Richard Ratner Quotations

We still worry about next year, with fierce competition at the value end of the market, and...still look for a ceiling of around 800 million pounds on (fiscal year profits).

Unless it has fifty per cent off or more, it is not selling.

New Look has gone well since going private, although it could be argued that perhaps it is doing rather too much at once.

Given the importance of Per Una to M&S, it could have been disastrous had this happened at the current time. Even so, we wonder how long the agreement will last.

He has done extremely well, let's not take that away from him.

I suspect at the end of the day he would have liked to have bought it but with all the hedge funds in there that he wasn't prepared to pay, given trading, a huge amount for it.

It appears done and dusted. Our view is clearly to accept the offer.

Management is going to have to take it. I'm sure it will go through. People will think it's mean, but the alternative would be pretty ghastly.

Whilst the last time it was a '24-hour wonder', we think that there may be a reasonable chance that a deal could go through this time around, but it will take time for an offer to be formulated.

Whilst much of what Stuart has done has been relatively easy fixes, at least he has been perceptive enough to grasp the low-hanging fruit -- many wouldn't know what to do,

We question whether anyone will bid for the company.

We thought they'd had a worse Christmas than most people expected. They had a better Christmas, and they're talking about UK GAAP at the upper end of the range.

The question must be ... whether anyone could run it better than Alan Giles. Thus, there must be some doubt as to a bid emerging.

The price is below our expectations, since we valued the group at up to 210p per share and so we are not surprised the board has rejected it.

With the chairman off, a downgrade and the Japanese no longer likely to bid, the shares are unlikely to make further progress in the short term.

We've heard there is an emergency managers meeting today.

It would be a pity because we think there is huge potential in that business to double profits over the next four to five years, but if 40 pct of your shareholders want out, then I suspect that is what may happen.

This looks like a knock-out bid as the management, in our view, would be unable to raise the additional finance.

It's a sensible idea to develop e-commerce. But whether putting the whole high street/out of town operations under one fascia makes any difference is a moot point.

It looks as if he is going of his own volition which is a clear indication of where he thinks the business is going.

It's a poor (Boots) statement. The bulls will cling to the hope of a bid, but will anyone commit significant funds to buy a retailer until one thinks that the market has bottomed?

Inference is that margin will be lower because of need to clear stock.

The general impression was very good, with merchandise well displayed, and clear differentiation between the departments -- not running into each -- and clever use of graphics.

All the big deals have already been and gone.