After a disappointing start to its float, things are starting to pick up. Since the release of results in December, the shares have steadily increased from 147p to 161p.

The group has a strong and fast growing market share and should perform well.

It's possible that the improvement in phone cameras has improved to the extent that a point and shoot digital camera is no longer worthwhile. Jessops does have an established internet business though so it can quickly change prices. I think its new printing service of uploading from home to their system and getting t shirts, calenders and mugs made is quite good especially when you can pick up the items from the most convenient store. I have just bought 10,000 at 54.5 and hope ihave grabbed a knife that's landed rather than one that is still falling...

Falcothou
I agree I think they are good value at that price, should bounce tomorrow, good luck.

to put this into perspective they floated at 160p
I think they will fall further and worried about them going pop so this is high risk..

Not sure about going pop? -this is a business that was very strong in the "photographic days" - now with digital cameras, JSP didn't realise it was about to explode (and prices imploded!) - this combination's been their downfall, IMHO.
I have bought some as a punt at 52.95 - must be near the bottom- the stock is oversold.
The next question is what are they good at?
=With shops they are able to push specific brands and this should be used as a lever....also they have excellent D&P facilities and for some years (before I went digital), I would get them to scan a film to CD - so I was getting experience in Software editing long before the digital camera was bought.

I think they should do photography/video courses (for customers) and maybe Competitions....very cheap to operate and prize photos go on their website with the possibility of selling-on.
There is no doubt that prints from Jessops are a lot better than injet prints done at home (although slightly more inconvenient, but for some folks planning to shop nearby - it's no inconvenience).
+JSP has a good turnover, despite the current figures and profit margins are not all that bad. I suspect that at sub-50p they are a Bargain...currently about 1/2p more than I paid, I'm happy to hold at least until they declare their hand - will that make things worse?...I doubt it. They still have a fantastic brand and good staff.
The news (here) about memory is "good" - I imagine they weren't selling too many at the full price, whatever the "qulity aspect".
If I make a few-hundred out of the bounce, that will pay for a decent SLR =from JSP of course; as I don't trust on-line stores, other than High-Street names...and prefer to see 'my' camer working, before handing over the money....
_Will they reach 40p? - - - it's possible and we've heard little from the Company - but Markets usually 'over-react' and that's the basis of my Punt.
Good luck.

Pretty ,much agree with your comments hangon. I have been talking to a few punters re Jessops today. One had a video recorder that expired out of ~Warranty. jessops helped with getting it repaired foc despite this, try that with an on line firm. Another who teaches photography got a D200 with tidy lens from them for 800 it was a return (bargain). I had a memory card that became unwriteable after the camera switched off and jessops helped re-format it. I bought a pentax optio a while back from pixmania which gave the best internet price at the time, this came with a French manual which is really bad news as to get the best out of even a simple camera like this you need a manual. They also bombarded me with e-mails about special offers and refused to reply to an email for another manual. You also run the risk of paying by card on line SLR's are of course even more complex and it is handy to be able to drop in on a shop for queries. I find my printer at home very unreliable in terms of producing good prints and so a lab with a printer that uses a superior one is an option.
I think they have expanded too fast and in Oxford for example they have 2 shops in the city centre which is wasteful imho. The helpfulness of the staff can cause problems with slow service but the automated processing machines help reduce this.
I expect a lot of stop losses have been triggered that have knocked the sp. as well as the market crash. The knife seems to have stuck in something for the time being

Hi,well this has seen better days what a drop off,must be some other mugs about bar than me,,bought today.

They could make cost savings by re-locating their lab and distribution centre offshore e.g. Guernsey. From there they could sell prints/ accessories under 18 vat free. This is what 7 day shop and its subsidiary Photobox (privately owned) do, and they make a killing

Hi Falcothou. I visited my Local JSP and saw the Mem reductions but not enough to buy more ( have another 1G that barely used). What I do need is a spare battery for that day when the original croaks, but I shall put this off a while.
Not sure that off-shore/distant printing helps - they have a good hook with 1-hour photos and need to compete with ASDA et al.....and JSP quality is Good. Also it draws yu into the sales area....I suspect any marginal saving would be countered by the loss of passing trade...or did u mean internet-based processing?
Also there is delivery cost and even for c20-worth of prints handling is quite a lot...and I like to collect my prints, so ensure they don't become "lost" or damaged should it rain the day the Postie delivers. What would they replace the print-counter with?
So what did you think about the Courses idea?

Back to sp....this is a disaster for anyone that thought 1.60-ish was right..... can't say I was ever impressed (at that price, as OXB was only 30p - now abt 50p).
I have some misgivings at 52p.....but at least we have seen 1.50 only a few weeks ago; so this has to be excessive selling, probably by those who are being burnt right now.
Will it rise to 1plus? There is no reason it shouldn't recover...(this PW was caused by lack of one camera-Stock)....and with some Exec. clean sweeps we could see recovery close to floatation. However, I think that price was optimistic given the state of the business and the Market was looking at Energy and Oil in particular...shifting surplus cash into the likes of BP.
I'm wondering if the video-in-phones won't affect them also - that they offer a range of phones is good - very good.
However, there is no reason why JSP cannot offer web-based processing, so perhaps you should sugest they look into it? It all adds to turnover and intially they could share the work amongst their retail outlets (at no cost)...gradually developing an appropriate-size works later.

