Member Info for Alas_Smith

Not sure that I want the SP to "get a wiggle on" in the absence of meaningful revenue. By that I mean that revenue at least to cover the cost of research and development. That will stabilise and justify the current market cap, next, that revenues bring the company to break even and that should propel the Mkt cap to be valued on forward earnings. For me, that is the point of exit rather than waiting for the company to have distributable profits as dividends to shareholders.

Having held shares in this company for 8 years, I remain underwater despite having averaged my holding to a little over 16p/share consequent on the several dilutions. I have never bought shares in equities in the expectation of breaking even. At 20p/share should the company ever reach that dizzy valuation again, I might be prepared to average up.

Right now, the new managers cannot force the hand of their partners and far better that their current strategy is permitted to be executed without interference from minority investors. Patience is required.

Cash offer at £51.50 seems pretty decent to me as an opening offer. No compelling reason to sell at the moment as far as I am concerned

Not one of my better picks in recent months, but 2026 has been pretty terrible for my portfolio. I movd my stake in this equity last year from GIA to ISA to record a loss to apply against CGT only to see further erosion of capital without any clear benefit.

Dealing during market turmoil is not recommended and for me, adjustments will be made slowly and deliberately.

We all knew that Mr Trump v1 was opposed to NATO. Trump v2 is dismantling it with long rehersed tactics of conflation, deflection and blame. No compelling reason to sell shares in BAE right now IMO even though the market cap has wobbled during this month

I've sold my remaining shares today. Good fortune to all, I hope.

While I like to be fully invested at all times, it is quite normal to be worried when such policy sees portfolio value dropping off a cliff. But, patience does reward investors and for those with some fresh capital the better time to buy is when markets are nervous

The "fear and greed" index from CNN is an excellent resource. https://edition.cnn.com/markets/fear-and-greed and for those that like to drip cash into their account over weeks and months waiting until the meter is in "extreme fear" territory tends to result in better decisions than when there is extreme greed.

Short selling adds liquidity and this actually benefits the minority private investor, particularly those that are making little adjustments to their portfolio to rebalance and adjust to suit their financial ambition.

Yesterday, for instance, I placed an order to buy shares in an EFT for the S&P 500 index for elder son. Not to average a holding down but an initial purchase to which (over the next few years) further purchases will be made so that the capital at risk is equivalent to that invested directly in specific equities.

Of course, this is not investment advice but when there is despondency and turmoil, history while not repeated certainly rhymes

Buy at the sound of the cannons and sell at the sound of the trumpets.

Well, Mr Market didn't like the results and so today I have added a few for my elder son as it looks a very attractive point to add to what is a a well run company that has a very decent margin (over 18%) and has grown its dividend. My only little niggle is the level of debt, but, based on the cash thrown off, this is not something to worry about too much unless interest rates rise this year.

PaddygGuinness, I am not qualified to give financial advice, but in recent weeks I have added ABB (which is a Swedish Company listed in Switzerland) and Wheaton Precious metals (which is listed on the Toronto exchange). I am also a fan of Investment Trusts and a very slow growing one is Canadian General Investments which you might wish to look at.

After all, I have no idea of your attitude to risk, your timescale, age or capacity for loss. I am in the process of retiring and have this year (based on the chaos from the Trump administration) reduced risk from High to Medium High. My capital and that for my wife is sheltered in ISA wrapper. We are putting up for sale in September a large house for auction. Our pension SIPPs were cashed in last year following the changes made to IHT by Reeves and gifted to our children. The proceeds from auction will go into our general investment account and will take between 4 and 6 years for fully shelter in ISA wrapper.

Our ISA's are flexible so that any cash drawn can be replaced in the same tax year. Target is capital growth with the capacity to accept a 30% loss without batting an eyelid. It is never nice when markets fall, but falls are inevitable.

Buy at the sound of the cannons and sell at the sound of the trumpets is not a bad starting point. Read as much as you can and listen to the doomsayers.

And now you need to discover where to put the proceeds to work to cover any losses and achieve whatever goal you had. For me, my goal has always been to beat the market and, with the exception of a few times, I have managed that for the last 47 years. I have have three outstanding successes (Nvidia, 3i and Google (now Alphabet)). I have lost count on the number of investments that completely and utterly failed but can include Marconi, Claims Direct, Cenes, Torotrak, Tungsten and Albert Fisher. Fortunately, I am getting better at taking losses early, but in trying to find the next Broadcom, Nvidia, Amazon, Google, 3i etc, there will be many mistakes.

Consistent growth from companies such as Halma are the secret which are not flashy, have solid profits, modest growth and dividends that can be re-invested to help grow portfolio. 'fraid that with Trump at the helm in US markets will remain jittery and chaotic. With Reeves controlling the purse strings in the UK, taxation will snuff any remaining growth and, as the "goldilocks" economy is probably India.

