Member Info for Alas_Smith

My buy order was dealt at 574p. It will take time to get on top of the backlog of case in the NHS. Hospitals do not have the more pressing urgency of Covid 19 to cope with that is the heart of the problem. Sorting out backlogs are usually Consultant led so that teams from different specialist areas work to tackle ALL procedures to make best use of the nursing, recovery and equipment needed. Headline numbers for backlogs are pretty meaningless (except to the penpushing managers).

There might be a little more downside, but UK orders once they begin to return will be back to typical levels AND it will give further incentive to the senior management to expand the countries to which they supply and perhaps also the breadth of range for additional revenue streams, particularly in off-site Vet care products with washes for farmers

Well, the news is out. Mr Market does not like it, despite dividend remaining and diversifying from UK to international markets, particularly USA.

Jam tomorrow with a rough day in store today.

The importance of NOT sheltering some assets cannot be emphasised enough for UK tax payers. Allowance of Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is generous, though may change in the future, but taxation on dividends less so. AIM is a different kettle of fish.

Tax rules are supposed to be simple. Good decisions that result in an uplift are gains* and poor ones are losses+. Yes this seems simple, but a gain is not a gain and a loss is not a loss until both the buy and the sale have been executed. Gains of £12,xxx (I don't have the exact figure to hand) can be made each year before tax is applied. Losses can be applied against gains and if these exceed those where a gain has been made can be carried forward for future years INDEFINITELY. Assets that could trigger a capital gain are really any asset that is not exempt. Exempt assets include assets that do not constitute a business such as primary residence, wine, art etc

The disadvantage of holdings that are without a shelter such as ISA or SIPP is dividends. This is now pretty thin pickings and limited to that that falls within your personal allowance and just £2,000 after that. In 2019 the FTSE dividend yield had risen to over 5% in 2019 but is currently around 3%. If you only invest in shares in the FTSE that pay a dividend, exceeding roughly £66,000 and there will be potential to pay dividend tax. Holdings in an ISA are not subject to CGT or dividend income tax, BUT losses in an ISA cannot be used outside that wrapper. SIPPs are useful in that the Government will add a minimum of 20% to any contribution (whether a tax payer or not) and at a higher level for higher earners. In other words an immediate uplift of 20% each year for every £1 invested in a SIPP wrapper.

The disadvantage is that the SIPP cannot be cashed in until retirement age and once retired and drawn against are then taxed under the prevailing tax rates at the time. The advantage (for me) is that a SIPP can be transferred outside IHT to beneficiaries.

TTG has the potential to generate whopping revenues as nations re-open using science based solutions with swift results. Of course, although results provided in short time, 100% accuracy is not claimed and additional tests will be required from those that are filtered.

Of the main airports in terms of passenger numbers, London ranks #22 behind 10 cities in China and 6 in America. If the technology is adopted at Heathrow (22m passengers) and Madrid (17m passengers), that is an awful lot of tests sold! Add Frankfurt (18m) or Amsterdam (20m) and ..... well you can see where this is going.

Shares are held for TTG in the ISA for my wife, my SIPP and in ISA wrapper for elder son.

Strategy therefore is not to be a slave to tax, but use tax laws efficiently. It is also important to understand WHY an investment has been made along with understanding of RISK.

Again I stress, I am not a financial advisor and that no-one should infer anything from my comments

Thank you Waterloo1, though I fear placing any credence on an anonymous contributor has dangers. I do stress that I am not qualified to provide any financial advice but I have made more good decisions than bad ones in building my portfolio.

Those that have had the misfortune/pleasure of suffering my interminable drivel will, I hope, appreciate that I tend to comment in matters where I have (and I hate this expression), skin in the game. Actually, I am pretty binary in that I pay greater attention to those holdings that either have the greatest potential or the greatest worry.

To eliminate any confusion, I have built my portfolio entirely from INCOME. Although I began in 1979 following graduation, the real point was after I needed to cash everything in to prevent foreclosure in the 1990's when interest rates were at 16%. The next myth is that although I am extremely well educated, I am not a high earner. My preferred choice is to build my business to allow me to employ others. A note in the preface of an obscure play by the brothers, Kapek, is the mandate on which I like to live my life - "....it is the duty of the rich man to give employment to the poor man....".

Anyway, the advantage of making mistakes is twofold, first not to repeat and second to take advantage. Advantage is difficult when assets are sheltered in a tax efficient wrapper, so it is therefore important when beginning investing for the long term to use ALL the choices available. You will note that I align my drivel with investment rather than trading - totally different - so there needs to be an eye on taxation.

Right now, the bulk of my investments are managed for me when I realised that I had spread my investments far too thinly and had become little more than a managed tracker fund albeit consistently growing at an average 12.5% annually. These were transferred in 2012 to be managed on a discretionary basis and rationalised. I do though keep my "hand in" in managing the SIPP accounts for self, wife and both children along with a couple of tiny dealing accounts and an ISA for elder child. The dealing accounts are cashed in every 18 months or so with the proceeds transferred to a Discretionary Trust to mitigate the effect of IHT that my children will face on 2nd death despite yet to inherit.

