Member Info for Alas_Smith

I note that a manager has purchased 10,000 shares. They tend to have their fingers on the pulse. I've put an order in too though for fewer shares.

Investing in businesses that might be the future Amazon/Alphabet/Apple etc is a bit like advertising where half the advertising spend is a total waste of money, though it is never known which half is wasted.

While all the companies in which there is investment have interesting and decent stories to tell, it is far too early in their lifecycle and the cutting edges that are being developed to know where the superstars will be. I don't need to know anything about any of the companies in the portfolio at all because I trust that the managers of Molten Ventures plc do know what they are doing, do understand which businesses are thriving and which are struggling.

I am trusting their judgement to provide either management expertise, marketing flair or cash for individual businesses in the portfolio. For instance, I own shares in a tiny food company based in the Hebrides - I know nothing about commercial food production or how to sell to put soups or steaks onto supermarket shelves but I can read a balance sheet and a profit and loss account. At the point when I invested my cash, I wrote that cash off. it is the same with GROW and NVDA, and MSFT and some 80+ other equities, IT's and ETF's. They ONLY have a value when sold.

As far as I am concerned, a discount of 80% on the NAV either means that they trust is doomed or someone somewhere has got things wrong - that could be me or the wider market. If the discount were 70% would I feel less worried? I doubt it - what about 50% etc

There is considerable similarity between a fund and an investment trust (IT), the main difference is in the underlying foundation, one is open ended, the other closed. I like IT’s as the shares can be traded even if the underlying assets held by the IT cannot.

Might not like the price offered, but can get out or buy more during market hours. The IT can also buy its own shares and hold those in treasury to resell them at a later date. We have currently effectively a business that itself is not in distress but its underlying assets are. Hence we see a “discount” of some 80% on the NAV.

I feel that interest rattes will be the catalyst to give confidence to investors. A little more time in the doldrums seems probable…… do I add more now or wait and rely on broader confidence and face a changed price?

There is a problem with this site through its myriad of advertisements. Occasionally, one or more rogue ones cause the entire content of a mssage to disappear, part way through its creation.

From time to time, I am able to copy content and hold it either in memory or, depending on the device, paste into an application that does not have such intrusion. I fear this was one such happenning, coupled with predictive text and both the inability to edit and my reluctance to put a final proof in place.

It will no doubt be applauded if I never mention Graphcore again.

Asartara, Graphcore is trying to compete against NVDA (I have held shares in NVDA for 12 years though sold 90 of them last year) and AMD. It managed to spin off some of its AI technology to Meta (Facebook). I am not familiar with its remaining products so as far as I am concerned it is a bit of a lame duck with no obvious product in development. Could be doing it an injustice, but its value as far as i am concerned, is nil.

The revenue for the most part was in the machine learning element which as been sold. The remaining staff on the Azure platform is likely to be superceded by the investment that MSFT (again have shares there) in ChatGPT

Hope this clarifies things.

Another disappointing day for shareholders

At the risk of stating the obvious….. interest rates, tension in middle east that could cause oil to spike, job security, political dithering etc. FWIW, I believe that the SP has had a good run and borne out with recent news. Thngs are in the open and there is no ne news.

Managers are not buying and there are no rumours. Investors are selling the facts and will return to buy the rumours in time.

Never wrong to bank a profit

Nope.

Markets can be irrational. Interest rates are held for the time being in US and UK.

There has been comment on Graphcore and if it has anything to do with graphene, then it is correct to write it off as a distraction and without any meaningful revenue.

Investing in early stage ventures is ALWAYS exciting. It is not for widows and orphans but DEFINITELY for trhe long term investor prepared to wait patiently. The advantage of investing in an Investment Trust is that dealings in the shares remains liquid even if the underlying holdings are not. What is being valued currently is the illiquidity of the underlying investments in todays semi-joined up environment

Sadly, steph, the first real opportunity to create a Sovereign Fund was when oil began flowing from the N Sea. That was 50 years ago. The next would have been at either Golden or Diamond anniversary of the late Queen.

Although it might seem that the UK has missed all the growth, I think not. Placing say half the proceeds from IHT (and although the executors of my late parents estate paid almost £1m as IHT) I am in favour of keeping it (but mitigating as much as I can) into such a fund would have fantastic consequence in 20 or 40 years time.

Even if growth were at a pedestrian 5%, the effect of compounding with contributions from IHT added annually for say just 5 years, capital growth would be tremendous and begin to tackle the most pressing concerns. I suggest education should be the first, followed by sea defence

Of course, markets never go up (or down) in a straight line but the more mature markets do tend to move in unison. Admittedly, as a rather lazy owner of equities/investment trusts etc, I tend to sell holdings on UP days and buy on DOWN ones.

