Right, relaxation time, and time to
forget about money, shares, charts, ups, downs, magic triangles, volumes, moving
averages, moving buses, spreads, stamp duty, any other kind of duty, smallcaps,
large caps, caps in general, sectors, rampers, campers, hampers, double bottoms,
definitely triple bottoms, double tops, get your top off, movers, groovers...
What am I on about? I've no idea either. Must be the ghost of Xmas past
affecting my judgement.
Thank you all for your lovely Xmas messages, I do wish you all the best.
My first Xmas with a child - should be wonderful, we have his first Xmas
stocking ready.
Thursday 23rd December
The market's a bit on the quiet side
today but that's often a good time to pick up shares. The recruitment sector is
hot right now and since my buy of Northern Recruitment which has gone so well
I've been looking around for a similar recruitment growth story.
And I've found one! This morning I bought
8,000 shares in
Harvey Nash (HVN) at
86.13p. Stop loss
80p, target
120p.
This one has everything going for it - vastly improving profits, a good
growth story and an excellent looking chart (some kind of magic triangle
according to my chart chap if you believe in that kind of thing).
I think my buy pushed up the shares a penny - and it was already up
another penny - but I like buying shares when there is already upward momentum
anyway.
It's yet another great story... if the next announcement is anything like
the last, it should push through the 100p mark quite easily then onward and
upwards.
Not much else to say today about the market but
Burren Energy looks on an
exciting breakout and a move above 450p should see us Burren fans getting 480p
before long.
Wendesday 22nd December
Nice to see a lot of Xmas spirit around. People aren't so worked up and
don't mind if they have to wait a few seconds for a coffee - and families
sitting down for breakfast.. it's really nice..
We've been so busy with our newborn that I've had no chance to send out
cards or presents this year but friends will understand!
Despite it being Xmas, it's still worth dealing in the markets over the
quiet period, and you can often pick up bargains.
So, the markets today and the Xmas
rally seems to be in full swing. My portfolio continues to swing higher which is
all rather marvellous.
Northern Recruitment
carries on its very nice rise and so does
VP, more to come from both I
feel.
Umbro,
Premier Foods and
Aminex are all stirring a little
from their slumbers - let's hope they all get a wake up call as well.
Dart carries on, er,
darting. Burren has broken
through 440p well which looks good for more rises to come.
So all in all another great day. I have a couple of shares on the radar
that I may be buying during the holiday period and I'll be updating every day.
Tuesday 21st December
Another excellent day for the
portfolio with some significant risers.
Dart continues on its merry way to 400p, not long to go.
Hunting is bursting up
after an excellent statement today. The company reports an improving trend and
the share may try and run up to the 200p area.
VP has begun an upward
trend again, amazed how few people notice this one. A director bought 10,000
shares at 167p - now that looks like it's a good sign, could nip nicely higher
to 200p.
Havelock Europa is also
getting into its stride again - 170p looks pretty much a done deal to me.
Northern Recruitment is
having another go at settling above 200p. Once it does it should start shooting
up. So all in all I'm extremely happy today!
Monday 20th December
Well, Christopher Burns can
certainly fart! He did such a big one this morning I thought the foundations of
the house were in danger. Just lucky I'm not a smoker.
That's his only talent so far.. still it's early days isn't it! One day I
will teach him that the secret of a happy marriage is a no farting in the
bedroom agreement.
Is fart a rude word? Surely not. Now I'm worried I've instantly lost all
the readers from the Sunday Times coming to the site today. This site is about
shares, not farts! Or am I now just sounding like an old fart?
Onto the markets and things look pretty good with some nice rises...
First a sell to report and that's
Dyson sold at 339p for a
loss of £9. It's a purely
short-term sell as I still believe Dyson could shoot up from here as new
revenues start to show.
But for just the short-term the
share is moored at this level and I'd rather play with the money elsewhere. But
I do expect to get back in earlyish next year depending on movement.
