Bill1703
28 Dec 2017
Re: Brexcuse "In Short* term I have to agree with Sorrell and and Oliver. Longer term I agree with you." Not an unreasonable stance, JDS, but the truism people overlook is the innate (and massive) difference in visibility and predictability between the short and longer term. The short term view is always much more likely to be accurate, and indeed it doesn't look great - longer term, we are all guessing, with so many moving parts and so many permutations between now and then. FWIW I have never seen, before or now, any evidence why we should be materially better OR worse off longer term. It's not as if we produce or make that much, with most of our offer focused on highly global - and globally competitive - services sectors... and while we are a decent-sized end market for imports, we are only one of many - a bit bigger than France, a bit smaller than Germany, about the size of Mexico and Indonesia, just not growing (nearly) as fast..."... let's face it so many other companies seem to be prospering nicely irrespective of a countries independence from protectist organisations. Dyson perhaps?... As a new holder of WPP, this guy worries me a tad -- Had the shares not been so cheap, I'm not sure I'd favour an investment in this ..."Games - I'm not sure I'd hold out Sir James D as any paragon of prosperity - if he had a share price, not so sure it'd be doing any better than WPP or others? And it's not as if he relies too much on the UK, as the case in question, as either an end market for his products or, indeed, as labour market for making them, much preferring his sweatshops (sorry, "offshore manufacturing bases"
in Malaysia et al. Lots of businesses (WPP being only one) are already "employing people from around the world" so I'm not sure whence the new opportunities (or indeed the EU restrictions?) there, and while 85% of the world is not in the EU, unfortunately 50% of our trade business is. Opportunity perhaps, but no guarantees, and considerable time and money (and risk) will inevitably be involved in establishing new market footholds.Sorrell is what you get with WPP, though not exactly a "free extra" - he's never been able to resist a platform for his views on a whole range of geopolitical issues, and he's not going to change now. I wouldn't say he's right all the time, none of us are - but he has at least been consistent on Brexit (suggesting we were "sleep-walking to disaster" some time before the vote - that's what you get if you give the vote to the over-60s, for me, they should have to swap it for their bus passes). And as Hardboy suggests, as an undoubted key mover and shaker in a lead-indicator industry, he is in a better position than most to commend his observations on global and/or domestic economic trends.
Johandesilva
28 Dec 2017
Re: Brexcuse Games,In Short* term I have to agree with Sorrell and and Oliver. Longer term I agree with you. As we are in the festive spirit I personally would look to Yoda regarding Brexit. Do or do not, there is no dragging it out.
Hardboy
27 Dec 2017
Re: Brexcuse Hi Games, Hope Santa brought you lots of what you wanted; and 2018 will be a prosperous one for you.Whatever you think of Sorrell, he is worth listening to when he talks about the broader economic picture. As head of the world's biggest advertising agency, he has a better view than almost anyone else of trends sector by sector, county by country. Maybe sometimes what he says is tinted to suit his own or his company's agenda, but he is still worth listening to.
gamesinvestor
27 Dec 2017
Brexcuse [link] think Sorrell is damaging his own brand by making statements like this - he should focus on his own companies performance -- let's face it so many other companies seem to be prospering nicely irrespective of a countries independence from protectist organisations. Dyson perhaps?Employing people from around the world should open up more opportunities for WPP, after EU restrictions are lifted, when and if we ever leave -- 85% of the world is not in the EU. Jamie Oliver is another brexcuser, claiming his over priced restaurants are failing because of Brexit. Plenty of other restaurants are thriving, and he shouldn't be short of customers given that the influx of foreign visitors reached it's highest level ever in 2017.If anything Sorrell should be witnessing a massive boost to his companies numbers with the decline in sterling. It's not as if he depends on huge imports of raw materials hit by the decline in sterling now is it?As a new holder of WPP, this guy worries me a tad -- Had the shares not been so cheap, I'm not sure I'd favour an investment in this -- had it been up at 19XX for example.Games
gamesinvestor
26 Dec 2017
Top Pick for 2018 [link] (LON: WPP) (WPP.L) has seen its share price hit in recent months, falling from around 1,900p to 1,400p. Sentiment towards the advertising market is very low right now. However, WPP has an excellent dividend growth track record, and recently increased its interim dividend by 16%. With the company forecast to pay 61.9p in dividends this year, the prospective yield of 4.4% looks to be an opportunity in my view. Dividend coverage should be around 2.0 times. UBS view the stock as “oversold”and have a 1,900p price target. I bought some WPP stock recently.""""Games
Johandesilva
12 Dec 2017
Interesting quote regarding Facebook "If you are telling people how good your brand is on social media all day, you can be sure that nobody is listening, despite what Facebook’s paid boost analytics are showing you.""It’s scary for brands to spend money in the digital space, because they have to be willing to take some risks. The alternative is far worse, for example, the perpetual boosting of Facebook ads, as they are getting more expensive for a whole lot less reach – they are having almost no impact apart from delivering meaningless stats to justify the spend. However, they feel safer doing that, as opposed to aggressively experimenting with content. "Why advertising spend is taking such a beating | Media Update | Today[link]
gamesinvestor
28 Nov 2017
Ford contract [link] news is good news for WPP at this point in time.Games
EssentialInvestor
16 Nov 2017
Re: Back in Hi John, because of concerns about wider market levelsI am mainly focussed on smaller trades atm.However my outlook is often to cautious.To me we look late in his cycle, UK macro is weakening,it would not surprise if we were in, or very close to recession within 12 months.
Johandesilva
16 Nov 2017
Re: Share buy back rate! The buy back RNS have stopped. Surely if you buying in batches you spread out
Johandesilva
16 Nov 2017
Re: Back in EssentialInvestor,I almost sold the lot for a small profit around the same time. The time frame for recovery is with some certainly not this year so if there are trading opportunities why not... wish I sold my entire big caps at the end of October rally and bought them all back in after such a rally.
EssentialInvestor
16 Nov 2017
Back in This AM, at 1242 and 1249, traded this twice recently,the last lot sold at 1306, usually post my trades over on the other place.Small amount only, the earnings downgrade cycle may not be over for WPP imv.And LK's BTR reference is ringing in my ears.
Greyinvestor
16 Nov 2017
Topped up Topped up again today at £12.42, good value, divi % rising steadily.....
EssentialInvestor
15 Nov 2017
The growl of the bear.. Faint but growing closer.Good call by LK on his quick about turn here.
Hardboy
14 Nov 2017
Re: Share buy back rate! Don't read too much into share buyback volumes,Once a share buy back has been initiated it is passed to a third party to undertake, exactly so the company can not use it to manipulate the share price and the volumes have restrictions on them, based on average daily volumes of preceding periods. And of course there is the availability of shares. If volumes are up it may be a sign that more people are offloading them, which is not a good sign.
Johandesilva
13 Nov 2017
Share buy back rate! These are increasing rapidly this month. Over 2 million pounds worth every working day. Is this even sustainable? It is not easy to visual the scale. Is the amount significant in order to hold the share price up while eroding our profit margin.I like share buy backs if the stock is undervalued (and we believe this is) but this month seems a little extreme and will hurt us should this fall further as a result of lack of growth next year.
