Member Info for courtier

I had not realised E2V was actually being sold! I consider myself lucky because I have only lost about £15, the very low commission Selftrade charges on regular investments, and a very small loss on the shares themselves. I don't deserve to be so fortunate. I am strangely disappointed as I was looking forward to owning E2V shares again.

Well here we are above 800 again. Several brokers suggest a continued growth but I think the heady heights of £10 are still many moons away.

Standard Life got me into owning shares when they originally distributed them to members around 2005. I held them for years and took a good profit, as well s earning strong dividends. I learned how to trade other shares and now hold a portfolio of 10 companies in my shares ISA. Currently SL return about 5% and they must surely be one of the safest investments in the footsie 100. I am using the current lowish price to invest a small sum monthly to get me back into the company that started my investment. This should even out fluctuations in price but at the cost of waiting five years for any real return. Whether I have chosen a good time will depend on what happens in the next five years.

I held ISAT a few years back and have always thought of the company as an adventurous investment, they launch satellites! I continued to follow progress even after I sold, quite unusual for me. I have now added them to my small group of regular investments, buying a small amount each month. This evens ups and downs in the price but has the disadvantage of not really sharing in profits or dividends very quickly. I have to selfishly hope the price does not recover too quickly.The dividend is currently a very good 5% and I feel they will do their best to maintain it. Broker views are mostly positive and I tend to do my own research anyway. I also like interesting companies that attract at least some chat on the share sites. My view is that recovery will be quick and all will be positive throughout 2017. Finally their services for shipping and aircraft are obviously needed and the market can only grow.

In case you missed it the link below offers information about Fleet_Xpress satellite links to shipping... http://www.lse.co.uk/share-regulatory-news.asp?shareprice=ISAT&ArticleCode=jrf3ieoc&ArticleHeadline=Satlink_commits_over_1500_vessels_to_Fleet_Xpress It all looks very exciting to me.

I have added SMDS to my small group of regular investments. It has moved from about 170p to about 450p in five years. They pay a good and increasing dividend of about 2.5%. My hope is that a regular small investment will even out troughs and peaks in the share price, but it will be five years before I can assess any success. Everybody needs packaging and hopefully they will be a nicely packaged addition to my Isa.

I have just added E2V my list of regular investments. This is probably bad timing but hopefully the drip-feed effect of regular monthly investments will iron out the peaks and troughs in the share price. The share price has gone from 140p to 272p in five years but recent bounces make this an uncertain judgement. The dividends have grown pretty steadily to about 2%. My main reason for buying in is that for many years I lived in Maldon, close to the Chelmsford Factory and knew many people working there. I also watched the company growing up as one of the original GEC factories was in Maldon. It will be five years before I know if this is a sound decision.

I have been watching CINE for a few years and have finally decided to make it my next regular investment. I put a small amount into a few companies every month. This can even out the ups and downs, but can also mean not really sharing in profits until the investment builds up. Looking at the five year graph the price has climbed from £2 to £6 fairly steadily. Broker ratings are mostly buy or overweight. The dividend is 2.3% and has been increasing over 3 or 4 years. But mostly I enjoy investing in companies I use and we hold a membership card for Cineworld theatres, enjoying a film there every week..

I have held Santander for some five years now. I have often posted as to their excellent dividends, paid quarterly and at well over 6%, but this is the first time I can report being in profit on my holding. They have risen through December and January and are now showing a 7% profit on my cost price. The combination is almost too good to be true. Excellent dividends and good price growth. I still believe the company to be extremely well run internationally. The way they managed to enter the UK was bold and profitable, and was my original reason for choosing them as my bank share. Of course this may not continue but reading their reports sustains my optimism and I am certainly holding for another year.

To be read at http://www.lse.co.uk/share-regulatory-news.asp?shareprice=CINE&ArticleCode=qx4tgihc&ArticleHeadline=Trading_Statement

To be found at https://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/0273V_-2017-1-25.pdf They look pretty good to me...

It has been a remarkable 6 months for Santander, up about 30% and still moving. There is a lot of talk about Lloyds having a good recovery but over the same period Lloy has only managed 20%. HSBC has managed over 40%. I know I should be more careful of my own optimism but have thought Santander was regarded in London as 'Just A Spanish Bank' for the last five years and hope the shares are at last moving to where they should be.

I have stuck with BNC because I like the bravery of the managers and the international nature of the bank. When asked why I have lied, always pointing to the healthy three monthly dividends which are automatically reinvested in my ISA. It is really good to actually have a small paper profit. I must add that I am very hopeful that recent growth in share price will continue. The trouble is the whole world that is out there.

Having owned Unite shares for many years I have great faith in the management of Unite Group and really think that 2017 will see us racing towards £7.

Barclays Bank said private equity company Advent International Corp sold a 12% stake in the technology services provider for a total of GBP61.2 million. Advent sold 36.0 million shares in the outsourcer at 170 pence per share. Advent will continue to hold a 7.9% stake in Equiniti. This could be a reason for recent falls?

Good to see continued positive policies from Santander. Thank you Kenny100.

I cannot believe my own lack of research. I have held WKP for many years and have only just realised the company is a REIT. (Real Estate Investment Trust). I only found out when investigating why another company I hold, Unite Group, is about to become a REIT also. I remain a loyal supporter of the company and its aims.

Equiniti is today hosting a Capital Markets Day which will focus on the key assets of the business. Ahead of the event the Group is pleased to issue the following trading update for the period 1 July 2016 to 22 November 2016: Trading in the period has been encouraging and the Board is confident of delivering in line with market expectations for full year 2016. We continue to grow the breadth of services delivered to our existing clients and notable new business includes an estate and probate administration service contract with a leading UK bank and KYC and customer on-boarding services with two international banks. New client activity has been encouraging and we are pleased to welcome new clients including Admiral, Biffa, GoCompare and Retirement Advantage.

From Santander: "Banco Santander, S.A. ("Santander") communicates that it has reached an agreement with Warburg Pincus ("WP") and General Atlantic ("GA") under which Santander will acquire their 50% stake in Santander Asset Management, bringing this unit back to 100% ownership of Santander Group."

At least let us overtake £7 and stay there. I am lucky having bought ages ago and so am on excellent profits, but it is no fun watching such a sound company slide. I also thought the recent figures would give the share price a correction upwards but no... Surely a rents increase of nearly 7% and an Earnings per share improvement of over 15% should be enough? What are the markets afraid of? At this price Workspace must surely be a Buiy!