Northern Recruitment and
Dart Group are my two stars of
the day. Northern is trying hard to get over the 200p level and if it can close
about this firmly before Xmas it'll look bullish for next year.
This one is wildly undervalued and I
reckon it's just a matter of time to collect the 20% rise... whenever!
Dart despite good rises this year has a way to go, and again it's just a
question of waiting - once over 400p I can see 450p quickly.
Burren is consolidating in
the mid 430s and another push up is possible any day.
Isotron could move any moment and
Telecom Plus is trying to find
its right level which may be in the 220-250 range for the time being. I expect
to be trading actively in this holiday period as shares often squeeze higher.
Friday 17th December
To the postbag: Mike writes:
'You are very lucky to be able to
buy muffins in bulk at Tesco. Only a week ago our local evening paper
(Staffordshire Sentinel) had big headlines about a lady who tried to buy certain
items in bulk for her business and was 'humiliated' at the check-out by being
told to take some items back.
Two days later headlines again when the
same happened to another lady at a different Tesco branch. Tesco said it was not
fair to other customers to clear the shelf of an item. Will be interested to
hear if you are successful again.'
Maybe things are different in London, Mike! I've had no trouble buying in
bulk and I buy 40 cans of tomatoes a week from them over the internet and about
30 cans of beans!
Now the markets. Phew! I just got
out of Cairn in time! I took profits on Tuesday, if I'd held on I'd be nursing
some losses.
Can't be much worse than getting out of bed to discover a stock you hold
is down more than 300 points.
This had a knock on effect on
Burren's share price for no real reason which just created a new buying
opportunity which I duly took and grabbed yet more
Burren at
420p.
I think I've got enough Burren now -
I have exposure to around £40k of stock now which is quite enough!
My little oil gamble in Aminex
is currently paying off handsomely as I'm 25% already. It's likely to be
volatile now with day traders coming in but I'm hoping to take my 30% profits
shortly.
And staying with oil, oil services company
Sondex has been booming the last
two days. I have no idea why, just enjoying the ride!
Yesterday's spread buy Admiral
looks set to break out again and so does
Carrs Milling heading up again after its ex dividend week.
Thursday 16th December
So I retreated to the living room to sleep on the
sofa last night to get one good night's sleep away from Christopher - much as I
love him!
I thought it was going to be a struggle getting to sleep as I'd had a lot
of coffee but I had a lucky break.
I switched on the TV and it was the Royal Variety Performance. What
unbelievable crap and I feel sorry for Charlie who had to sit through it.
It was
so dire that it had the desired effect because I went into a deep sleep - the
next thing I knew was when one of those ghastly bland breakfast TV presenters
woke me up with some inane rubbish. So I feel good today !
One new trade today - a spread bet
long in Admiral Group (ADM) for
£30 a point at
327p. Stop loss
318p, target
359p.
Admiral is of course the insurance company - launched on the market a few
weeks ago it's going very well and its statements are bullish.
Looks a nice solid spread play with
little downside potential. My £30 a point is the equivalent of buying 3,000
shares.
Everything looks pretty rosy for the portfolio. Yesterday's buy
Aminex is already up 10% which
some whacking big buys going in.
There was one buyer of 550,000
shares. Looks like there may be some good news on the way here and I should get
my 20%.
Havelock and
Telecom Plus get the joint star
awards today. Havelock's rise confirms a recent breakout and I expect a good
rise.
It's going to be worth being patient
with it. 170p still looks likely to me. Tep is still bouncing back after the
recent falls and should regain the 250p level soonish.
Premier
Food is coming back down to the level I bought at - I expect a good
bounce from this level. Burren is
holding well after recent gains.
An e-mail from
Stuart : 'Father of six here and
you think £3700 seems rather high expenditure in the first few weeks. As the
famous song says 'you ain't seen nothin yet' Kids are wonderful but a bit like
tax and inflation, the costs just keep rising and rising.'
