Member Info for CHEQUEMATE

Taken from todays Naked Trader blog: GB Group reported some fantastic figures this morning, what a brilliant buy and hold it has turned out to be. I am hoping for a bid for this one on a morning when I least expect it. Hoping for 220-250. Re my post of 8 June, my prediction of an increase of dividend to 1.6p wasn't far out. And as I posted then, is the 5th consecutive year increase in dividend. That in itself paints a pretty good and healthy picture. I believe this has further to go. Share price has risen by around 10% over the last month and almost back to a year high. I can live and sleep easy(ier) with that. Good luck and regards CM

First glance results look as good as expected. Not sure how the market will re-act, no reading them these days. Must fly, off to work. Good luck all Regards CM

Good evening Stupanico and a warm welcome. Your first post I see. Yes, all the indications, fundamentals seem to be good for HAYT and crucially the Chairman's comments in todays results were positive. Staggered to see the fall in the share price in morning trading; makes me think it was an attempted tree shake, especially as it recovered in afternoon trading. Nice, slow but steady growth here will suit me fine and help me sleep more easily. Regards and good luck. CM

Re Mogie. Yes, I do have contact with him off the boards. I have to say I was wrong in a previous post assuming he was serving a ban whereas in truth he has decided to take a rest from the boards. I will pass on your best wishes. Regards CM

Dogwatch - lol, you're too kind, but your comments are appreciated, thank you. I'm not sure I understand the market, no, I KNOW I do not understand the market, especially of late when a company seemingly doing as well as LOOK can be marked down drip, drip and on auto trades only with no news to see it marked up substantially over a few days!. It's usually the other way around. I was looking for a slow but steady rise to buy back in and which I would have been happier. However, any sudden jump can be and tends to be corrected so a better opportunity MAY arise for me. Maybe your little desire to understand the market is not such a bad thing, With great respect, just be careful of contributions on the boards, especially those who tend to be ultra bullish/rampers. Many if not most investors tend to be over optimistic whereas an open mind tends to bring better results. However, those who express a more open opinion tend to be lambasted on the super speculative, high risk share boards. Should you wish to change your mind and gain some valuable understanding of the markets and/or how to improve your chances of making profitable investments, I would recommend 2 books: "How anyone can make money trading shares" by Robbie Burns (The Naked Trader) and "The Zulu Principle, making extraordinary profits from ordinary shares" by Jim Slater. The former is a very easy read written in straightforward to the point language, the latter is a little more traditional in style and although dated in some areas makes some invaluable points and has transformed my investments success (generally). Both are well worth a read. However, it doesn't stop you asking me anything if you think I may be able to help. Dyna - one of the mistakes those of us who have been posting on boards for some time can make is the assumption that anyone new must be a novice and have only just started investing. We just don't know who we are replying to, their age, their gender or their background. It is possible that a new poster has been in a very high managerial position and in truth can teach us many a lesson. Your posts would suggest that you have a very good grasp on investments and I dare say there are things I can learn from you. It looks like you made a very good decision to "average down", sometimes it is a case of "he who dares wins!", so well done, more courage than me!. I am in a similar situation with CLL, all the pointers and RNSs are positive but the sp has been indifferent for some time. I believe it should turn positive in the near future. It has to be what we are individually content/at ease with of course. My risk appetite has changed over the last year or two with my age. I need to be able to sleep with my investments and not have sleepless nights. I am prepared to take lower reward with the lower risk. LOOK should fall into this category along with CLL (not a recommendation). Regards CM

