Anyone notice the exratordinary volumes yesterday? (10/5/2004)

48 million!!!

Many more buys than sells.

That and the price held out only losing a fraction of a penny.

No Easter Eggs in sight in my local store.

May be one reason but............

Any ideas people?

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000102&sid=aStfoiIge7Uc&refer=uk

This link may help people save money if they bail this morning first thing.

It says APAX have pulled out.

Woolworth bid dropped
MoneyAM
The future of Woolworths has been questioned after venture capitalist Apax dropped its bid.

The financial group cited concerns over "key cash items".

Apax had offered 837m, or 52.8 pence for every Woolworth share, but withdrew the bid late on Wednesday after having been given access to the firm's books.

Analysts said that the decision is likely to hit Woolworths shares when the market opens in London on Thursday.

Woolworths played down concerns, saying it was a "big, profitable" company.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Woolworths chairman Gerald Corbett said that "it is very difficult dealing with venture capitalists".

"We thought our shareholders would want us to explore" the 58p a share bid, Mr Corbett explained. "We have explored it, but they've withdrawn and so it is back to business as usual."

"We are a big, profitable, cash-generative business."

Analysts were less optimistic and said that there have been concerns over Woolworths and its business model for a number of years.

Last month, Woolworths said retail conditions remain "difficult" after reporting a 1.3% fall in like-for-like sales during 2004.

Justin Urquhart-Stewart of Seven Investment Management said that Woolworths was one of a number of ailing UK retailers.

The problem facing Woolworths, he continued, was that the company did not have a very clear role to play on the High Street and consumers were unsure what exactly it offered.

Apax declined to comment on what problems there were, saying only that they related to "key cash items".

"It is significant," said Seven's Urquhart-Stewart, adding that investors will be worrying about the venture capital firm has uncovered.

"What has Apax found?"

Analysts speculated that there may have been some unseen problems or costs related to Woolworths real-estate portfolio and plans to sell of its remaining Big W stores.


Good luck.

It does not bode well, over 2 million sales pre open at 40p now 39p.

Can anyone tell me how these early trades happen?

i would love to see share register and see how many friends/employees sold shares yesterday INSIDERTRADING YESTERDAY MY ASS so you telling me at 8pm ish apax only just decided they were not going to bid yet at these time most sensible people are at home with the family this stinks!!!!

Sw,you would hope people would of cashed in well before after all its been in the up 50s for some time now,why would they still keep hold of them prior to an exchange of all the paper work.

After all look at the sells on wensaday.

No small position holders left in here,,lucky sods!

come on wlw u can do it 30p

I agree with respect to the heavy trades yesterday even.

Tons of sells.

280 million changed hands today.

Most are buys.

Maybe there is a reason for that?

New lurker?

At around 40p it is not a bargain imo.

Agree sw but 30 pence would be.Plenty of talk of 26p a week or 2 before apex came on the scene.

a lot of money lost in this stock. hedgies would have been all over it for the 3p flip (great performance annualised - eg. 55 to 58.2p roughly 5% over lets say 3 months = 20% annualised!). big gapping wounds today....

Hmm........

Yes prop.

Not good for anyone really.

In hope now that Trevor is allowed to get on with his recovery of the WLW business without distraction.

Dave I think 26 p will never be seen again.

A simple lowering ogf the base rate(!) will do the trick.

Its that simple.

Enter the Consevative Government.

Speculators did not clean up at Woolies (Robert Cole) Times Business)


At 41p Woolies looks excellent value. Buy; Rolls-Royce shares offer sound value. Hold; SSL International's p/e ratio is 19 and dividend yield only 2 per cent.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8211-1570395,00.html

Nice positive item regarding long term prospects.

Its still a winner for me sw long term,,touch wood and the horse shoe and the bunny foot.
I will stick to my target of 26 if it comes off great.

Looks today like intstutions are selling out, p[robably what they bought while the negatiations were under way, so they are taking a hit.

It will affect the price, but dave...................26p????

I dont think so.

Look at around 36p and sell off in 4 years at around 90p to a pound is what I think.

The divi will be reinstated now by the way, so............ take that into account on the price.

No - not Woolies....must be strong, no more retailers, no
adding to the portfolio, no more bargain basement buys, not until
I get rid of FCCN, must resist.......

(phew that was close, it all got very tempting for a minute)

Seriously, it's sad really I like Woolies.....oh and Dave, it's ok
you can put my foot down now - cheers me-dear
;>)

It's been good to me, so I am sentimental, and will probably buy back in again, only this time keep them.

They will find the focus I think, and I bet they eventually take Tesco over in the future.

Will it be before the latest aseroid hits in 2036?

Well I can not answer that as I probably wont be around then.

Be warned, if I am, I will look like Mr Burns.

"Smithers......................."

LOL :>)

26,

You heard it here first,fight the urge,,,,,,,,,,,,fight the urge!!

It seems that even that Evil character now owns Woolies and didn;t take Dave's advice to fight that urge!

"On the other hand I have hoovered up 1 million shares in Woolworths (WLW) at 39p as I think the market over-reacted to the Apax bid withdrawal and I can see another stalker emerging in due course. I see that Nick Bubb disagrees with me and he is the retail guru but then he does read the Guardian so he can't get everything right."