Member Info for MrMath

"Being a cynical type I asked for evidence of my vote being cast"

Closettrader, well done for asking for evidence of your vote being cast. Unfortunately, it pays to be cynical these days.

"1.5p does nothing for my ave of 36p"

coindigger, 36p average is impressive! I had an average of 31p at one time after buying a chunk at 38p.

The real shame is that had the financing been better handled the SP would still be north of 40p.

"The only way to register your vote if your shares are held by Barclays is to phone them (0800 279 3667)- I stated that this was extraordinary as the future of the Company was at stake and registered an official complaint.....but that is their policy!"

Since their move to SmartInvestor Barclays have turned into the most amateur broker in existence. I believe there was a 3 year period of grace on the conversion before the introduction of a price increase which will particularly hit larger investors. Anyone still with Barclays should do themselves a favour and move now.

Waiting for the drop to 7200 to get another chance, but it probably won't that easy ...

Bonkers over reaction, but unfortunately I missed the buying opportunity on the dip :-(

"Going by Barclays track record in such situations I suppose it depends which day of the week you call them as to how you are advised/what response you get - absolutely useless."

Do yourselves a favour and change broker. Barclays is no longer a platform for the serious investor.

Good results. Pays to have a chunk of ULVR in your portfolio.

"But the shares I’m probably going to invest in have very quiet boards. But I might choose one that on a much lesser scale is a bit of a punt and fun to follow!"

Good to see you've not been put off shares, FRED. Your intended strategy is what I do, and probably similar to many people who make steady money on the markets although perhaps some don't include the 'fun share' - but I believe we all need a little bit of fun.

Being over cautious (the flip side to not investing in the markets) often leads to large losses over time due to inflation, but because such losses aren't so easy to see it's easy for many people to feel more comfortable with their 1.25% bond from the building society.

"Well next time I will sell at 5.53 and buy back at 5.50 - with my number of shares I can still sell a portion and make a couple of grand!"

You're forgetting the stamp duty, 5.50 x 1.005 = 5.275. So barely below 5.3 and when you add the dealing fees you can see that you will make next to nothing. You need more volatility to trade at the moment.

"I am tempted to just sell up and move on to greener pastures as there is no way PIs have enough votes between them to stop this now"

Looking at the trades, that's exactly what most are doing and managing to get exactly 5.50p. Would not make sense to buy at more than 5.47p due to stamp duty and dealing fees.

"Need to make up this loss quickly"
"Convinced going ALL in on something can more than recover All the losses by the end of 2020"

POSTI, hope you were joking but if not, remember it's far safer to make up your loss slowly. As for going All in, there's a very high chance that will lead to further disaster.

This video is particularly pertinent to readers and contributors of this board: a dose of reality irrespective of whichever camp you are/were in - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8gH5bR3clg

"This whole 'paper losses' thing gives people a false sense of security"

Agree with that 100% illbetabuck. It's the taxman's position; it should not be ours. What has happened here will help many discard the "it's not a loss until you sell" philosophy and hopefully turn them into better investors.

"Everyone who invests in these sort of companies a lot has a story of woe (I have a couple)"

Second that!

You hear it often, but diversification is crucial. At one point, when I was seriously in profit with SXX it had grown to 40% of my portfolio. Should have done some serious re-balancing at the time but greed won the day. Anyway, shame the way things have turned out but not a real problem for me as the safe side of my portfolio tracks the FTSE 100 and 250 with good dividend stocks.

"I got greedy and didn't sell when in large profit"

My loss was just over half of yours but I too, like many other LTHs, could have sold when in significant profit. Will be more inclined to take profits in the future!

Yes, so long as the losses are not in an ISA or SIPP.

Sorry to hear you lost so much, northernisler. That's about £20k more than my loss and I too was here well before planning.
A real shame, as this all could have played out so differently.

"What do they mean though please ?"

What they actually mean is a matter of opinion and interpretation depending on whom is making the disclosure and the size of their interests.

"my last buy at 2.93 of 650k helped to nurse the loss by 17k or else it would have been close to 50k ."

That was brave. Thought about doing similar but could not quite press the Buy button.

"You really think there won't be a firm offer after listening to that AAL call?"

There may be but I'm not convinced it will be 5.5p.