Know what you mean Stuart... but it's all worth it!
And this from Santa Claus:
'I am having a great week, the Santa suit has had three 'airings' this
week with another one planned for tomorrow, the wide eyed look on the
little ones faces is the best medicine I know.
I feel lucky to be involved in the
wonderful world of children's Christmas make believe. I am just a big kid at
Christmas I wish it could last all year long.
Its my birthday tomorrow so I will
spend the morning with my wife, go somewhere nice for lunch, do my Santa job in
the afternoon then on to the youth club Xmas party where I will be cooking and
serving hot dogs.'
Cheers Norman and best wishes to
you!
Get yourself some books for Xmas - it's a great time to settle down and
have a read. I get a lot of queries about the best charting books - and I
suggest two books which are great for novice chartists or those who want to
understand it better.
Wendesday 15th December
I have a really glamorous life, a
little trip to Tesco's this morning. I go every so often to stack up on loads of
muffins for the cafe - they're hard to get anywhere else.
Thing
is that's pretty much all I buy. So I went and bought all they had (about 33
packs). The shelf stacker looks bemused and scratches his head.
I then wondered round and bought a few other things including peas - value
peas are 86p but garden peas are £1.50, same weight. Surely a pea is a pea isn't
it.
Or are the 'garden' peas grown in
someone's garden, and if so does it make them any better. I don't know but I
bought the cheap ones. Taste like peas to me.
Luckily for me when I went back to bakery they'd refilled the muffins and
I took the whole of the rest of their stock - so that means two massive baskets
with 64 packets of muffins. The shelf man and the cashier both obviously thought
I was bananas and who can blame them?
Stock control must have a nightmare. 'All our muffins have gone!' Anyhow
keeps the cafe going for two months as we can stick them in the freezer.
On the way back I fancied something different and ended up playing
'Anarchy in the UK' by the Sex Pistols. Had a great time singing loudly:
'Anarchy
in the UK, there is no future....I wanna be..... anarchy!!!' Well, with our
useless politicians I wouldn't be surprised to see a revival of punk next year.
In fact I hope new son Christopher gets into punk rather than the dire
dirge teenagers like today. What a hypocrite I am - I've already bought Girls
Aloud and Britney Spears singles this year.
A great story from Lacky
from my postbag:
I've been a reader of your site for well over a year now and this is the
first time I've decided to drop you a line. I'm afraid I've been scared, so I'm
not sure what has changed.
I thought I'd get your views about my share trading strategy. I bought
Marconi at about £4 and just sat and watched them go down to Nothing. From
£10,000 to £3, plus a couple of warrants and I don't even know what they are.
I bought 20,000 Retail Decisions for 4.5p and of course today they are
about 28p a profit of some £4,800.
But,
for some reason if they start to drift lower, I will probably just sit there and
watch them go lower and lower. Why am I seemingly incapable of selling them for
a profit ? Maybe it's greed or I suppose it could be that I'm very inexperienced
with shares generally.
Anyway, I really do very much enjoy reading your diary. It's all the bits
in-between the shares that makes it such a success.
Lacky Sangha
A great mail because this explains the great stock market maxim 'fear and
greed'. Fear of losing money and greed when you're making it - a classic.
All I
can say is Lacky is that shares are there to buy and sell. So when you buy think
of a selling target and what you'd be happy making. So what if the share carries
on going up? You've banked a good profit, move on to something else!
Onto the markets. Two things to report: one risky gambly buy and a
flattening out of some spread positions.
I've had a very good year and I'm ending it taking a couple of risky but
small positions which could pay off but could also come unstuck.
Just a
reminder that this is not investing, pure gambling and this is more
entertainment for me.
And
please can I point out if you should follow me in to this trade you could do
your nuts. What's entertainment and a small amount to me may damage you.
So, I'm back in Aminex (AEX)
and bought 37,500 shares at
9.75p this morning. Stop loss a
tight 9p, target
13p.