Good evening Dyna and a warm welcome. I fully concur with your views despite having sold out of LOOK last week for reasons already given. Selling a share is always the most difficult decision I and not doubt just about anyone has to take. We can always see a reason for holding; the share isn't or can't fall much further and is bound to rise at any moment, particularly the moment that we sell, the market has got it all wrong and doesn't understand the company!, we should be buying more at the bargain price and averaging down!, etc, etc. However, for me personally, that reasoning has all to often led to greater and greater losses and I usually have regretted not selling earlier. A 10% loss soon becomes a 15% loss, soon becomes a 20% loss and at that point losses are twice what they were early on. If we haven't got a great deal invested in the first place then it may not be so hard a landing but what I have found is that it leads to bad habits and losses mount up on other shares too in the same way. However, I feel a 10% loss, although not comfortable can trigger a sale possibly too early too often so generally I will look more to sell at around the 15% mark. Our biggest enemy at such times is ourself, with the danger of getting emotionally attached to any share. Emotional attachment to a share very often leads to a costly divorce. I'm not sure averaging down is particularly brave, more wishful thinking imo, but I know what you mean. That is another mistake I have made in the past and it rarely has paid off. I'd rather wait to see a turn around in the share price and have it confirmed before investing more all be it at a higher price. Otherwise it is rather like guessing the market bottom which we rarely get right. LOOK share price has risen by 10% since I sold out!. Am I kicking myself?, no, not really, these things happen!. My loss was disappointing yes but not catastrophic (this time!). LOOK remains on my watchlist, with a view of possibly re-investing. Good luck to all and regards CM

Looks like we agree. Either sell him onto Barca for the best price or at least invest in a Hannibel Lecter mask from Silence of the Lambs!. Won' t damage his looks!. Think I will resist the invitation from Luiz if he ever asks me over for lunch!. What did one paper call him?, Chewy Luis?!. No good having the worlds best player (arguably) if he keeps getting banned. At some time no team will want to take the risk. Very disappointing but LFC don't need to be associated with a character like LS. Regards CM

Lol. I don't understand Spanish, but I know who Cesar Milan is. Perhaps we should leave it to him to try and stop Luiz from biting and "don't try this at home". Having said that I think England would have been more successful against Uruguay had we had a Norman Hunter approach to Luiz Suarez where we just kicked him out of the game in the fashion of the late 60's and early 70's when you got your retaliation in first!. "Norman bites your legs". Frightening to think what the Leeds Utd. team got away with in those days under Don Revie!. Amazing run here for TRCS. Wish I had bought more initially at around 85p. Nice and steady. Good luck all. Regards CM

Happy to discuss my holdings with you at some time capt., but on another board so we don't take up space here on off topic. Regards CM

Good evening capt., good to hear from you and that you had a good weekend. Patterdale is a special place to me, i lived and worked there for over 4 years and although it is now some time ago, Patterdale is still home turf to me and I seem to gravitate to there to walk, along with a certain 4 legged friend. There are so many good long walks. Sorry to hear about your portfolio. I don't think for one moment that you are alone, well, think isn't the word, KNOW is the word. Mine too has taken a step backwards too. Don't let it worry you but today I have sold out of LOOK. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the company from what I can see, but I am just putting into practise what Robbie Burns, the Naked Trader advises about cutting ones losses. He would suggest at 10%, whereas I take a position closer to 15% or stretched to 20%. "Take your losses whilst they are small and don't grow into big losses" (wish I had taken that advice in the past!). Of course, once I sold out the share price rose a little!, so sorry folks, you can blame me for the retrace if you like!. Thing is, I can sit on the sidelines and always buy back in if and when things pick up. Too often in the past I have just sat and watched the drip, drip, drip of my investment falling. More recently I have justified holding onto a falling share because another one was rising by the same amount to balance it. However, we need to look at each share individually, especially as in the case above the share just kept falling and my loss got larger and larger. I stress, I am not saying anyone else should sell out of LOOK; there just could be further retrace before it picks up. You must do what you feel is the right thing for your own particular circumstance and after doing your own research. I shall keep LOOK on my watchlist. You can try to catch me on here if you want or with my other holdings, ACM, CLL, ECK, EME, GBG, HAYT and TRCS. Keep up with the reading and research, you are doing exactly the right thing. If you have any doubts about what is written in the NT book, then take a look at the comments on the bb for QPP today (I take no pleasure in saying so). It doesn't need to be like that. Incidentally, Mogie appears to be ok. Regards and good luck all CM

