Member Info for Alas_Smith

Steakknife, over the almost 50 years in building my portfolio, it is inevitable that a few duffers are bought. I have no problem admitting to it and can name a few howlers if you'd like, however, my contention is that the CURRENT Government spent 11 years in opposition (and by implication) preparing for the reins of office, but are making a dreadful mess of things so that as a nation we feel over taxed.

That the decision to spent vast sums on the public sector is perhaps commendable, but the underlying problem is that there is insufficient growth to support the great cost of this public service. My younger son who is a doctor has chosen to remove himself from the NHS because it is so badly paid. He is now working in Medical AI and I am encouraging both he and his elder brother to look beyond the shores of the UK to advance their careers.

Insofar as pensions are concerned, having owned a series of small businesses, I got very used to saving every penny possible in anticipation that work would dry up, as inevitably it did from time to time. Thus, I have created my own savings that has been invested ambitiously with growth that has, in turn, seen capital invested double every 8 years.

You mentioned other drinks companies - well a rotten choice was my investment in Fevertree a couple of years ago. The beverage sector is not known for growth and my ONLY interest (for self and wife) in DGE as a recovery play and capital growth. Investment in either of our ISA accounts has NOT been made in DGE. It is invested on a discretionary basis, but, from time to time instruction can be given to invest in equities of our choosing. At the moment our portfolio is weighted to the IT, pharmaceutical and AI sectors with a healthy dose of fintech, emerging markets, European and Asian equities for good measure. This has been hugely beneficial.

There is a small investment in DGE disclosed from time to time here that has been made by each son whose portfolio I manage, Which, until such time as each ISA and SIPP has reached the £250,000 mark, will stay before being transferred in specie to be managed on a discretionary basis.

For the very simple reason, that as at today, were my wife and I to die as we have already triggered the £2,3m mark, it means that we do not have a property element to apply against IHT. Fortunately the current IHT bill likely on 2nd death that I calculate is £490k is more than covered by our portfolio without the need to sell illiquid assets such as property. But, as this investor expects capital on stock markets to double every 8 years, I'd much sooner gift surplus capital and excess income to my children for them to squander than have any Government do so.

I was not brought up on a Council estate and passed Common Entrance shortly after my 12th birthday. I loathed every one of the 22 schools that I attended, a consequence of my father being posted around the world to give away the empire and command whatever regiment needed soldiers and airman either in the preparation for or midst of conflict. That I had basic spoken English, French, Arabic and German with a spattering of Malay and a few words in Ghurkhali has been of rather greater benefit than Latin or Greek.

Well, the numbers are out today and it looks as if there will be an inflow of cash soon from an iminent realisation. All looking a little flat to me when compared with previous years. Ah well, hey ho. I'm patient, tend to review my portfolio at the end of every quarter and have a few duffers that seem to be under-performing.

What I am not keen to do is alter my strategy from seeking growth through total portfolio return at this stage. Once in my 80's (20 years or so to go), I will probably want capital preservation and arrange to gift as much as possible to my children within the rules of whatever outfit has been elected to office. Based on the nonsense that the current administration is making, there is good argument to begin to put the foundation in place in readiness for change of tax residency.

They read well to me.

My purchase for elder son in his SIPP was executed today. Time will determine the wisdom or folly of this, but as a dividend hero, I am confident of solid if unspectacular return

Diageo no longer has Guinness as its core for revenue and profit and better considered as a classic recovery stock, though it seems to have arrived at a plateau. Although the share price chart is moving northwards, it might be range bound and a little too early to use momentum as a tail wind for investors.

For me, it is a tempting time to buy, and hopefully forget. I've identified 19 holdings in mine and my wifes ISA portfolio that are either performing badly or provide no or negligible income. As our aggregated portfolio has in the past been constructed for strong growth, the 1.7% yield was a bonus. With an intended 3% draw beginning next year, it makes sense to prune weak performers, taking losses on the chin and adding companies such as DGE (which we do not have in our own ISA) for recovery along with other reliable dividend generators.

Whether bearish or not, the past cannot be undone and investors look to the future. From todays presentation, there is an articulate manager at the helm and a bean counter and both cut from the same cloth. Todays fall took another bite from capital at risk, but, hey, there’s no expiry date in my birth certificate and investing is never a race.

I am a little more confident that we have seen the worst and now need to sit back and allow the company time to have a commercial product in place and work on the design and rollout of products in development

Redknight1, the retail offer is closed and MAY be subject to scaling back in any ballot.

Something about chickens and mathematics ring a bell

5 yr and 10 yr charts are of high importance for investors (IMO). They present momentum and although there is nervousness by me from time to time, it is only because one (or more) holdings in my portfolio reacts with news.

My holding in III was initiated in 2009, added to in 2012 and in more recent years. However, in the same way that I bought shares in NVDA very well, the value in cash terms throws triggers. Sometimes to add, but mostly to slice profits.

I genuinely don’t have a clue on the potential price that III has except when the main driver is siphoned off through a floatation. Thus, I remain bearish on future SP movement as too heavily influenced by a single holding. Therefore I will continue to consolidate my holding and invest proceeds if appropriate

Complaining over spilled milk dwells on the past. Investors tend o look to the future and, from time to time have financial shock. Fundraising was inevitable, timing, amount and purpose unknown. Yes, I understand the indignation that the previous set of managers had for investors, with their BS that was ramped to the hilt by at least one contributor on this site (and who I filtered years ago) but writing to the company now to vent spleen will achieve nothing.