Someone
on my ADVFN bulletin board reminded me of this one yesterday which also prompted
me into a buy.
This is one I lost money on earlier this year but recently clawed some of
that loss back with a good profit. It's come down to what looks like a good
buying level again.
I've talked about this one at some
length before but to remind you it's a risky oil exploration stock that could
hit it big or vanish off the radar.
I've
bought this purely on a technical perspective and a bounce back to the 13p area
looks on the cards.
A market-maker bought 100,000 shares earlier today so perhaps there is a
decent buyer on the sidelines - we'll see!
A market maker I met once told me the best traders often flatten out
spread positions (ie close nearly all of them out) and have a clean sheet for a
bit just to clear the mind.
So as it was expiry day yesterday I let some positions close out (Cantor
does this at mid price, not sure why).
I also feel I hang onto spread plays for far too long when spreading
should be a short-term tool only.
So
anyway.. closed out at expiry with profit and losses are:
RAC short (616,
profit £105),
Pearson short (616,
profit £198)
Telecom Plus (204
Loss £1,935)
Cairn Energy (1429
profit £135) and
Bskyb (568
Profit £1,010).
I held onto Rotork and
RPC Group and expect to get back
into spread betting shortly after a little break! My spead betting strategy for
next year will be mainly shorting I suspect.
Talking of gambling my little crazy gamble in
Chieftain is paying off today
with shares strongly up - mind you, tomorrow could be another story!
Two shares have gone ex dividend today,
Carrs and
Dyson. Carrs is down 9p but not
really as it simply takes into account the 9p div.
Telecom Plus looks to have
formed good support at 200p. With the market cap at £127m there is room for some
small rises over the next few weeks.
The gas
saga is now out in the open and it's all easily in the price. My best guess is a
steady climb back up to the 250p area though it may take time.
RPC continues its steady
climb higher and I wonder if a bigger rise is on the cards before too long.
Tuesday 14th December
Onto the markets. Burren is
the big star of the day for me and it's rocketed up on an excellent drilling
report. I'm glad I had the nerve to hold on during the recent dips.
I've just rolled over the large
spread bet position I have in the shares to take profits of over £7,000. (Roll
over means I continue my upbet but the original bet is closed and a new one
started).
It looks like Burren could be a big star of next year and I'm sure all us
holders are hoping it'll be the next Cairn.
Roxborough has been sold at
365 for a negligible loss of
£44. They've been stuck for a
while and boredom has got the better of me. However if they dip a few pence I
might buy back in.
I've been very patient with RPC
and it looks like I'm going to get rewarded - some very decent buying coming in
today and the shares are beginning to break out.
Obviously disappointing to read about the gas problems at
Telecom Plus today. I knew they
weren't making any money on gas customers but I didn't realise they were making
losses, that surprised me.
Looks like they are hedging now and
hopefully they will learn lessons from this. The company is still in its infancy
and this looks like a teething problem.
Taking the gas losses aside, the headline figures are pretty good and the
increased profits and dividends are good figures considering the competition
build up in its markets. Telephony margins look in good shape and the
electricity side looks ok too.
But with the gas losses at what price should the shares be valued at now?
Have they been knocked down too much? Or too little? Well, at current headline
profits the company is undervalued.
After all the market cap is down to
only 130m or so now while profits and growth still look strong. The gas problems
are out in the open now and things are likely to get better from here.
What really interests me now is whether the directors pick up shares at
these prices or not in the next few days.
This will really show how confident
they are and will give more of a clue as to whether the shares are priced about
right.
And finally remember this company
helped me to quit the rat race so I am involved and I'm probably not the best
person to make an analysis of today's results!
I hold around 40,000 shares mostly got in options at 30p, 82p and 120p so
I have £82,000 worth. I could have sold at £4 when they'd have been worth
£160,000!
Friday 10th December
Onto the postbag, and here is
Peter:
Robbie, Congratulations on the arrival of your son and heir, but the bad
news is you haven't proved your manhood till you produce a daughter!!!! Treasure
him.