Taken from the interim statement released in May: Outlook The group has made a strong start to the year with an excellent result for the first quarter and we continue to outperform what has been a strong new car market. The group has benefitted from a significant increase in volumes of both new retail and used cars, as well as improving margins in both sectors. The parts division has also made good progress with healthy improvements in both turnover and profit before tax. We have continued to benefit from strong operational cash flow and working capital management, which has strengthened the group balance sheet. We have substantial headroom in our new and increased bank facilities with net debt being closely controlled. This provides financial security as well as funding capacity to help develop the business through further strategic acquisitions in both the motor and parts divisions. The excellent performance of the group in the four month period represents a further significant improvement in the financial performance of the company and builds on what was already a strong performance in the previous year. This, together with the broad base of our franchise representation, the aftersales bias to the business and further recovery in the UK new car market, create a positive environment for further growth. We therefore anticipate that the results for the year ending 31 December 2014 will be ahead of current market expectations. With the share price having taken a retrace of late, I hope the above positive statement may ease any nerves. The Chairman's statement(s) are always critical. Anything negative and I always consider selling seriously. I don't see that here, but LOOK is not immune to general market sentiment or outside influences of course. However, I don't intend staying in any share should the share price fall by more than what I am comfortable with (that can vary from one company to another). It would be good to have a positive week though!. Regards and good luck all CM

Results to be released Wednesday 2 July. Regards CM

Good evening capt. Don't think the A trades are shorters buying back in, seem too small for that and I see no record at present of LOOK being shorted, at least not more than 0.5% which I believe is the amount needed to be disclosed. Have a good weekend in the Lakes. I am already there and will be working in a big shop in Ambleside, so if you want any camping gear, well who knows.......it may be me who serves you!, lol. Weather is set fine and sunny. Regards CM

Share price for GBG: 1 May 2013 97.75 7 June 2013 96.5 1 July 2013 96.5 2 August 2013 95.5 30 August 2013 105.25 31 Dec 2013 145.0 2 May 2014 157.5 6 June 2014 160.0 20 June 2014 154.75 My point is, similar pattern to last year, so although the share price is down and retraced a little, I see no reason to worry. We will have a better idea of future direction when the results are released on July 10th(?), going by memory. Good luck folks and regards CM

For some days now a majority of the share trades have been "A" trades, usually in clusters. I have seen it with other share holdings of mine previously and it usually happens when the share is falling. However, today a lot of the "A" trades seem to be buys late on, so maybe there is a turning point coming up. I have never fully understood the trades, does anyone have a good understanding?. The last few trades seem to have pushed the share price below the bid and offer price, so I am not sure what the true closing price is. Incidentally, has anyone else noticed how LOOK seems to start the day off blue, yet by close it is red?. Seems to have happened on a regular basis of late. As I mentioned on Wednesday, this is not usually a good time of year for shares, regardless of fundamentals and LOOK is not immune to the general market state of play. This happened last year to 2 other holdings of mine, GBG and TRCS yet before the end of the year they were back up and firing again. Hope the same is true here with LOOK. Have a good weekend folks. Unfortunately I have to work; I have had my weekend today and yesterday. Regards CM

From todays blog: I've taken part profits in one or two shares that have done very well and where I had relatively big stakes. The idea is to at least bank some profit but still hold onto a good rump of said shares. However as just sold some I'm keeping them open here for the website. One of them where I banked partial was Hayt at 84.76 but hopeful of good results next week and potential to buy more should the price go lower. Indeed it is down this afternoon and I am getting very tempted to buy them in the late 70s right now. Possible reason why the shares have fallen a little today?. Who knows. Little contrary to last post perhaps. Seen this sort of movement before of course. Good luck and regards CM

