Member Info for Alas_Smith

I hold some shares in my ISA and today have bought shares for elder son in his ISA; his holding is off the starting blocks but not quite enough to cover the dealing charges. I'll review in a few months.

I know I stated that I would not comment further, but there is an important point that is being missed. The special dividend is the return of the cash value in shares by way of consolidation. It returns cash, cancels some shares but removes the dealing costs. Dividends are taxed differently from capital gains. Shareholders with substantial exposure will applaud such measure.

The reason I have chosen not to engage on many boards is that I am in mourning with the passing of a generation and there is a sort of “breathing space” between applying for probate and re-arranging my affairs where the prospect of inheritance (a niggling inevatability) where the timing is never certain and always a shock.

IHT is quite the most hated form of taxation made the worse through house price inflation and additional taxation of savings created from taxed income.

The short term dealer has a different problem from an investor. Investors make decisions with the sights set for one and more probably many years ahead. Short term from that point is immaterial, but as each week or month passes so will focus.

So…. Forgetting the day to day peformance of RIO, I find my portfolio might be displaying the signs that is has bottommed out. Sure, there are some holdings that remain stubbonly southbound, but others that are doing well. Things are relative, of course but broadly my portfolio in not so much as rising, but gives the signal that is is bumping alomg siderways. 75 holdings spread over different exchages, currencies, trading hours and sectors. And I don’t have the faintest idea at this stage where I should add new money.

This might be a bear market rally and tht the downward path has surfaced for breath in an frort to plumb deeper depths, but it might too have reachedthe point where inactivity has arvantage.

In case any were interested, i made investment in Molten Ventures, the epic for which is GROW. Of course please note that THIS IS NOT INVESTMENT ADVICE, simply completeness when asked a question.

I continue to have RFX on my radar but am not convinced that the strategy in place for expansion of the business is prudent in such troubled times. The underlying business is great, but organic expansion is yet to show advantage in the accounts.

jonathb, this link might help.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/venture-capital-schemes-tax-relief-for-investors

I take dividends as cash. Results for RIO are flat at best and probably reflect the inability for China to commit to fully reopening their economy through their zero tolerence to Covid 19.

There is a big question mark in whether a global recession can either be avoided or contained so is short lived. I don’t think there is a compelling case to buy shares in RIO with any urgency, though do believe that recovery in mkt. cap. will occur gradually and only accellerating once the ghastliness of 2021 and 2022 (perhaps into the first half of 2023) is over.

Good that the safety record is maintained.

Reads very well.

SussexEngineer, shares listed on foreign exchanges can be held in ISA. An ISA is simply a wrapper to distinguish treatment from taxation. Within and gains and dividends can be taken without penalty. Without and dividend income is limited to £2k before attracting tax at 8.75% to 33.75% and capital gains can be made up to £12,300 free and thereafter at 10% to 20% depending on marginal rate.

Capital losses cannot be declared for assets held in wrapper.

Hope this helps

https://citywire.com/funds-insider/news/expert-view-fever-tree-direct-line-ssp-dwf-and-hill/a2392711 provides a decent roundup of these companies. I own shares in FEVR and HILS

And confirmation that another decent purchase by a Director today.

BHP have confirmed headwinds for miners with concern on infrastructure needs of China.

Reduced production should boost commodity price.

Very “touchy feely” narrative explaining the fall in NAV. At some point bear market will end and smaller companies will return to favour.

Increased revenue, profits and proposed final dividend with bullish narrative. Happy to continue to hold in expectation of accretive news in the months and years ahead

Absolute tripe, ironknut.

The RNS published on Friday drew attention to labour shortage as well as glass bottling supply which will impact on the margins. The managers do not expect this to affect revenuve but to affect profits which have been marked down. The region for growth is US and Europe where theses are building very strongly.

I fully expect the share price to settle down over the next few weeks and months to mark time and consolidate at or close to 1000p. We are basically back to the same point we were in March 2020, a few painful months ahead with inflation and cost of living crisis in focus, but fundamentally, it is a sound company on a steep growth curve and managers confident to add shares in aggressive spends.

Bit odd for CEO to stand down with immediate effect.

Trading is simply buying and selling. In financial markets, leverage can be used either through Contracts For Difference (CFD), Arbitrage, or Options.

Contract for difference is essentially a bet where one party expects the price to move and the other party provide the price for either scenario to take part. If party A bets the price will rise, and it does, party B will lose. If party A bets that the price will fall and it does, then party B will again lose out. If party A bets that the price will rise and it does not, then party B makes money but it is limited by the point when Party A capitulates. If party A bets that the price will fall, party B will ask for cash to cover the bet and, when Party A realises that the bet was wrong will need to either buy shares to cancel the bet and deliver shares or face further ruin. Short selling can be disastrous with an unlimited downside but a maximum 100% upside

Arbitrage is placing a bargain in one currency (usually on an exchange denominated in that currency) and executing the opposite bargain in another. currency and probably exchange at the same time. Although the strike price might be exactly the same, the "uplift" is made from the currency transaction.

Options are selling the option to buy or the option to sell at a defined price or buying the option to buy or selling the option to buy at a price. This is more usual with commoddities such as oil or copper but can be applied to individual shares.