Regarding Andy's trading chaos, I agree Very complicated, if he wants to
use software to assist his trading, he can not go wrong with ShareScope. Just by
using simple trend lines he can make decent money. That is basically what I do,
watch the trend, if it breaks don't be greedy take the 20%, 30% or what ever.
Three or four of those a year do no one any harm. The only other indicator I
look at is the RSI but it is not really reliable with penny shares.'
Any other views on this subject are welcome!
One new trade to report - I couldn't resist and I had to buy into the
makers of Ambrosia Creamed Rice. I should have bought this share a few weeks ago
when it launched onto the market at a much cheaper price.
Buying this share is like buying all the comfort food I like including
Bird's Custard. In fact Premier Foods pretty much owns all these big household
brands.
I bought 2,500 shares in
Premier Foods (PFD) at
259.25p. I also bought some on
the spreads as well. Target 286
Stop 234.
I'm looking for a quite quick 10% - but it might end up being a long-term
hold too! But I can't see any downside from these levels at the moment.
Premier is expanding nicely and buying all the good brands. These are
foods that will always be bought. So a happy buy for me and I'm off to the shops
to buy loads of cans of Ambrosia!
The rest of the portfolio continues to go up nicely every day!
Dart is going very well
especially. Get is beginning
another run and a nice dividend is in the bag.
Isotron looks like it is
confirming a bottom at 500p and 600p is on the cards!
Burren is back on the way up.
Telecom
Plus is wobbling before results day - I'd have thought the margin
reductions in telephony and energy was all in the price now.
Carrs continues to hold
well at higher levels and another jump in price is likely any time.
Havelock was hit by a
profit-taker yesterday but the breakout is still there.
Thursday 09th December
First apologies for the very late
update yesterday - I won't bore you with the details but all should be fine now.
For those who missed it, the baby is now Christopher Robert Burns. Let's
face it, I was pretty much told what to call him from up there somewhere so
that's that.
He continues to be a delight and I'm very much looking forwards to the
markets/cafe closing over Xmas to have more time to enjoy him.
I've been getting a few e-mails about 'Goldline' a system which claims you
can turn £2,000 into £74,000 in four years or something. (You have to pay them
£5,000 apparently!). And you only have to put in five minutes work a day!!
You must all know the old saying 'if it's too good to be true...' And my
feeling is 'yeah, right!'
My opinion is with all these things is investors would often rather pay someone
for a system than put in the work themselves.
What you must realise is that if
anyone really discovered a 'system' which worked they'd use it at home and make
millions instead of trying to flog it.
Anyway, I asked my discussion board readers whether they'd had any
experience with systems and I thought I'd share a reply with those of you who
don't have access to my discussion forum.
The funny thing was that the program
was never relative to what your last trade was. It always assumed that you had
placed and closed the bet at the points which the program had calculated.
Then there were problems with
downloading data from the server. Enough said...I'm sure there are people who
have made good money, but yet again it's all about timing."
Now onto the far more important topic of chocolates here's
Jatinder:
"Yes Robbie, we are also very busy in the run up to Xmas with booze &
mince pies etc. Couldn't help but notice the multitude of new choccies about:
1}New flake-praline
2}Herseys-choc chip & cookies
3}Rolo- irish creme
4}White smarties
5}Aero-caramel . . .yes it is rather moreish....
6}Nestle-Bacci . . new line for xmas
Give us a break, Cadbury's creme eggs have just arrived in the warehouses
just in time for easter! Hurrah! The first mention of Easter exclusively on this
site!
Now what's this site supposed to be about. er, oh yes, shares, sorry.
Dyson reported this morning and
is up 5p on what looks a strong report.
A very hard share to value but if the company's new products take off,
this current price could look very cheap indeed - I'll be interested to see what
analysts make of it.