Good evening capt., hope all is well. Of all the reading I have done, I found the NT book by far the easiest read. I have read part of the ZP on a no. of occasions when I felt it necessary but not all. There are certain chapters which I found hard going to understand and in truth I don't feel I need to understand it all. Chapters 11 through to 16 for instance I don't feel led to study in detail. Perhaps chapters 4 and 5 I should have another look at. As for other reference books, well, some of those I think have been written by those who have forgotten what it is like to learn and written in such a language that it makes me think that they were written deliberately to confuse. Bit like being told about string theory when I was only asking if such and such a share was a good investment!. Good luck with those, but my advice (for what it is worth) is don't get hung up if you don't understand everything; investing shouldn't be and isn't as difficult as that. Some folk get deep into chartism. I tried that for a while to see if it improved my investment success, it didn't. Just took up a great deal of my time, led to a lot of head scratching and 2nd. guessing. Charts can be useful for sure, but they do not forecast price movement. What is more important is current trading, RNSs, fundamentals, market sentiment etc. I do use graphs to assess trend particularly before investing in anything. if I am not happy with the graph being healthy I will not invest. Even then there is no guarantee of success and I still make mistakes. Incidentally, May, June and July are poor months for investment returns in general. Some would say Sell in May and go away. I don't see there is anything in particular wrong with LOOK, the latest news has been positive. The market is near an all time high and outside of the FTSE100 the market is struggling a little. The threat of high interest rates in the not distant future, perhaps before the year end has sent a few jitters around and of course there is turmoil in Iraq and Ukraine which is not helping. However, that is market general and not share specific. Even so, we need to keep an eye on the general state of affairs and be ready to take appropriate action when required. Probably stating the obvious. Getting late so I had better go!. Regards one and all CM

You're welcome. You will probably find that Mogie and I think along the same lines and have similar investing criteria. Additionally we have both read the Zulu Principle by Jim Slater and Robbie Burns book. Although not relying on the reading completely, both give extremely good advice as I believe you probably realise having read the books yourself?. Certainly the ZP has helped to transform my investment performance with the RB book just re-inforcing the principles from a different angle. Still make mistakes though and still learning the difference between having patience and knowing when to sell!. Mogie, should you be reading, truly hope all is well. Expect you will be back in time. I do not have premium membership with LSE so unfortunately I am unable to read private messages. Try asking LSE for my personal details if you need/want to contact me, they may have a way to put us in touch. I was speculating last night re. why your posts had been deleted. I apologise if I was wide of the mark. Interesting to know though that a certain character from a certain board also is in the same position!. Regards and good luck all CM

Hello capt, thanks for the post. Best guess is that Mogie is having to take an enforced break from the sidelines temporarily, ie a short term ban. In my opinion Mogie's intentions within his/her posts have always been for the best and has always wanted to be helpful. However, their views have not always been taken as intended, especially if contrary to what other invested have wanted to hear. Mogie has taken a huge amount of insults. Unfortunately, this has led to conflict. Posts have been reported to LSE. I therefore suspect LSE have decided to impose a temporary ban no doubt on others as well as Mogie. I expect Mogie will be back since I don't think these bans last long. Think of it more like a yellow card in football possibly. Last contact I had was last night on the TCG board. Mogie was obviously very upset about something but didn't want to go into matters. Once/if I get more details I will let you know. In the meantime, if I can be of help to you in any way, please don't hesitate to ask. Feel free to keep in touch. Regards CM

Not surprised at the recent re-trace - as forecast in my post of 9 June. Nothing unduly to worry about imo, seen it before and no doubt will see it again. If anyone looks at Bollinger Bands, the price had risen significantly above the upper and has now fallen back between the upper and lower as trading usually does over time. Not a formula to forecast share price movement as there can be outside influences but often reasonably accurate. Regards and good luck all CM