Investing is a calculated decision to invest in a business where trust is given to the present set of managers to use the assets of the company to generate profits that will be invested for future growth and increase profits and, may, from time to time be distributed to shareholders in equal amounts per share. Investors tend to seek a mix that may include protection of capital, income from dividends or capital growth.

Qualities a trader is likely to have is an extremely narrow timescale based on very thorough and constantly undertaken research of the business, its competitors, the market, geo-politics and all the paraphanalia of minutiae that investors ignore. Investors tend to consider the prospects for revenue and profit generation over the next 12-36 months. Past performance is useful, but only to the extent that there is a track record to follow. Timing to buy or sell is not terribly important. When a short attack is mounted, it is a good time for an investor to sell and consider a rival in the same sector.

Anyway, I have placed in my ISA and that for my wife just 6 bargains this calendar year, 4 sales and 2 purchases. Our shares in tech. companies have done very badly. Actually our portfolios have done badly, but markets rise, they always have and they will return to test new highs in times future.

Minecheck, your post is complete twaddle. blame for tHe Balkan conflict can be laid completely on Russia that is in the grip of Putin and his officials that govern Russia through fear.

Economically, the most powerful country in the world, USA is determining the extent of sanctions. Many countries in Europe share border with Russia and are not prepared to stand by to have one of the most important food producing countries re-absorbed into its former incarnation, the Soviet Union.

Your post is dangerous and inflamatory. I shall be reporting it to the moderators, though I fear it may remain published until the offices re-open on Monday.

Nonsense. Selling short is quite legitimate. In the past this was the preserve of fund and pension managers but evolved so that the ordinary herbert could use instruments such as a contract for difference. Essentially a bet.

And, although I too disapprove of such tactic, selling short is not investing. That you feel it should not be legal, does not mean that it is manipulation of the share price.

Buy and hold for 5 years is idiotic. Investors SHOULD constantly review their holdings and at the point when the underlying reason for owning shares in the company changes, so should the exposure change. 5 years might be too short or too long.

Analysts can and do get things wrong. My father issued a sell note on both Glaxo Welcome and Smith Kilne Beecham on a Thursday night to be published to clients in the Friday meeting. His analysis was that neither company could grow excpet through acquisition. What had not been considered was merger. And that news broke over the weekend.

Stock markets have been very helpful to me. I have never been a high earner; in real terms less than the minimum wage, but I have NEVER received any help from any Government at any time in my working life. In fact I have had to rely on savings to support me as I frequently did not not have sufficient cash to see me through each month. I have never been without ambition. My determination to be self sufficient has forced me to save and draw on those savings when necessary.

Make no bones, I am neither condoning nor condemning short selling, simply that I will argue that your notion is flawed and wrong. If you genuinely believe that short selling is wrong (stupid, yes) and manipulates share prices, then you should file complaint the the appropriate authority.

That the Giant Squid believes the prospect is reduced to potential uplift of 1,100 from todays closing figure and is a buy still means that RIO is worth having in a portfolio.

That the goal has changed through geopolitics is not manipulation. It reflects only that demand for shares in RIO (based on the revenue and profits from its activities) bring the price down. More evidence that recession is highly likely in UK, Europe and US. China is forecast a slowdown in growth. Logical that future valuation is lowered. If you believe that reality is manipulation, you have much to learn. Investors benefit from constant vigilence. As events unfold, so my opinion will change. RIO is a weak buy now. When the Balkan issue is resolved and inflation under control, GS might hold different price target.

If we accept that the market is forward looking, then the role which investment analyst participates in can be tricky. Goldman Sachs (the giant squid as my late cousin Daniel called the company while in their employ), have a fabulous track record in being able to move markets.

Although the shares in RIO remain a buy, they have made a deep cut to the target price. And it is this which has rather spooked investors today. Previous guidance of 7,300p has been slashed to 5,680. It is a very different financial prospect to see a potential uplift of 1,100p from current share price from a 2,720 uplift. Pension, unlike tracker funds seek to get the very best return for cash under management. RIO might not have the same appeal now as it had yesterday based on the opinion of a highly influential merchant bank.

chris1308, sorry to pour cold water on your contention, but share prices are not manipulated. To do so is illegal and the penalty, substantial.

Market makers lay out their table and buy and sell shares at a price that allows for an orderly market. They are only obliged to deal at the normal market size (NMS) which is 300 shares. If you feel uncomfortable with your holding of any equity in a falling market, then investing is probably not for you. I cannot pretend it is appealing to plot at the same time each day the paper change in wealth when markets are falling, but I certainly would not wish to be of the ilk such as "loadsamoney" protrayed in the 1980's by Harry Enfield in rising markets.

Investors make money in different ways; through dividends generated (and I take mine as cash, never shares), from selling at a higher price than purchased, selling short and buying back at a lower price, or through derivatives such as options, arbitrage etc.

At some point (typically bear markets last 10 months average), the market will stabilise and improve. I have no doubt that the rise will be sustained for far longer but at a pace that is not as aggressive. These bear markets tend to un-settle investors that are unused to seeing paper wealth evaporate and many of these investors call it a day with individual equities.

I don't mean to sound patronising, but the contention for manipulation of prices is ridiculous.