Member Info for RogerMellie50

I missed Bab as well, dithered over RR when I could have bought for under 50 pence post-Covid. You're certainly a survivior, John! It wasn't Rutherford Health, by any chance, was it? A friend lost a packet on that.

I enjoy a speculative punt ( a 'speccie' as an Aussie friend calls it), but only with what I can afford to lose. It's taken me 15 years of investing to reach the point where I'm mortgage free and financially independent (80% of my income is through what's in my ISA, hence why I do fixed income as well) and I don't want to EVER go back to relying on full-time employment to pay my way.

Cheers Pharmall, will give that a look. Haven't looked through today's IC yet, but there seem to be a lot of very interesting small cap opportunities at the moment. Skill is in separating the wheat from the chaff, hence why it's nice to get some input from people like youself.

Hopefully, Rivaldo. There was a big delayed sell the other day. I've been picking up a few around these levels, book cost is aboubt 46p now, which I'm happy with going forward.

I'l hold you to that!

Beat me to it. I cant't see any company-specific news from a quick google.

Have you seen TKO today, Pharmall? You're in danger of becoming a bona fide tipster-savant! Up 20% since I bought last week. Like you said, illiquid stock.

100? That's more than a full-time job! I currently have 9, which is probably a bit less than usual, but never usually more than 15. I have previously been about 25, but that was in periods when I was looking heavily at dividend income.

Out of interest Pharmall, do you bother with any fixed income, or just equity?

Just had a look. Sold in to the rise on the bumper contract RNS Friday morning, and then out-of-hours director dealing RNS. Wouldn't be too pleased with that if I still held!

just finished going through cohort's presentation. i think it's a good bet, but i agree - be a bit patient yet for a buying op.

yes, i think concurrent's value is inflated now, although miles ad**** (lse will 'star out' his name, i imagine, haha) has clearly been very good news fro the company. i watched an interview before i bought, and he was very impressive (tendency for jargon aside).

i'd hit the red button instantly on that sort of director selling! i follow director dealings very closely as well. the cfo of smith and nephew had a monster buy of close to a million quid a bit ago. i think a product of some internal power struggle with the ceo and possibly the new activist shareholder cevian capital, but i bought some imediately off the back of it which turned out to be correct, up 40% since. another one is breedon group, which i've held for ages and bought another decent chunk this week. non-exec amit bhatia is taking every opportunity to increase his stake there, currently just shy of 20%. yield of 4% as well.

good luck! barring potential news from msi, i'm on snooze until tus in november mostly.

I'd never heard that Churchill quote about lifting a bucket before John! Thanks.

Marketing part of SG&A spend will likely be a lot higher, as they've really been caining all the expos. Also, R&D expenditure doubled to £2.4 mill in 2025, and I suspect that will increase a fair bit more with all the collaboration and new systems we've been hearing about.

I think there was an over-reaction to the comments in F/Y results seeing it as a 'profit warning', when it was just a reminder of the lumpy nature of recognising revenue in the context of record revenues for that year. Probably not helped by the order book being down a tad as well, but managment repeated numerous times that they'd not lost any business, but rather it was down to delays in procurement decisions.

Hi Ox,

I mentioned before here, they were asked at the AGM if they'd RNS any land-based contracts and they said it would depend on the size of the contract. Take that as you will, but they were never going to give a flat-out 'no' to the question either.

We might well get some news of the divesting of the non-defence businesses, how the market views that, I don't know.

Hi Pharmall,

Thanks for that, will give it a look. I'm aware of Brave Bison from Simon Thompson, there's a write-up in this week's IC I haven't read yet. I'm tempted by Ashtead Tech too, but am a little bit concerned buying at this stage with the amount of short positions still open.

I sympathise - it can get quite claustrophobic at times being a carer full-time. Fortunately, I have 2 days a week entirely to myself. I agree with your comments about avoiding property and retail, I've never owned any shares in either sector. My aversion to retail is as much personal as seeing it as a declining sector, as I've never had any interest in consumerism. Hospitality is a different matter, something I enjoy spending money on!

Cohort have a new presentation out I shall read later. Sadly, I sold another tip of yours, Concurrent, way too early. It's absolutely steaming ahead!

Sorry, wrong Ashtead, Pharmall! Was just checking the close and thought 'what recent drop'?

Slight understatement there by me referring to a '7 bagger' as merely a 'good' profit!

Hi Pharmall,

Always sensible to lock in a good profit. Things getting a bit 'frothy' possibly. I've made the decision with MSi to just 'hug and hold', for better or for worse.

I follow Ashtead, but have never owned. Reason being one of my biggest holdings is Hill and Smith, who have some sector overlap with Ashtead in industrial rentals, but more just a similar profile: UK listed and generating the majority of revenues from North America. I'm still hoping Hils might do the same and list (or move entirely) to the US like Ashtead.

I managed 5k's worth in TKO for 250, see how it pans out. I also keep adding small bits of MTi below 50pence.

This is a the new 20mm system they've been displaying at the expo just gone. They quote MSi as saying $1500 a kill, I assume info gained from the expo or from product marketing literature. I think CRAM is 'Counter Rocket'. It has a shorter range, and I don't know what size and type of drone it could down. A quick google of the ammunition used puts the cost of a round at about $80 a piece.

https://turdef.com/article/from-fara-to-air-defence-msi-adapts-xm915-for-c-uas-ram

Odd that 'MSI Defence Solutions' in the US makes the same products and has exactly the same initials!

I notice MSi is having another recruitment drive on its website. Don't know if these are previously unfilled vacancies, or a new requirement.

Hi Pharmall,

This came up at the AGM. I don't remember a specific number, and frankly I was losing the will to live 2 hours in with a couple of defence industry types question-hogging with technical stuff, but the answer is: a fraction of the cost of using an inteceptor missile or any type. 2 factors - cost of a round of ammunition and how many rounds need to be fired to down the target.

MSi's systems generally use 30mm (exxcept for a new 20mm offering we saw recently), with a 200g payload. I'm no weapons buff, but I know the land-based and naval systems are designed to use airburst munitions, which are more expensive than a normal round. I have a figure of $150-odd, which was one I calculated from a recent sale by Rhimentall as part of a package for Ukraine. The programable rounds can get up to $1000 usd a piece, and I don't know if that's compatable with MSi's systems currently.

As per how many rounds it might to down a drone (and what type of drone) I don't know, but there are various trials you can search. Bottom line would be it certainly costs less to down a Shaeed drone than its $20K production cost.

As ever with defence stuff, it can be quite inpenetrable to outsiders and difficult to get exact costings.

I notice EOS did 8% overnight over on ASX. MSI does not leak, so I imagine it's just some bullishness coming out from the Expo at the Excel. Anyway, nice to see.

Crikey, 30k shares bought at £13.50. Not you getting back in, John?😉