Ian Pollard: Cloud Cuckoo Land Is Never Empty

2018 was quite a good year for the self important types who could not resist making fools of themselves in the full gaze of the public. The overall group winner of the year award must go to company directors and CEOs who have provided us with endless hours of amusement as they have literally tied […]

Ian Pollard: Stagecoach Pleased With Operating Loss of £6.2m (Unadjusted)

Stagecoach Group plc SGC  is pleased to report positive half-year financial results, ahead of expectations, at least according to the Chief Executive, David Griffiths. These included a total unadjusted operating loss of £6.2m compared to a profit of £114.8m profit for 2018, which may lead the more cynical to comment that some people are easily […]

Ian Pollard – Singles Day at Primark

Alibaba invented Singles Day as a shopping celebration for the unattached as opposed to the romanticism of Valentines Day. It is now the world’s biggest online sales event, exceeding the combined totals of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Yesterday saw sales hit a record $1bn in 85 seconds and the total spend for the day […]

Ian Pollard: ABF – A Headline A Day

Associated British Foods ABF Yesterdays headline trumpeted that Primark blamed three periods of unseasonable weather for sales sliding by 2.1% over the year to the 15th September. But today a new day has dawned and brought with it new headlines as the media stands on its head and proclaims that today’s truth is that Primark […]

Ian Pollard: Barclays Grovels Again

Barclays Bank PLC BARC yet another British Bank bites the dust and grovels before the US department of Justice as it is forced to agree to a huge settlement to try and escape the consequences of its past dishonesty. The bank claims a strong financial third quarter performance and earnings per share over the first […]

Ian Pollard: Convatec CEO Departs Immediately

ConvaTec Group plc CTEC expects a material negative impact on revenue in the fourth quarter, of between $18 – $23 million following a change in inventory policy by one of its biggest customers. Advanced Wound Care also produced a disappointing result with reported revenue falling 0.8% to $146.8 million. Expectations for full year organic revenue […]

Ian Pollard: HSBC Pays The Penalty – Yet Again

HSBC has had to cave in and pay yet another huge penalty to fend off claims in the US of widespread fraud and corruption. It took the benighted bank some ten years until 1916 before it had the grace to cough up and agree to pay compensation to US customers to whom it brought financial […]

Ian Pollard – Amino Commits to 10% Dividend Hike Despite Intense Headwinds

Amino Technologies plc AMO goes straight for the jargon box as it seeks reasons in advance for the full year results due in November. An intensification of external macroeconomic headwinds have been the main problem. These have resulted in lower than anticipated orders, higher than expected component price increases in the second half, as well as […]