winningstreak
12 Jan 2015
Re: Granny not well Granny's health is improving, she is keen on her tea again (TG -Tips tea) andas such back to her average of two cups per hour.She is, however, still downbeat on Thornton's prospects and considers the large pension fund deficit at the Company seriously too large for comfort in the lightof the slowdown in sales and likely fall in profits.As some of you will know, Granny has been a long standing fan of AMS and she heartened by the good performance there.She has no red hot tips for the moment, but I'm sure it won't be long before she is in good enough shape to come up with a recommendation or two.Meantime she sends her love to all her friends & supporters.WS
winningstreak
30 Dec 2014
Granny not well Ever since Thorntons' profit warning, Granny has been in a very dark mood,indeed so dark that she almost lost her interest in Tea, drinking just one cup perhour on average instead of her usual two. I took her to the doctor. After somesearching questions, the doctor prescribed Prozac tablets, which Granny isnow taking as instructed. She should begin to feel better in a couple of days.Despite her gloomy mood, she sends her love to everybody on this BB, andwishes you all a spiritually fulfilling New Year (note her emphasis is on spirituallyreplaces her usual emphasis on prosperous).Good old Granny, I have just brewed her a nice hot cup of TG-Tips tea, I'lltake it through to her bedroom, she is having a bit of a lie-in today.WSp.s. It would help if Granny received some kind messages; just put your messages on this BB and I shall read them out to her.
winningstreak
24 Dec 2014
Re: Paul Scott comment this morning Looks to me that management has been blundering: over-estimating demand from supermarkets, and what orders they got were not supplied in time due to the messing up of the distribution-system.This all will make the Pension Fund Deficit loom extra-large.IMHO,wsP.S. I have not asked Granny's view today, she is still in bed, sulking...not even extra helpings of TG-Tips tea will cheer her up! She has notgot her teeth in yet, so she mumbles and it Is hard to hear what shesays, but between the lines I can make out that she reckons that UTW is a better bet. Poor old Granny, she don't like it when thingsgo wrong at Thorntons.
MonteLoz
24 Dec 2014
Re: There are so many misguided people on this board, you make it sound like they are warning it might happen! The reason for an announcment two days before Christmas is that it has happened! The next trading update was not due until January, this is so material that the board will have been advised to get it out now.Trying to suggest all will be ok and this is over done due to the great work the management have done in last two years is clutching at straws, the work the management have done is to move this business from a chain of shops to a supplier of the retail trade, that is a great but tough market to supply which currently is under a lot of margin pressure, therefore can make or break your business, the fact that one of the issues is that the market they are now selling too has not taken as much stock as hoped is a fundamental issue, without sales there is no business.In my opinion this has much further to drop and will only improve if the next quarters sales are massively improved and show therefore that supplying the supermarkets is working. This could be hard as margins are squeezed by retailers and thorntons suffer inflation of all costs they may get into a defensive cost cutting mode, you only buy Thorntons at a reduced price so they may choose to try and cut promotional funding to customers to improve profit, this will result in a drop in sales volume.It is a tough market and if not navigated well can really hurt you!
popes11
23 Dec 2014
Re: T1ps - FEATURED STOCK Tend to agree this is a sell. Why risk another profit warning which will surely come? Not bothered either way as not holding. If it went down to 20p or so I would take a punt.
idleman
23 Dec 2014
Maybe the timing of the announcement is not brilliant,at least there is a warning.The reaction of the fall in the SP is hugely overdone.After all, the good work carriedout by the management over the past two years is still in place.The warehouse business is surprising and will have to be explained.The fall in sales to supermarkets is to be expected.Supermarkets are lately not performing and report with outright dishonesty their profits So I know where I am rather invested!!Reality will surely bring back a little sanity in the SP,probably not all,helas.
IOMINVESTCOM
23 Dec 2014
Re: Paul Scott comment this morning Hi Janebolacha,Thanks for posting. Just read the comments and have to agree with the worrying conclusion.We could easier see much lower from here. much better prospects elsewhere.GLTA
siegfried5
23 Dec 2014
Re: T1ps - FEATURED STOCK what machines?
lambrini girl
23 Dec 2014
Re: T1ps - FEATURED STOCK the machines giving me various pivots along the way down..but this not a buy n hold till 10p (sorry granny..have a nice xmas..)
janebolacha
23 Dec 2014
Paul Scott comment this morning "Thorntons (LON:THT)Share price: 91pNo. shares: 68.6mMarket Cap: £62.4mProfit warning - the company mentioned two main reasons for a profit shortfall - reduced demand from supermarkets, and disruption from the move to a centralised warehouse.549949dd30a20Screenshot_2014-12-23_at_10That's a disappointment, and it badly undermines the investing case for this share - which was that earnings were in a recovering trend. If that's no longer the case, then really it's difficult to see any reason to invest here - since the operating profit margin is thin, the Balance Sheet has too much debt, and a pension deficit, and there's no divi (although I seem to recall there was talk of reinstating a divi).Broker consensus was for 10.4p EPS this year (to 28 Jun 2015), but at a guess it looks to me as if perhaps c.8p might be closer to the mark. That would put the shares on a PER of just over 11, which isn't particularly cheap considering the Balance Sheet liabilities.My opinion - I don't share the Board's confidence in their strategy. Also, bungling a warehouse move just smacks of incompetence. Overall these shares are not of any interest to me - I'd only be interested on a very low PER, so maybe at 50p per share or below. It's just not a very good business, in my view."- See more at: [link]
II Editor
23 Dec 2014
NEW ARTICLE: Thorntons melts after profit warning "With poor sales and problems in the warehouse hitting LSE:THT:Thorntons' first-half trading, the chocolate company warned that its full-year profits aren't going to meet expectations. In what should be an optimum trading period, the news left a ..."[link]
optimistic john
23 Dec 2014
Amateurs They should have released this news last thing tonight or over Xmas and it would probably have been lost in the 2015 noise. Now its being hammered and tomorrow's papers will drive it down further.On the plus side some have already today/will make good money trading this.
LK Hyman
23 Dec 2014
Re: T1ps - FEATURED STOCK Lamb,"BANG ON!!"[link] on the flybridge impressed despite himself
II Editor
23 Dec 2014
NEW ARTICLE: Thorntons plc Slides 25% On New Profit Warning "Shares in Thorntons (LSE:THT) have fallen by 25% to 89p this morning, after the high-street chocolatier issued a surprise profit warning, just two days before Christmas.It was a big one, too: recent consensus forecasts for Thorntons were ..."[link]
TX2
23 Dec 2014
Re: PROFIT WARNING Interesting to see where the decline in sales have been.Major supermarkets rather than its own business.I wonder if this is an indication that the big supermarkets are going to have a poor Christmas compared to previous,whereas smaller speciality chains will manage to do OK.Not too sure whether this will apply to larger ones like Next.Chocs possible less at risk from move to online.