So, although some numpty trader attempted to pooh-pooh comments about the wild fluctuations in prices first and last thing, I am correct. The strategy that needs to be adopted concerns shelters and taxation. I will continue in a moment.

I get the feeling that there is something bubbling under the surface and that we may be due news on an order through i-Abra in the not too distant future. It has been almost a month since TTG announced that registration has been approved albeit subject to iAbra being able to convert enquiries into orders.

But, there has not been a marked change in volume so this is simply my opinion and not based on verifiable facts. Government comment suggests that it might be possible for holidays to begin in the summer which was more recently followed up with a dampener in that the full reopening of airways is not really expected to happen before the long stop decision in a review in October - presumably that is a decision to be made as to when matters will again be reviewed.

Additionally, it is suggested by one of the scientists that developed the AZN vaccine that a 3rd dose might be necessary. This gives more credence to rapid test results becoming more necessary and likely in the prevention of international resurgence of cases.

If I am not mistaken, the shares in MTU went XD today and I was rther expecting the SP to reflect this with a drop of 1.49p. That it has risen is heartening to note.

I share bewilderment with Laughton, but the managersof this investment trust have a fine reputation in picking more winners than losers. The whole blockchain/cryptocurrrency focus, as far as I am concerned is froth that I neither care about, understand or even propose to investigate. Didn't prevent me adding to my holding on Tuesday.

The unemployment figures published today are slightly better than forecast. Not out of woods yet as the UK has yet to fully return to anything approaching normal.

I was actually rather shocked on Saturday when journeying to Hereford, the closest place for us in terms of variety and choice of shop for some retail therapy... an hours drive on A roads! Expected to see Debenhams closed, along with myriad of restaurants, but had not to see so many smaller, independent retailers not just shut, but appeared to have no intention of reopening.

If the opinion piece in Europe pans out, FX might be off the cards for the rest of the year

https://www.euronews.com/2021/04/19/vaccine-doubts-could-delay-eu-s-inoculation-target-by-several-months

Somewhat of a dampener should Europe continue to dither, though more of an opinion piece rather than evidential report.

https://www.euronews.com/2021/04/19/vaccine-doubts-could-delay-eu-s-inoculation-target-by-several-months

I wonder if, as the world emerges from pandemic, a rare commodities super-cycle will evidenced. Any thoughts?

SDarlow5150, relax, don't worry about interday movement; garethbrierley19 is probably correct.

Look at what has been reported in the press that might affect global equities - the news that sprang to mind was that India has again run into a lttle hiccough with vaccine manufacture. I am surprised that markets have held up so well, in truth.

There is much more to be positive about for holders of equities. It starts with the Fed, the most powerful bank in the world that have stated that they will allow the US economy to run a little hot for as long as is necessary before considering any rise in interest rates. That single piece of news is good enough to endorse holding equities in favour of bonds. Next, the most developed economies in the world are beginning to get to grip with Covid 19 to re-open their economies. I include China, Australia, USA and UK at the moment as it will be another 6 weeks (IMO) before the European Union is in the same position as the UK is now.

So, my money has been used to strengthen the shares in this investment trust which are in the portfolio that I manage for my elder son, RIO as I believe that there is going to be a massive requirement for raw materials - in particular iron ore and aluminium for myself, and Montanaro UK for my wife in her SIPP. For good measure, I have also bought shares for elder son in TTG in anticipation of orders for Covid 19 testing in venues such as airports. These are, of course simply my opinion and do not constitute investment advice.

Should you feel uncomfortable with your holding in this, or of course, any equity, then perhaps investing is not really for you. This is an extremely well managed IT with an excellent track record that has delivered growth for holders for many years. I hope that you will take advantage of the diversified holdings in the trust and that decisions made by the team today will reward holders in the months and years ahead.

TrekMadone, thank you for your generous contribution. You confuse investing with trading. A simple choice befalls those that can distinguish between traders and investors. I cannot pretend for a moment to have ever used level 2 at any point in the last 42 years for any purchase or sale of any equity. I have though used the basic tools, originally with graph paper and newspapers though more recently with the myriad information available since 1990 when I bought my first computer and later that year had primitive internet access.

The skillset needed to be a trader are highly focussed, perhaps considered as gamblers. I expect a trader to know everything in minutiae for perhaps 4 or 5 equities. For the returns that I expect from my portfolio where my goal is simply to beat the market, I do not need such depth of information.

And the distinction is drawn from the capital that is prepared to be exposed to the equity. Between my ISA and that for my wife, there are some 70 holdings. The last of our joint capital was sheltered in this years allowance. Including the disposal from jointly held asset to one or other ISA, a total of 22 bargains were executed last year. There have been 6 this year, all in the last 3 weeks.

With my average bargain a little over £xx,000, commission, spread, exchange rates and stamp duty (where levied) although noticed are very different from the type of instrument that the trader will use.

Since reliance is made through the design of an algorithim the trading process (buying and selling) to eventually achieve a goal, that same £xx,000 needs to be split into hundreds of tiny orders several times each day, perhaps even each hour for a trader to achieve their goal. Traders tend to claim that they always make profitable decision seemingly long and short at the best time and, I just don’t believe that to be true.

