Invinity (IES)
People who claim to know when a stock has gone down sufficiently to cause the greedy to feed are usually misleading. But I suspect IES has again become a buy at 35p.
2 hours ago1 min read
Salt beef
Forty years ago I used to buy salt beef sandwiches from a small shop around the corner from my office. They were cut on the spot from a chunk of meat described by the proprietor as brisket. But I have never encountered brisket in that delicious form since. So I asked around and was informed that the relevant salt was a form of gunpowder and since the IRA were operational it could not be held for use by salt beef sandwich vendors. This seems very unlikely and I expect it is a
2 hours ago1 min read
David Sullivan - sex charges
David Sullivan is another one of these curious fellows who can be disclosed as interested in sex. The lady who complains has declared that she was propositioned by David Sullivan but declined the offer. What's so amazing about that?
1 day ago1 min read
Denby in fact
The pottery firm, Denby, is closing down. Perhaps its designs are not appealing. I do not know. But it is certainly true that UK energy costs are much higher than elsewhere around the world. This looks to be another Ed Miliband destruction move.
1 day ago1 min read
Oliver Irwin
Oliver died about ten years ago, aged 95 or so. He was remarkable. His mother disliked the English (she was Irish) and Oliver was born in South Africa. He crossed the Limpopo and made his way to Lusaka. Deloittes dominated auditing since they had both of the major mining groups as clients. But Oliver set about competing and brought a swaggering arrogance to his competitiveness. Young men flocked to his style. Independence in 1964 brought opportunity after opportunity and he s
4 days ago2 min read
More from the bastards who govern us
The Bank of England was advised by a market research consultancy to remove Winston Churchill from bank notes for being “divisive and elitist” and Alan Turing for being “imperialistic”. The Bank was also advised against the inclusion of Jane Austen, the White Cliffs of Dover and Victorian houses.
4 days ago1 min read
Hubris and nemesis
In October 1987 Hoare Govett and its MD, a Richard Westmacott, had agreed with HMG that HG would underwrite a rights issue for BP. All was going well when disaster struck in the US. The issue was left with HG and far far too much of it fell on the shoulders of HG. HG had to ask its 30% shareholder Security Pacific, an American bank, to divi up. Which they did and moved their shareholding up to 80%. All the directors, barring Westmacott, were sacked. This was a remarkable case
5 days ago1 min read
