Why are we again at 10.5p bid?

It doesn't add up...

Good Results + Strong buying pre results + Christmas online buying soon = Price drop

Then again some companies that have debt for equity hanging in the balance, poor results and bankruptcy around the corner and they go up!

Why sell now at a loss?

Wont that be a kick in the teeth when we see 13.5p 14p again!

Best of luck all.

"Web retailers to enjoy bumper online Xmas
By Bernhard Warner, European Internet Correspondent

LONDON (Reuters) - European Web shoppers will ring up 9 billion euros (5.65 billion pounds) in e-commerce purchases for the 2003 Christmas period, closing the gap on the United States, the home of "e-shopaholics", according to a new forecast.

With this year's must-have gifts decidedly on the techy side -- from DVD players to digital cameras and video game consoles -- more of Europe's shoppers than ever are expected to flock to the Internet to browse and buy.

"Europe is hot on the heels of the U.S. this Christmas season," said Forrester Research (NASDAQ: FORR - news) analyst Hellen Omwando, who estimated that there are 166 million online shoppers in Europe.

She added shoppers in Western Europe are expected to purchase 9 billion euros worth of goods between November 1 and Christmas day, up 18 percent from last year's Forrester Christmas forecast.

The U.S., the world's largest online retail market, will generate $12 billion in 2003 e-commerce Christmas sales.

Analysts have predicted that Europe could surpass the U.S. as the world's largest online retail market by the end of the decade as credit card penetration and trust in the medium grow.

RISING FROM THE DOT-COM ASHES

The projection is a rare bit of good news for a sector that had been decimated by the bursting of the dot-com bubble. Countless Internet firms sprung to life in the late 1990s, selling everything from dog food to jewellery, only to run out of money after their first Christmas.

The big online players today are recognisable high street retailers such as UK grocery chain Tesco (LSE: TSCO.L - news - msgs) , Fnac.com, the online arm of Pinault Printemps Redoute (Paris: FR0000121485 - news) , plus dot-com survivors Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN - news) and eBay.

The Forrester forecast counted sales projections for 17 Western European countries -- the 15 EU member states plus Finland and Switzerland.

According to Forrester, the UK and Germany will account for 63 percent of European holiday sales. The largest product categories will be travel bookings, books and groceries, Omwella said.

"It's pointing to a very big year, simply because people started shopping as early as October," said Dorothea Arndt, marketing director for the British arm of Kelkoo.com, the Web-based price comparison shopping service.

She said the top gift search requests are for electronic gadgets such as Apple Computer Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL - news) 's iPod digital music player, the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console and Nike (NYSE: NKE - news) trainers.

But the rise of online shopping also has a dark side. British shoppers, alone, are expected to lose 300,000 pounds every day to "card not present" fraud, in which fraudsters intercept credit card details during an online or telephone purchase, the Association of Payment Clearing Services warned.

"This is where we expect fraud to migrate to," said Carl Clump, chief executive of online fraud prevention firm Retail Decisions (LSE: RTD.L - news) ."

From 'this is money'

Switch predicts average spending per head on food this Christmas will be 114, while the drinks bill will be around 63.


The study suggests more people are looking to the Continent for Christmas bargains. Around 23% said they planned to do some shopping abroad, with France the 'most popular and cheapest' option for alcohol - particularly wine - and food.



The internet is seen as a cheaper alternative to the High Street, as well avoiding the festive rush at the tills. However, fears of credit card fraud and concerns over delivery dates are said to be a 'big worry' for consumers.

So expect a bullish messge from CC after new year indicating a profit alert and whoosh then see it move northwards.

If only...

Something's cooking though, there have been chunky buys each day for some time now, whilst the weak holders are being shaken out.

blakester...have faith dear fellow...The future is rosy!!!!

Retail Decision have been very quiet for too long now...i.e no announcements by Co.

A contract win or company announcment is overdue...Keep watching RTD near term I'd say!

Jules99.

Why can't it hold at the 10p level?

Because impatient people are selling.