I have made no bones that I have owned shares in companies that failed.... Marconi, Cenes, Claims Direct, Graphene Nanochem, Torotrak, Albert Fisher etc. I have also bought shares at the wrong time such as Velocys, Image Scan, Tungsten.

What you do not know is that I have had to fully cash in my portfolio in 1985, restart it in 1987 only to cash it all in in 1992 and restart in 1998. The first time was when my business went bust, the second to prevent foreclosure with interest rates at 16% for mortgages.

As this will be inexorably dull for those others suffering my drivel, I suggest you and I filter each other as it compares apples with bananas, one being a fruit, the other a herb. Oh, and my handle is Alas_Jones. For 19 years until bullied off ADVFN, I used the handle Erogenous Jones. Prior to that, I haunted Interactive Investor site as The Troglodyte.

jetstar23, I've always rather taken the role of air traffic control for granted - bit like an anaesthestist playing second fiddle to the surgeon - and your caution is very welcome.

Although I am optimistic that this airline and those from which it operates will survive, I have arrived at the conclusion that the share price for EZJ has recovered and will be treading water until mide summer (July) when Europe emerges from lockdown - I believe they are currently at the point that the UK was in late January - so vaccine rollout will certainly accellerate the re-opening.

I like to leave something for the next man so sold my shares this morning. They might test recent high, but the 1000p barrier is proving a bit of a tough nut to crack. Nice to bank a profit though - oh, and have booked flights for next years skiing already. Just need to organise something in Italy for September time....

I notice that the gap between the NAV and the Trust appears to be widening. At the beginning of January, at the point when the shares were at an all time high, they were at a premium to the NAV before falling back considerably to a very wide discount at the beginning of March.

According to the latest RNS, the NAV is 3059 which is slightly higher than is typical for this trust. The correction is either for the NAV to fall or the share price for the trust will rise. I am assuming the latter.

Delighted that your target has been reached - a rise from 5400 (or whatever it was when you state you bought) to 6016 is modest but I wonder what has changed for you to sell and me to buy?

My reason for purchase is because its long term assets are in developed countries is one of the largest companies in the world and able to withstand the typical pressures that miners face (ecological as well as limited pricing power). Although world slowdown from the pandemic has had effect, it has been modest and first half earnings were only down 3%. If China cannot use the raw materials, the US certainly will for the infrastructure projects that Biden is putting in place.

One of the benefits of preparing a portfolio for retirement is using all the knowledge accumulated while building it in the first place. Since I hope to be able to retire in the next 4 years am INCREASING my risk so that I use the 3% rule to draw against capital. There are a few lessons that I have learned and that have served me well.

The first is never to place any bargain in the first or last half hour of market hours. MM’s are setting out their stall and trying to find the price to buy and sell at the beginning of the day so that they have consistent pressure and in the last half hour as they close their books and prepare for a new day.

If anyone is interested in the ramblings of an old bloke, I will oblige, but, strictly speaking it is off topic.

If it is of any consolation, Roofer61, I have bought for the 2nd time - the first time was in the early 80's which I sold in the early 90's for reasons, I cannot recall - today was my most recent, though, I should add, that the decision was not mine, it was made on my behalf in an account managed on a discretionary basis.

Have bunged it into RIO this morning, in case anyone is desperate to know.

Perhaps for those that have only recently purchased shares in TTG, who are concerned about un-explained SP movements, or rather movements in share prices that appear to be un-connected to news or to published trades, much happens behind the scenes that some claim is market manipulation.

Sometimes - usually to fill an order, market makers (MM) will adjust the price based on needing to either shift stock that they have been obliged to buy or to obtain stock that they are required to deliver on settlement date. Punters like a bargain and are often tempted to buy if the SP is gradually marked down to reach a point where they are comfy to buy more, though prefer to buy shares when the price is rising.

Sharp, usually short-lived SP movements up or down, reflect orders placed on the book to deal at a certain price with the SP marked down to trigger a selling spree (to satisfy an order) or up for opposite reason. Substantial movements of 15-30% are usually connected with news sometimes preceded by rumour and followed up with news including the sort of "we know no reason for the rise/fall in the SP" news.

The substantial movements are the worrying ones as intraday ones are usually pretty inconsequential and more often than not reflect liquidity. I hope this helps.

Reading the market is pretty easy for most of the time though the difficulty comes in choosing the mix of holdings for the outcome that is likely to pan out.

Back in November, it was clear that a viable vaccine, once rolled out will be transformational in returning our drab lives to normal not just in UK but the world over. This was the trigger for piling into bombed out sectors and strengthening those holdings that are closely associated with health but whose revenue had been impaired through clinical priority.

The consequence is that until there is published financial statement, there is nervousness, not from investors but from those making a market. For a MM to themselves have their business return as usual, they need to rebalance their books too. And they are ONLY interested in volume for churn. So, although falls and rises are usually explained with news or dealing pressure, sometimes a MM needs to start the ball rolling. Am unexplained movement in the share price can do this.

If my hunch is correct, we might see a discernible change in daily volume over the next few days and weeks