Hi Hang on the competition and courses thing is a good idea and a way to keep loyalty and move on surplus stock. A combo of internet offshore processing and in shop processing would provide a good service and save cash. Will be interesting to see how the management adapt

Quick intake of breath could be worse.

Check out the chart after The Sept 2005 advice The Telegraph gave. How can anyone take them seriously after that. Glad I did not short then. They have probably been waiting for 18months to say I told you so

The Telegraph reiterates keep selling on Sunday...

Jessops stays out of focus

In September 2005 we suggested that readers sell shares in Jessops (53.25p), the camera retailer, when they were trading at 82.5p. The company had floated just one year earlier at 155p.

At the time we said that the depressed share price indicated that investors were anticipating further profit warnings, much to the chagrin of the company.

Last week the company issued such a warning, blaming poor trading and increasing margin pressure since the turn of the year.

The company said that pre-tax profit for the year ending in September would only be 6.5m, compared with 17m last year. "Investors will despair of the management, given the history of disappointment," says Nick Bubb, retail analyst at Pali International.

Jessops said that digital compact sales are down by almost 11 per cent, memory cards are down by 14 per cent and camcorders are down by 17 per cent.

Total like-for-like sales are down by 3.4 per cent in the last seven weeks.

Analysts believe Jessops's problems are two-fold. Firstly, the retailer has reduced prices, and therefore margins, to drive sales. Will this work?

Secondly, some analysts have questioned the size of the company's store estate given its obvious trading woes.

We reiterate our advice to bring the shutter down on Jessops. Keep selling.

looks like good advice to me, though not sure i would open a fresh short at this juncture as sp has already been hammered due to forced sales etc ...... however, may well be worth watching in the event of a decent bounce

As Falcothou suggests, this business needs some minor changes to capitalise on its Presence and Brand image (ie professional). The question is; will mangement react? If they do nothing (or tinker only at the edges) then I think we could see a further lowering of SP. However, the Market is paused for now - 50p being the magic limit - i.e. awaiting some evidence, either way.

I have bought at this level and hope Management will change, PDQ.
It is a pity that the AGM was only weeks before the PW....a tad careless and I suspect we may see a cull where there finger of blame points....Finance and Sales execs batch-it!

Don't let's forget that many people have bought their first digital-camera/camcorder, so their need to buy is increasinly difficult...that's why having "Customer services" is an essential part of their business and Very Cheap Promotion (compared with advertising in the National Press)....I suspect most people know "Jessops" - now Management just need to ensure they visit once every-so-often, to keep p-to-date etc. etc.

could you not find some quality recently-whacked share to buy instead oif this flakey bunch?

I think they could make money by collaborating with mobile phone companies. Ie by printing images that people have on their phones uploaded by 3G, or have a certain number of free prints with every month's contract.

does one care? ..... my money would not go anywhere near them

Most people like printed images...and there are few who can print at home in anything like acceptable quality...I believe JSP has good coverage in the Market-place and needs to concentate on the service side - making photography exciting again....if price is the only issue then JSP is on a hiding to nowhere ....as a holder, I hope they trade on their strengths...and the sooner the better.

I would have thought you can already print from a mobile phone -have you tried one of Jessops consoles? I'm not sure the quality will bet that good as you normally see only a tiny image...but if that's what you want...why not?

I saw a 20 digital camera in Woolworths yesterday - a nice bit of kit for the money - uses SD memory so not expensive and no zoom, but at 20 you could rip it open and make an adaptor for a microscope...or use it to view SD memory chips...considering it comes with a USB-lead and viewing software....and a box, case etc. wow it so good I'm tempted as a fun camera!
(Oops this is JSP-thread, sorry)
Bye-ee.

ITS NOT THE FIRST TIME THEY HAVE TIPPED IT ...THEY TIPPED IN AS SHARE OF THE YEAR IN 2006 ALONG WITH PIXXOLOGY AT THE SAME TIME BOTH DOWN ABOUT 75%....

42p is looking cheap to me...this busness has a strong brand AND presence on the High Street......maybe the influence of the internet is overdone....as Jessops sell more kit, they will be able to negotiate better prices with their suppliers.

JSP was overpriced at floatation, but I suspect this was because they had many years of trading behind them....but, at the moment they floated, the digital market was in turnoil....except no-one appeared to notice.

I was never convinced that Pixology had any barriers to entry; since image manipulation has been arround for many years - even before digital cameras, computers were used to "improve" scanned film-based images. So, just what was it that made investors think Pixology had somethin that would make their fortunes?

I hold JSP from recent falls.