I see what your saying, re the NTAs. The issue however is that...

I see what your saying, re the NTAs. The issue however is that if revenues continue to shrink (and in a market correlated endeavour, such as this, there is no certainty in this regard) then it will ultimately depend on how far they drop relative to operating costs, and then how easy it becomes to continue to "right size" the cost base, without falling into a vicious cycle of lower costs leading to poorer performance.

Once the ink is red, if it were to come to that, the NTAs become shrinking ice cubes. This is the sort of business where it is foolhardy to assume sticky customers once the wheels are seen to be falling off (perceptions matter here).

Note that I'm not making a comment about the likelihood of this, which is why I'm still clinging on. But remember, going back to my point about 2015, margins today are less fat than they were back then, and so there was much more room to absorb falling revenues whilst remaining rudely profitable with little need to tighten belts.

Margins are still healthy. But we are now having to contemplate belt tightening.

With respect "the cycle", I couldn't agree more, hence my comment around "divergent outcomes".