JW, his CFO and Ballard have been consistent buyers of shares, hold rather more than most of us that contribute here and, I think have now either buried all the bad news or certainly started to evidence progress for a timeline of financial expectation but not numbers on which a slide rule can really be passed.

FWIW, my buy order was satisfied this morning and my subscription for additional shares thrown into the hat too. The retail subscription is, if you like, a bonus for the company to provide a couple of weeks financial headroom. That the SP dropped today reflects the dilution which new shares have but not the enthusiasm that ordinary punters for the future prospects.

My shareholding is a little over 100,000 shares with a further 60,000 held by my children and wife. I know this is small beer compared with many here, but jumping up and down and complaining does not make the financial pain for holding at a loss any less. This investor, in common with, I warrant the majority, wants this company to succeed, share in future profits and enjoy the benefit of being a foundation investor.

Writing letters, pumping the most tenuous connection repeatedly and insulting any with the slightest challenge to narrative is without merit. If there is a single thing which I have learned in almost 50 years building my portfolio, it is to pay attention to the bearest investors as they are usually correct. When the bears have finished feeding, vultures pick over the bones.

For AFC, the bear now has reason to close their short, vultures will now have their pickings over the scraps and the worst seems to be in the open.

The SP decline has been ongoing for years. Crew was appointed 2 years ago and that is, usually considered sufficient time to devise and introduce a business plan to strengthen the market capital.

We should not forget, of course, in the last 5 years, there has been a pandemic, cost of living crisis, a war on European soil and, in recent months the huge headwind of weakness of the dollar. The interim bloke SHOULD have an understanding of the importance that a strong pound relative to weak dollar have on one hand and the strength of the Euro relative to the weakness of pound as a secondary headwind.

Of course, it has not been helped with the eye-watering additional costs for employing staff through the policy of the UK administration to tax the private sector to support the inefficient public sector. Don't get me wrong, there are some things that the public sector does extremely well and efficiently but they are few and far between. Currently the public sector has bloated staffing, poor productivity and does not seem to provide value for money

Mr Choon, I think if you read the RNS issued yesterday, there is a placing open to institutional investors, managers and some retail investors in differing volumes. The Institutional placing has been oversubscribed, the managers fully subscribed and the retail investors does not close until 21 July.

The prices quoted today are those that can be bought or sold in the market. There is no guarantee that the retail investors will be successful for all, some or any of their committment to buy shares.

FWIW, I have always taken dividends as cash. My strategy is to persue capital growth and any dividend thrown off is a bonus. At some stage, my strategy will shift (probably once I am in my 80's) to capital preservation and income as succesison planning will have higher importance than propping up whatever Government holds the tax whip with which to cane its citizens.

I've finally moved into profit this year and am up 6%. The headwind of low $ is shifting and might even be a tailwind by the end of the year as my portfolio has a bias to US equities.

Have taken the opportunity to buy some shares for younger son in his ISA today. Time will determine the wisdom or folloy of decision

With the announcement that the CEO is to be replaced, the shares have perked up. Pretty damning reflection of the competence oof the current encumbant.

Well, the share price does seem to be in a northbound trend, and momentum for a heavyweigh company is helpful. But, there is never any assurance that the rise will continue to see the share price return to previous levels, especially with the pronoid fool in the White House that changes policy on an almost daily basis.

I do hold some shares in RIO bought a few years ago and not terribly well as I am 23% down based on the valuation at purchase and price at the end of last month. As it is in ISA wrapper, no advantage in taking a loss beside, the dividends are helpful generating a little under £1,500 annually. Not an exciting sector, but one that will always be required. It is one of 56 holdings in my portfolio.

Stricklybricks, while conventional "wisdom" would pour cold water on a focus of a single sector for investment, I can see considerable merit in having a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of a single sector and the constituents therein. And although the long term results might improve against a portfolio with a large variety of holdings over different geographies and sectors short term (under 3 years) could have a somewhat binary perfromance.

Anyway, my regular chunk of money has added to my exposure in LGEN today in an account which is outside any wrapper. Having cashed in SIPP accounts through the IHT change set in 2027 (might as well get 2 years of shelter in place from this year), and our ISA accounts fully funded, I can accept the tax on dividend income which I might need to pay and should be able to stay within the reduced allowances for CGT if disposals are planned. I therefore like to invest in one or more highly speculative concern in case mitigation is needed.

With the shares languishing at such a low valuation, I've doubled the qty held by elder son in his ISA account. The bull case outweighs the bear one and hopefully will not take much to see uplift in Market Cap from here.

In common with you, I too felt that the SP had got a little frothy. I still have the bulk of my holding intact which is in my ISA, that is professionally managed, but the shares which I have sold are in accounts which I manage for my children and a dealing accoint of mine which was never transferred to discretionary accounts in 2008.

The principle reason was that at the time, the holdings were so embarassingly tiny or highly speculative and close to collapse that the dealing costs were greater than the proceeds Accounts from my children are approaching the point when they can be moved to discretionary management.