OneGuyFromBarlick

Always best to assume worst case Tiz! That's what Wendy and Col have done and I believe it's the right attitude. All right, you might do someone a disservice but at least you are safer making the assumption.

Highly unlikely that it was a coincidence, especially as the caller referred to the form on the website!!

Ian solved a mystery for me on another topic.... I have noticed a mobile Lloyd's Bank on the Pioneer car park recently. From what Ian says the High Street branch has closed. Now only one bank in Barlick, Barclay's, for 15,000 people... So much for the reliable Black Horse.....

I suspect Tiz might agree with me on this one.... I have long been suspicious about the viability of the magic 'wealth' thrown up by the investment of pension pots in get rich quick schemes under the Tory liberalisation of the rules governing pensions. Keep an eye on the Just Group who manage about £25billion of these funds. In addition they are active in another dodgy sector of the market, Equity Release or 'lifetime mortgages'. These are only viable when house prices are rising enabling the provider to promise no negative equity. Just Group base their business model on a 4.25% annual rise in house prices and unfortunately this is no longer happening.
Questions are being asked about their asset level and their ability to absorb losses. This has reached the stage where even KPMG have forced the group to cancel dividends and seek additional capital (Shades of Carillion....). This looks like an accident waiting to happen.

Too right, I agree!

On a similar 'be aware' level are the High Street chains. Despite the sometimes optimistic Xmas trading reports, overall, the opinion is that many are hanging on by their finger tips. Something like Brexit could be the last straw. (And Trump isn't helping things at all!)
I watched the film, The Big Short, last night. Based on fact it is horrifying! Especially when you factor in that we are on even worse debt and regulatory conditions now. Are we heading for another melt down?

I posted this link in the Attention thread: Charts showing retail performance

An interesting set of figures Tiz. Am I right in thinking that the ones with free car parks did best?
See THIS for news of FlyBe being taken over at a price of 1P a share by Virgin Atlantic and Stobart. The new airline will be known as Connect. Yet again, the reason for the failure is massive levels of debt.

More on Equity Release by Lifetime Mortgages. See THIS report by the surveyors that house prices are in trouble due to Brexit. Remember that the companies who supply this market need a year on year price rise of 4%.

The share prices of the big estate agency businesses have fallen dramatically over recent months. `Countrywide' shares have fallen to a tiny fraction of their original price in the last year. It's not just ones on the High Street either, the online `Purple Bricks' business has dropped in value substantially. The car industry is in dire straits too, due to Brexit fears, diesel troubles and a drop in car purchases in China.

Add the fact that the stock markets are no doubt poised to make a mass move instantaneously by automatic trading as soon as the final Brexit arrangements are made. I get the feeling that we are on a knife-edge in so many ways at the moment.... I shall make sure my store cupboards are adequate!
One early sign of the possibilities is THIS, Hitachi's announcement that it was walking away from its contracts. Don't discount the possibility that this could yet be the eventual fate of Hinkley Point. Our first nuclear 'revolution' was built on the back of a wave of optimism and innovation. (Remember 'too cheap to meter'?) The contrast now is that we have a massive power station being built using technology that is out of date and massively over-priced. What happens if EDF (France) pulls out?
Uncertain times for big budget high visibility investments. (HS2 is by no means out of the wood)

Stanley wrote: ↑18 Jan 2019, 04:28 What happens if EDF (France) pulls out?

and what happens if we leave the Common Market? Will all the component prices be subject to WTO rules, adding another 15% to the build price? Are gas and electric considered as import / export commodities? Just asking.

Stock markets...regardless of Brexit I think that the instantaneous automatic trading of stocks and shares should be curtailed and replaced with a system incorporating a fixed delay between buying a stock and selling it. We'd have to choose a satisfactory delay time but it would make the stock markets more stable and deter some of the gambling.

Hitachi - they're not the only one to back out. Toshiba are backing out of their reactor. I think it's Hitachi in Wales and Toshiba in Cumbria if I've got it the right way around. It's going to be rough in the windless and sunless times!

Now the dust has settled the final verdict on High Street trading is in. The bottom line is that we spent less and did it earlier. Overall spend was down. Black Friday started price cutting off early and even those businesses that managed to keep up or increase volume have all suffered from lower profit margins. Nobody is laughing all the way to the bank. M&S in particular have announced another tranche of closures as they struggle to survive.
Ryan Air issue another profit warning. Good news is hard to find in business at the moment.

The banks are still letting down customers because they can't get to grips with the technology...
`Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland customers face payments problems' LINK

It appears that Janet was right all those years ago when she told me that the merchant banks she worked for were all places where the senior management, who had no understanding of what the IT processes were or the damage that could be inflicted on their business by outdated technology and cunning algorithms, didn't take their IT and Compliance division's advice but made judgements on how much will it cost and will we make a profit. It looks as though little has changed. I wonder how old some of that code is?

See THIS report on the affairs of Patisserie Valerie who are in deep trouble and could possibly collapse today. Some very pertinent questions are being asked by fund managers about the withdrawal of £23million in equity taken out of the firm and other matters. This all begins to look quite dodgy.

`Card surcharges: Customers charged hundreds illegally' LINK

I'd forgotten that Tiz. I always pay my Contents Insurance by debit card because the broker charged extra if you used credit. I noted that when I renewed it this month there was no mention of a surcharge but I thought that was perhaps because it was online.

The Times reported on Saturday that HMRC were fining people for `late payment' in advance of the payment deadline. Accountants had spotted it and contacted the newspaper. HMRC denied it. Now HMRC have admitted it's true - I suppose another case of `a blip on the system'!
`HMRC error hits early-filing taxpayers' LINK

I heard that report as well. I wonder if any high rollers are affected?
THIS looks like an early sign that a small black cloud might be on Kier Construction's horizon...... (There was more comment about Kier later on, it is still giving cause for concern)
THIS news broke this morning. Patisserie Valerie has gone into administration. It appears that a supposed cash surplus of £30million turned into a deficit of £10million overnight. It seems that the reason for the failure was fraudulent accounting which, though obvious now, for some as yet unaccountable reason was not noticed by the auditors. Make of that what you will.

On Saturday The Times reported that HSBC and Barclays were being investigated for their role in the Pat Valerie scam. A complicated trick involving transient overdrafts, bounced cheques and many millions of pounds at a time. Patrick Hoskings wrote something like: `How the banks can say they didn't know what was going on beggars belief.'

I heard that interview as well. There are more ways of making money than the sweat of your brow!
Later.... see THIS Guardian report on Metro Bank shares dropping 40% on news that they have classified risky loans as good ones. The massive debt mountain is overhanging the market and this is one example of the dangers.

I put this here because for some reason it makes me think of bankers! But it also reminds me of Boris Johnson doing his JCB-promotion cum Brexit speech last week. It makes you wonder what else is going on behind the scenes between Bexiteers and companies at the moment...
`David Davis to earn £60,000 for 20 hours work at JCB' LINK