The adage to "go West, young man" can probably wait until 2028 as election years tend to be frothy and this investor is moving focus to Europe, Asia and Japan for growth. That said, the UK (as measured by the FTSE) is still in positive figures for this year and cannot be discounted for investors ever.

Short term for some might be measured in decades ( I held shares in Shell for 47 years ) and long term might be minutes (for me it was MAST - a business that will probably collapse and which was presented to me in a general research test) .

And so the SP ENDED dofferently from start of business…… errr, so what? Basically this is an established company formed from a type of beer at its core. It is now a global spirits compsny in a world whoe future audience doesn’t really drink. It will reinvent itself in the same way as tobacco companies. When booze stops being mainstream, then exclusivity will take over, then further reduced with limited production. Of course, the natural demise will see attempt to revive with a limited editions followed by the tricks of port producers with declared vintages etc. The managers probably have a strategy. Lets see if it begins to be evidenced or is starting to disappear up its own colon.

PaddygGuinness, we have all made mistakes when it comes to investing at some time or other. Those who claim otherwise have either been extremely fortunate, are being ecomonical with the truth or are downright liars. If you catch the loss early enough, then many investors will sell and put the proceeds into a different equity and recover the losses. If you do not, then allow the new manager at the helm to address the difficuties, raise cash from the sale of non-core assets to pay down debt and expect the market capital to reflect structural changes.

Don't beat yourself up over this. The headwinds faced for all investors since 2022 have been the Russian invasion of Ukraine to send inflation spiralling and interest rates to massive highs, the resumption of a kakistocracy in America with the pygmy intelligence with tariffs. And now the self-proclaimed peacemaker has opened up a war in Iran, wants Cuba next, probably Panama after that and doubtless will raise the spectre of Greenland again while insulting allies that call a fig a fig and a spade a spade. We are likely to see this all rumble on for the duration of this 2nd term as the world lurche in response to the sowing of chaos.

And on domestic turf, it is not helped with Rachel from Customer Service who does Chancellor of the Exchequer impersonations and making a complete mess of things here with the highest level of taxation since the 2nd World War. FWIW, I have started to withdraw capital from US markets and into European, Indian and Asian markets for the stability that they present.

Have added some shares for elder son in his ISA today. The bargain did not move the price but has brought his average down.

Gman90, investors sell for many reasons but most common is either to walk away with a loss and putting the proceeds to work elsewhere or when making adjustment to a portfolio to take some capital off the table.

Around the time of “big bang”, coupled with the excitement for electronic dealing, fortunes being made from investing returns that were given prominence and publicity, this optimism led to the rapid expansion of those seeking fortune as “day traders” with the leverage of contracts for difference. For some it worked (occasionally) but for most it did not.

For myself, I do not detect that investors are churning their holdings in this equity. I do note that the more seasoned contributors believe that mining is in a growth supercycle. March in the UK is a month when ISA wrappers can be filled, gains calculated and losses crystalised in readiness for a new tax year. I’ve found that for the most part, there is an awful lot of activity going on, but no meaningful progress. Last year had the sharp shocks of financial chaos caused by Mr Trump and tariff. This year it is Iran and geo-politics.

Smart money finds sppropriate shelter.

Read well to me.

Aldebaran, the connection with ABB (in which I own shares) actually is very sensible. It is a Swedish company listed on the Swiss Exchange and they are in the business of providing equipment, solutions and software for power distribution alongside Siemens (another in which I own shares) and Schneider. The prospects for ABB are very good with the increase in data centre construction and the European focus on energy efficiency and smart power distribution - in particular from renewable sources. Data centres are energy hungry with the typical equivalent of 700,000 homes.

Infrastructure has to include facility for backup as well as isolation of critical systems, regular maintenance, upgrade, testing and expansion. Seems a very good fit to me and although it seems that AFC have some viable, tested products, they might not yet be ready for integration as approval is in its infancy. Of course, I might have got this completely wrong, but, hey ho, I'll accept flak but not insults.

I trimmed my holding on results to crystallise a loss and gifted shares to a trust that I setup in 2015 for IHT planning.

Bought a few shares earlier this week. Time will tell if this was wisdom or folly.

Sharp drop on Tradegate for AFC, off 15%

The narrative in explaining the results reads (to me) well. Hopefully, Mr Market will concur

The results today are disappointing but cannot be compared with those that marked the exodus of investors as happenned with Marconi.

The investors that matter are not you and I but institutional investors that move money around for pension funds. Traditionally investors sell with news and buy with rumour. Market Makers adjust prices for churn and today needed to bring the price down. Tomorrow will be different.