Member Info for SFH300

It was published at 12:01 am (00:01) on Thursday, so it was actually written on Wednesday :D

From Gregoire Hermann, Alpha Value:

"Aviva unveiled a fair operating result. While, in line with the insurance industry, Aviva saw a strongly negative impact from financial assets revaluation, the solvency position improved materially, yielding additional capital distributions. Once distributions cease, we believe that Aviva could be a takeover target."

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-gasoline-prices-fall-below-4-first-time-since-march-2022-08-11/

"At this rate we could be revisiting 450p today!"

Bubbles59 - done! < thumbs up >

"“a closing price for AV of 445p.... Elsewhere it's showing as 414-416p. Am I missing something??!!”
Yes you are. I guess you looked at HL website between 4:30pm and 5:00pm. Their prices on all shares are always way off during that time frame. If you refresh the page it will change but still be wrong. Have to wait until after 5pm for a probable correct price"

Happyzone - What Knows-little says is true. The HL dashboard is very poorly designed in terms of the way it calculates and displays figures. They even somehow contrive to display differing figures in the Day Change and the Day gain/Loss columns, both the percentages and the monetary values. But the after-close-of-business displays are the most egregious. I brought this up with HL some time ago now. They had no explanation as to why this happens, but they actually recommend waiting a couple of hours after the close of business to get the most accurate figures for that day.

Also, here's a tip ...

If you refresh the dashboard (Command+R on MacBook Air) you will get a very brief sight of the ACTUAL current price of the stocks displayed rather than the 15-minute delayed price. My technique is to fix my eyes on the share price or percentage I'm interested in, then press Command+R. As it refreshes, it displays the actual current price for about a quarter of a second before reverting to the 15-minute delayed price. This is usually enough time to see the current price, but you can refresh the page as often as you like. I hope that's of interest. < thumbs up >

Don't worry, I always get confused between Aviva and Abrdn too. < thumbs up >

"Shareholders just receive the cash value of the share sale imposed upon them at a price they might not be happy with."

And at a time they might not have wished to receive it.

Scroll down for the Financial Calendar:

https://www.aviva.com/investors/

Possibly an attempt, in the face of the expectation of falling revenues and profits, to keep their promise on dividend payments.

"'We now sit at a pivot point with multiple permitted drill-ready targets, any one of which could transform the Company and propel us onto the next level.'"

Similar to: "I now sit at a pivot point with multiple lottery tickets in my hand, any one of which could transform me and my family and propel us onto the next level."

... such a pile of cr*p? They announce a 19p dividend for September and the Sp falls 12%. Utterly sick that Money Week had this as a buy a year ago, since when it's done nothing but tank by 40%. I'm now 53% down.

Spare a thought for those of us who need the SP to more than double just to break even with this emerging-market-style company.

Abrdn to sell private equity arm as Bird reshapes funds giant

https://news.sky.com/story/abrdn-to-sell-private-equity-arm-as-bird-reshapes-funds-giant-12655178

A cut from 2100 to 950 doesn't sound very neutral to me.

Ragge, you could always do your own research:

https://www.ocado.com/webshop/startWebshop.do

Yes, very good. But this has lead to an almost 6% SP fall.

You keep saying all this "positive' stuff, but none of what you say ever explains why the SP is now at its all-time low. Down nearly 6% today alone. The reality of the BBB SP never matches your optimism, I'm afraid.

... says the RNS ...

So why is everyone suddenly selling BBB on the day the FTSE is up 1.15%?

I'm 40% down on this junk share now. I have no faith that it'll ever recover and I must now consider cutting my very substantial losses on it.

Lower-risk alternatives

If you think the driving forces around technology and disruption are set to reverse, SMT is not for you. However, if you think otherwise, the situation calls for patience. I would argue that as we face a more inflationary world, with more on-shoring of production and tighter supply chains, large-cap businesses with intellectual property assets and an ability to pass on extra costs to consumers will continue to thrive. In other words, the tech-enabled global brand platforms are precisely the businesses that might flourish in this new world.

Still, if you are yet to invest, perhaps you should wait for the discount to push out to 20%. Meanwhile, invest in a fund that actively benefits from market volatility, such as BH Macro or the Ruffer Investment Company, and move back into SMT once the mood shifts. If the fund’s focus on private, unlisted firms and its Chinese exposure still feels troubling, look at sister fund Edinburgh Worldwide, which has a more explicit mid- to small-cap tech and healthcare focus and is currently trading at a 13% discount to NAV.

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A?t one point Scottish Mortgage (LSE: SMT) was the UK’s biggest investment trust by market capitalisation. It championed a generation of disruptors, ranging from Amazon to Tesla. But if you look at the investor bulletin boards, it is now the subject of much scorn and vitriol.

The most recent trading update showed that net asset value (NAV) total returns for the year to 31 March were -13.1%, compared with a 12.8% gain for the FTSE All World index. The share price currently trades at 692p, a 55% decline from its 1,543p peak. It’s now on a wide 16% discount to NAV (the average discount over the past year is 1.3%).

The struggle isn’t over
NOT YET TIME TO BUY THIS FALLEN STAR

Scottish Mortgage was hit by the tech crash. New investors should wait for the headwinds to ease

David Stevenson, ?Investment columnist

The headwinds facing SMT are unlikely to abate soon. The fund bet big on technology. Now, rising interest rates have triggered a sell-off in those growth stocks. There’s also the question of venture capital-style investments and what these are worth in today’s markets. At first, SMT found itself somewhat insulated from the growth stock sell-off because a large part of its portfolio was in unlisted private investments. Unquoted holdings represented 24.6% of the portfolio at 31 March, up from 20.2% a year ago. Initially, valuations for these companies weren’t hit as hard as the price of quoted stocks. That’s about to change. The current round of haircuts to valuations will be only the beginning of a long and painful process for many late-stage venture capital investments.

To be fair to SMT, there is a robust valuation system in place for these private companies. They are valued on a rolling three-month cycle (ie, roughly a third revalued every month), except for the half-year and full-year-end of the fund, or where there is a trigger event that indicates the fair value of the holding has changed, such as a funding round. I estimate we have at least another six months of cuts of anything between 10% and 30%.

Still, not all of SMT’s pain is external. Management has made some poor decisions, of which the big strategic mistake was a focus on Chinese internet platforms. One didn’t need a crystal ball to predict Tencent and Alibaba were in trouble with the Chinese government. That said, on pure valuation terms, firms such as Tencent are now some of the cheapest tech stocks on the planet (perhaps for a good reason).

So the rap sheet against SMT’s record is long and detailed. I can’t see the share price improving much this year. On paper this means I should sell my own holding, but I’m choosing to sit tight. The current portfolio is still unique. Unlike many global equity funds, there’s diversification between both public and private assets, while maintaining a continuing focus on global businesses that can grow as technology disrupts more and more sectors.

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