Standard Life Shares

ReportInvestor

Cheers for that, Ian.

It looks like they've changed the postcode error after earlier complaints. IIRC it now works with or without a gap in the middle.

I now recall the infamous l . You couldn't have made it up. The person who created this, and the initial postcode problem, HAD to know that it would slow down early sales.

In retrospect, any shenanigans to delay sales look to have benefited investors who wanted to sell at the start , however perversely.

Having sold some of my shares, I have now progressed to a C prefix which is much clearer. [Or maybe that just stands for "Certificate"?]

Re Axa's statement - there's a point beyond which you can't go to retain credibility with the City. So I am more inclined to take Axa's comments at face value.

Standard Life's management is at an interesting turning point re credibility. If policy redemptions (or "lapses" in the latest terminology) continue to be heavy then both Crombie and Matthews may start to lose their credibility.

And should that happen, the share price will suffer. The turning point will be the year end results (Feb/March 2007) - when management has said that it will revisit the provisions if necessary.

To bugbod
Any feedback on the process? Or are you still waiting to decide on the right "sell" figure?

bugbod

I didn't get a chance today, ReportInvestor, Hopefully tomorrow.:)



I may go for the magic £3.00 - am I being a bit previous?:santa2::D

ReportInvestor

If that's your general ideal, I'd be tempted to go for 299p so that you don't get caught out should it get to the "magic" 3.00 and initiate a whole lot of sudden sales by other brokers who are faster on the trigger than Computershare and have loads of clients who also think £3 is a "magic" number.

Yorkshireman_3

ReportInvestor wrote:

Yahoo

Axa rules out a big UK acquisition like Standard Life

"....the French insurance group, has ruled out making a big acquisition in the UK for its life assurance and savings business, says the Financial Times citing an interview with Denis Duverne, AXA's chief financial officer......

........'We do not believe that we need to do anything major in terms of strategic moves in the UK that would require recourse to our shareholders.'.."

Are we now to believe wht the French say?? Dont forget they've hated us for over 200 yrs now eheheh --- time will tell

ReportInvestor

Don't forget the much more ancient "Auld Alliance" between France and Scotland that long predates the 1707 Union.

I'm not sure that the modern day Standard has a luscious "Mary Queen of Scots" to offer up to the Axa CEO, however.

Shame :eek: ?!?!?

bugbod

ReportInvestor wrote:

If that's your general ideal, I'd be tempted to go for 299p so that you don't get caught out should it get to the "magic" 3.00 and initiate a whole lot of sudden sales by other brokers who are faster on the trigger than Computershare and have loads of clients who also think £3 is a "magic" number.

Yes, I was actually thinking of going for 2.99

gt94sss2

ReportInvestor wrote:

Axa rules out a big UK acquisition like Standard Life

"....the French insurance group, has ruled out making a big acquisition in the UK for its life assurance and savings business, says the Financial Times citing an interview with Denis Duverne, AXA's chief financial officer......

........'We do not believe that we need to do anything major in terms of strategic moves in the UK that would require recourse to our shareholders.'.."

Actually, all this really says is that if Axa plan to takeover a company in the UK is that they don't expect to have to issue a rights issue (i.e. raise additional funds from their shareholders) to fund any deal.

There are lots of large companies for whom any such statement would be true and for whom a company the size of Standard Life would be easily swallowed using existing resources.

Regards
Sunil

ReportInvestor

[The Axa FD] added that [his] company will focus instead on "smaller bolt-on acquisitions"

If Sunil's comment is correct, our company has just been delivered a serious insult

Happy to be proved wrong, though .

Ian_W

Yorkshireman wrote:

Are we now to believe wht the French say?? Dont forget they've hated us for over 200 yrs now eheheh --- time will tell

Cheese eating surrender monkeys, I call 'em!

Sunil said what I was going to say, only better about the AXA statement. It also mentions acquiring only "bolt-on" co's in the UK - Was Scottish Widows, who they failed to land, a bolt-on?

ReportInvestor

TMB Link - Lambertus de Boer agrees with Sunil and Ian that you can't trust what the French say

AXA Rules Out Big UK Acquisitions - Must Be Happening Then .... .......

See post #5 on the link.

A bit of background. Bert was a very senior Standard Life employee in the Canadian division but has quite a grudge against his former employers. He currently works in investment finanace, and is no-one's fool.

His thread about shennanigans in the Canadian division are legendary and a certain cure for insomnia e.g.

Legal Defence Fund Appeal v Standard Life Canada - Part II

And if that doesn't work:

Pinochet's daughter and the Standard Life connection via Bermuda