and the component parts of the group are attractive in their own right, if they hive off the loss making French bit then they could see £1.20 a share by this time next year.

The big risk is the coming Ski season, so far it's not looking good weather wise (or should I say the weather is looking too good), it's certainly one of the less risky investments I've been looking at in recent weeks.

It had also merged its high street travel business with the Co-operative Travel - and there were reports at the weekend that the company plans to shut 200 shops, putting 1,000 jobs at risk.

Adding to the dismal year, Thomas Cook is expected to report a 31% slide in underlying profits to £191.1m.

not buying the shares for the dividend though.

If you are looking at investing in shares you must think long term, some companies have some great shareprices for trade at the moment, LTSB for example at 22.86p from £11.52 odd 4 years ago.

The way to look at it is if you have money you can afford to lose and don't mind waiting 10-15 years for a return I would suggest banks being a great option.

The are few short term wins presently, unless you get wind of something special about to happen to a company, lots of share prices are moving up and down a few pence presently on a downward trend.

remember, only throw in what you could afford to throw away and do it long term.

already have LTSB and Barclays shares for longer term investment, likewise BP, M&S, all bought at roughly the "bottom" of their respective markets,every penny I invest in shares is seen as "gone" from the moment I invest it, means I am rarely that disappointed with things. The only real cast iron investment I have is my premium bonds, and I can safely say that it doesn't matter if you've got small amounts or your full allocation, the £1m prize is as elusive as bigfoot!

I don't think Thomas Cook is an exapmle of a long-term investment.

I don't see where anyone has suggested it is.

Did you buy the shares?

Thomas Cook shares up about 17% today.

Should be able to calculate how many Standee bought then!