Buying opportunity for me!

Sorry B but can not see the 3.1 mill trade on the screen

Sorry martincoops, you were too quick for me. I posted it on the wrong thread so deleted it. The trades were PXC.

Own them as well. T

Thanks I will check them out

good to see Jules back on this commenting on RTD. Ain't see you for ages on this one mate.

I still keep the faith on RTD but am losing on it at present. Intend to hold for long term though (until end of next year at least) as i think we will see people give RTD a more realistic value by then. Also, there results next year will re-assure the markets that their last profit was no fluke.

SCOTINVESTOR...Im a bit of a fly at lately...buzzin in betwween days..Good to hear u are well...

whats going on folks???

RTD on the up today +5%

Some interesting discussions going on over at advfn. Here's an extract from the response to a letter to the Chairman (Nigel Whittaker):

"We are conscious of certain shortcomings (particularly for example in being quick on our feet when Chip and Pin announcements are made) but I hope you will gain some reassurance from Carl's response and particularly from our performance figures when they come out."

Sounds promising to me.

The letter was asking why RTD are not actively seen to be promoting their wares in this perfect environment (lots of press about chip and pin, and the run up to record internet sales over the Christmas period).

Someone suggested that companies which need to advertise and promote heavily do not have the customers already at their door. Does this suggest that RTD already have a bevvy of customers at their door and don't need to market themselves heavily (prefering to save the marketing spend rather than waste it) ?

Time will tell - though the company really does appear to be capitalising on its recent bullish results. All bodes very well for next year IMHO.

Maybe RTD will finally start that gradual (or even sudden) rise now as we all expected beforehand.

Hmmmmmm, RTD directors stay quiet & wait for share price to fall each day & then buy some more for themselves & it goes up again at the end of the day.

Watch for announcements of director buys.

On the UP!

and this is why

Retail Decisions PLC
20 November 2003


Retail Decisions PLC

CORPORATE UPDATE


Trading statement - significant improvement in full year profitability expected

Retail Decisions (ReD), the international supplier of payment card fraud
prevention and payment card services, is expected to report higher than
anticipated profits for the full year to 31 December 2003.

When the Group published its interim results in September, it stated that
although the second half of the year had started well and was in line with
expectations, the Group was unlikely to report a higher Adjusted Operating
Profit (Operating Profit before amortisation or impairment of goodwill/
intangibles and before exceptional costs) for the second half of the financial
year, when compared to the first half of the year.

Subsequently, trading of the Group has been stronger than anticipated. This,
together with the significant cost reduction and containment programme
implemented last year and the continued benefit of favourable exchange rates
particularly with the Australian dollar, has resulted in the stronger financial
performance. The Group now expects to report an Adjusted Operating Profit in
the second half of the financial year greater than that achieved in the first
half and therefore have a significantly higher full year profit.

The Group's cash position will also be stronger than originally envisaged.

ReD will publish its preliminary results for the year to 31 December 2003 in
early March.

Carl Clump, Retail Decisions Chief Executive said:

'The business has continued to perform well since we published our interim
result early in September, particularly in Australia and the US. Furthermore,
the anticipated downturn in the Group's legacy business in Europe is now not
expected until next year.

'Although we are very pleased to see the strategy we implemented over the last
few years bearing fruit, customers are still deferring expenditure when
possible. The introduction of chip and pin in the UK will impact our legacy
business, which is exactly why our strategy over the last three years has been
to focus on developing our card not present fraud prevention business
worldwide.'


Board change

ReD also announces today that William Good, currently Group Finance Director and
Group Company Secretary, will be leaving the Company on 31 December 2003. The
Board has already commenced the search for his successor.

The Board would like to thank William for his contribution and wish him well for
the future.

20 November 2003

Enquiries:


Retail Decisions plc Tel: 01483 728 700

Nigel Whittaker, Chairman
Carl Clump, Chief Executive


College Hill Tel: 020 7457 2020

Adrian Duffield/Clare Warren




This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange CBCBDBUSBGGXC