The danger of relying on one thing

Wednesday, 2nd September 2009 09:48 - by Boredmum

Oh, what a disaster! Can you believe that my laptop died last week? It was completely dead...no access whatsoever. “Shouldn’t be a problem”, I thought. My computer - old thing that it is - works and is connected to my television. That will be the same television that is in for repair at the moment. Not a problem. Just connect the PC input cable to the television that is normally upstairs instead. ‘Picture format is not supported’...oh oh, things are starting to unravel. By luck, I’d managed to sell a share I had wanted to just before my laptop gave up the ghost. My only contingency plan was to use the public library. The library is fine for just popping into to check e-mails and stuff, but not much else. Having two young children to get organised to travel and then be totally distracted by either baby crying (Have I mentioned before that he’s a noisy little thing?), or the need to constantly look up to watch that toddler doesn’t escape out the door. This doesn’t bode well for an easy trading life. It did make me think, however, what would happen to a lot of companies if they were to lose the one thing that they are reliant on? I hold shares in Ultrasis (TIDM code: ULT). The majority of their funds come via contracts with the NHS. We are all hoping for a complete roll-out, but could you imagine if it went the other way and they lost that one thing they are reliant on. They have other revenues, although it did give me another outlook. So many companies are reliant on that ‘one’ thing (A generalisation, not referring to Ultrasis here). What would happen if they lost it...would things unravel? It’s certainly another consideration for me now when I’m investing.