ALBERT FISHER, ATTRACT SAFEWAY DIRECTOR

hillbrown...sorry to hear your sad news...I've been wondering how you were coping mentally with the recent upswing...there but for the grace of God go us all. FSH is so hard to call.

Jimmy...I love your postings but I sometimes wonder where you get your ideas...are you into novels? While debt remains high and following what is sure to be a disappointing set of interims, there is absolutely no chance of a dividend at the half year. Far from supporting the share price, such action would suggest the Board had lost the plot and then FSH really would collapse and deservedly so. I think I'd do a very hasty hillbrown and never look back.

Except in the most general of senses, I don't do predictions but I tend to agree with £note's sober aspirations for the next 12 months. New support in the 6-8p range would be all I would wish for near-term. The effect of the interims, although they are now known to be disappointing, will be all the more severe if we, and others, allow ourselves to forget the veiled "warning" given at the AGM.

Ultimately, it is not the sale or purchase of 1M shares, or what happens from one day to the next, which will move FSH lower or higher in the way we want. It is a restored belief in the company brought about by acceptable and sustainable results. Realistically, that scenario will not even begin to exist until next October. In the meantime, support lies mainly in how little FSH has to do to justify a 6-8p trading range and also with those punters and institutions who may want to take an early stake in the certain recovery of the next 2 years. Count me in on that score but IMO the need for patience remains.

Sure, let's move on up to an "appropriate" share price over the coming months, but let's also keep appropriate expectations for this stage of the recovery, lest we should again become the main cause of our own doom and gloominess.

Upbeat should not be mean unrealistic.

Happy New Year to All.