A correction of 16% or thereabouts this year from recent highs does provide temptation to buy as the share price had become rather frothy. I don't think we are in oversold territory, but the price is becoming ever more tempting.

I don't know if it helps, Donkeyeeyore, as an old lag in this game, and commenting only for myself, over time a portfolio develops. A general dealing account has a different perspective than an ISA and a SIPP has a different perspective from both. Throw in a trust or two and although when looked at in aggregation although it is a portfolio, each a threshold has passed (let's say £250,000 per account) individual components could be a portfolio on its own merit.

Tax is also a consideration. Investors SHOULD use the allowances to the maximum advantage for assets that are not otherwise sheltered. And for me, as I wish to sell our main house this year and move to our 2nd home, any assets sold in the next tax year are likely to be those that have performed worst to ADD to losses declared in previous years to mitigate CGT on 2nd homes.

Investing is not a race, profits can only be banked when a share is sold - ditto losses. This is not a dividend payer so holders will want to add to and dispose of shares to suit their circumstances.

Yesterday, I sold some shares in OTB to bank profits. I placed the proceeds in GROW to strengthen my holding. My decision was in part influenced by hearing a radio advertisement published by OTB that seemed rather colloquial and targetted at the bucket and spade brigade.

Pretty sure that segment provides turnover whereas long haul provides profits. Shame that received pronunciation is in decline..

I have rounded a holding up today with another purchase, this time of 545 shares. Trifling amount but it is to take advantage of some cash thrown off from profits taken on OTB, the bargain for which was placed today.

The FTSE and both the broader UK and European markets are in the doldrums whereas the US is striding ahead. The majority of the gains have been in technology and healthcare with most other sectors basically directionless and heading sideways.

My gut feeling is that for Europe there is the worry about Ukraine and further escalation of the war to include nuclear devices. This is made worse with the very real (and awful) prospect that Mr Trump is re-elected.

Past strategy has been to sweat things out. I’m sitting on a little cash (1%) thrown off from dividends over the last quarter but I think I want to conserve cash for opportunities that may arise in the lazy summer months rather than putting it to work now.

A late transaction is often something as a bargain that exceeds the normal market size (NMS) by a factor of 3. The NMS according to the financials tab is 1,000 shares which seems very low to me. Therefore as the bargain has been executed for 70,000 shares which is considerably outside the NMS, then it is of no surprise that the transaction is recorded late.

You could be correct with a share overhang in place, but I am not inclined to sell shares in RFX based on the most recent information published.

AGM statement is measured and muted. Will give things a bit more time to revive, but see no obvious reason to buy more shares in TUNE quite yet

Steph, I confess that I disagree that the market is stabilising. The markets, I believe are actually rather jittery and the "January effect" has not yet taken place - it might not take place. Yes, I accept that interest rates have the endorsement of having peaked but central bankers are showing no enthusiasm to reduce rates yet. Hints of cuts lift the market only to fizzle out a few days later.

Next we have Iran lobbing attacks on P'stan as well as Yemeni rebels causing some chaos to shipping, all in the wake of the Gaza conflict. That is unsettling for investors on top of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. With electioneering cranking up in USA, there is a horrible danger that Mr Trump will return to the White House. A frightening prospect for NATO.

While the difference is considerable between these two firms, it is not exactly translating into a brisk uplift in the share price for this trust at the moment. Both firms command respect but, for myself, I am more inclined to the lower guide target, which, if it is discovered to be too cautious can and probably will be upgraded.

For my portfolio as a whole, I am down around 1.5%, but that can change in a single day, so I am not in the least fussed.

Https://citywire.com/wealth-manager/news/stock-talk-fevertree-upgrade-liontrust-over-the-moon/a2434079

This might lift the share price a little

Three is also a mention, though rather pessimistic, in todays Times. The link is behind a firewall though.

Indeed, Chelsea11, that is not an unreasonable point to make.

Perhaps we may read of changes to managers holdings over the next few days? A token single buy sets alarm bells ringing for me. Anyway, I re-aligned my portfolio in October to reflect the huge uplift provided by 4 US holdings and will review things again in March.

Odd that we have not had a January effect (yet) - it might be that as markets in November and December were so strong gains are being recorded, losses crystalised and geo-political concerns are such that cash is best at home on the sidelines.

Taiwan, Pa(k)istan, India and US have elections this year with a pretty high chance of the UK joining having a bunfight too. I am confident that Rachel Reeve will be a breath of fresh air from the unpleasant whiff in the wind from this discredited Government.

Ah well, people will still go on holiday, some will have too much month left for their pay others may have surplus trinkets to be scrapped. I just do not see any compelling reason to change the qty of shares I have.