challenges leave Saga looking expensive: Saga, the over-50s group, enjoyed a rise in motor insurance policies in the first half of the year, helping nudge up trading profit and sending the shares almost 3% higher. The group, which currently has two ships in action, the Saga Pearl II and Saga Sapphire, said demand for cruise holidays was outstripping supply. Group trading profit in the first six months ticked up by 1% to £117.5 million, helped by an 11% rise in earnings in the travel business and 2.6% rise in profits from the motor insurance division. The reported pretax profits increased from £42.2 million to £101.3 million in the first half, but the majority of that difference was explained by £50.8 million in costs that were incurred last year when the company listed. Questor remains more cautious on the outlook. The majority of the revenue growth, and about half the earnings growth in the travel business, came from the £20 million purchase of the online luxury tour operator Destinology in August last year. The debt is a legacy of the previous private equity Owners, CVC, Permira, and Charterhouse, who have reduced their stake from 72% of the shares to 44% during the past nine months, and who are more than likely to look for a complete exit within the next 12 months. Saga at 205.5p +4.4p. Questor says “Sell”.
Spain Fund
01 Oct 2015
You with Tempus or Questor ? I got out with 25% profit so not been following much recently but this article caught my eye on DigitallookThe Telegraph and The Times are again at odds over what to do with a particular company – this time it’s Saga.The company, which sells products and services for people over the age of 50, said on Wednesday it remains on track to meet its annual targets on the back of a surge in interim pre-tax profit. In the six months to 31 July, pre-tax profit more than doubled to £101.3m while revenue grew 8.6% year-on-year to £478.3m.The Times’ Tempus highlighted that it is sticking to its promises it made when it floated by extending the brand into other areas including financial services, upgrading its travel operation and reducing debt. With that in mind, Tempus is reiterating its recommendation from May – buy long term.However Questor doesn’t agree. It says that with £536m in net debts against £1bn in net assets, investors are exposed to more risk than other motor insurers. On top of that, the insurance sector is a tough area to work in, with “low growth and fierce competition”.It also highlighted that previous private equity owners CVC, Permira, and Charterhouse have reduced their stake from 72% to 44%. Tempus thinks they’ll be looking to ditch the business completely within the next 12 months, and thinks investors should sell as well.
boydda
30 Sep 2015
Results Decent enough set of half-year results. SP still being held back by prevailing market and political circumstances.
JohnHWalton
10 Sep 2015
Re: Prospects Well Numis have a current target at 230, which looks good. But very little background news / results to study. Today's price dipped a little. I only bought the shares for a short term profit (with bonus) at IPO, so don't hold many. Probably just want to sell at optimum point. Holding on for now.
Guthrum
27 Aug 2015
Prospects For goodness sake, can we move on from the free share aspect and move on to talk about the share price prospects. My earlier contribution was geared to that end but judging from the lack of response nobody seems to care very much?
JohnHWalton
27 Aug 2015
Re: Free Shares That I find *really* annoying!When I bought my shares at the IPO. I specifically enquired about this issue, and was informed "in writing" that bonus only available if shares purchased through Saga Share Services, which I proceeded to do.So this year, after receiving bonus, I spent about 6 weeks and many, many emails, transferring the shares to II (my nominee) . At least Saga Share Services waived their £12 fee because the transfer process was handled so badly. It seems all that could have been avoided if I had purchased through II initially!John
Guthrum
10 Aug 2015
Travel deal discounts I was told today by one of the Saga travel staff at their customer service phone desk that Saga are considering offering shareholders a discount on their package deals. I wonder whether that would boost the share price as a more attractive investment or lower it because of the cost to the company of giving the discount. Any views?
Sporting Chances
07 Aug 2015
Free Shares Just received an email from Hargreaves Lansdown to say they have claimed my free shares and the dividend on them. I was under the impression that as I was not allocated any when they were first granted I assumed that as I've put them a nomine account I might have lost the bonus share, not so, shares and divi in my account....... some good news at last!
WhoSparticus
31 Jul 2015
Re: Conned on free shares Nobody was "conned". At the time of the sale it was staggeringly obvious that you had to be a customer of Saga and buy through their registrars to hope to qualify for the bonus shares. On the other hand, since you believe their product is overpriced, you will have saved more on your insurance since you could buy so few shares at the IPO stage. My advice is to stop whining and start reading before you invest
jarfurrank
31 Jul 2015
Re: Conned on free shares Don't think so!I knew that the 'free' shares were intended only for existing (at the time of the sale), customers of Saga. If you (or anybody else), now complains it means you didn't understand the terms of the sale.
jgrjgr
30 Jul 2015
Re: Conned on free shares I agree totally - I also was conned (almost certainly they did this deliberately), and agree that they never seem to be competitive BUT do apparently provide a very good product at a premium price. Hopefully a bigger player will take them over to get at the "grey market". The
jgrjgr
30 Jul 2015
Re: Conned on free shares I agree totally - I also was conned (almost certainly they did this deliberately), and agree that they never seem to be competitive BUT do apparently provide a very good product at a premium price. Hopefully a bigger player will take them over to get at the "grey market". The
mcescher
29 Jul 2015
Interesting infographic report on SAGA Apparently 22% EPS growth next year on here: [link]
meattrader
09 Jul 2015
Conned on free shares I bought in the IPO and held for a year only to find you had to buy or hold a Saga product to qualify for the bonus shares. I missed that in the prospectus and at any time through the year.. In my experience at 61 and a target customer for Saga they have never been able to quote on anything competitively.Makes me wonder why I bought them. Ho Hum at least they are trading above the offer price.