A lot depends on one of their products, Carolite. If this takes off, the
company's share price is going to shoot up. I think for the moment it looks
worth holding onto.
I sold some of my long-standing holding in
Vanco this morning at
273p. (5,750
shares). This means I am still holding quite a few in my personal accounts but
for web purposes
I'm taking brilliant profits on both web trades of
£2,850 on trade 1 (bought at
181p) and £500 on trade 2 (bought
at 248p) making total profits to be banked of
£3,350.
This was a tough decision as I am a big fan of the company and the
management which is why I didn't sell all my personal holding (which is quite a
lot!).
My reason for taking part profits
for the moment is the lack of movement after the excellent IBM announcement.
For right now there doesn't seem
enough interest in the shares to push them back over 300p for the moment. Next
year could be a different story though.
My plan is to probably buy a new parcel of shares in around February as
results due probably March/April should be excellent and should get the shares
steaming upwards.
I really wanted to release some funds to buy some new shares and this I
felt was the best way to do it.
I could obviously have got his
terribly wrong and the price could take off again which is one reason I'm
hedging my bets and holding on to some of my shares.
Havelock Europa broke out
very nicely yesterday and is definitely still undervalued! Which is why I have
no problem holding despite a small fall today. Looks like the market-makers are
short of stock and are trying to scare out shareholders.
Ain't going to work here, my friends
as 170p is easily on the cards - and it may not take too long to get there
either.
A similar story with Carrs Milling
- I have little doubt it's worth more despite recent rises and after
profit-taking or mm tree shaking finishes I think it will resume upwards
motions.
I'd like to see Isotron
hold above 500p and Dart looks
likely to start another run up especially if it can break out over 355p.
I got sent a brand new book by the bookstore (wow, free books, I knew I'd
get a perk for running this site one day) - looks promising and I'll read it and
review it shortly.
Wendesday 08th December
The
baby has a name! It is.... Christopher Robert. We went round the houses for days
and we still don't even know whether we like the name but he simply looks like a
Christopher.
I suppose it's quite amazing. There I was being told a day before the
birth by my Indian 'spirit guide' or whatever it is she is that it would be a
boy and it would be called Christopher. She's obviously showing off but she was
right after all that.
Also, I think we are being wise. After all I've been kind of told from 'on
high' to call him Christopher.
On the
day of judgement, I can imagine being hauled up before the great man (or woman)
and being told: 'I told you to call him Christopher, but oh no, you knew
better.. you called him Harvey...' as I'm led away to the gates of hell.
I've never been busier in my life. The cafe has become such a runaway
success that however many staff are in we still have queues and I'm having to
help out at lunchtimes pretty much every day. Roll on Xmas! I'm not sure of all
these reports of consumers cutting spending because they're spending with gay
abandon in my cafe at the moment!
As I'm stressed I'm eating far too much chocolate. But the new Areo
caramels are just too good. Don't have one because they are very addictive.
Now the postbag - a contribution from
Jatinder:
'Interesting programme on TV , BBC2 9PM Thursday- `The man who broke
Britain`, feature length documentary style drama, exploring the possibility of
an Al-Qaeda cell using derivatives trading as a `financial weapon of mass
destruction` to spark a national recession. I wonder if Osama is short or long
of the dow?
Sounds bizarre, I'll certainly be watching. I just hope Osama doesn't go
short of any of my shares. The whole thing sounds a bit ludicrous doesn't it,
after all for every seller there's a buyer... we'll see.
So the
markets.. and fairly quiet today. The big excitement for me is the confirmed
breakout in Havelock Europa. This
one has been ludicrously undervalued for a while and is due a rerating.
A market cap of just £47m against
profits of nearly £5m does not compute. It's got to go higher. A really solid
business too. I expect 150p to be the next level it'll get stuck at and after
that 170 should be achievable.
Northern Recruitment is on
the up after my buy yesterday. As I said it's going to take a while to clamber
over 200p - but once there it's only going one way - up!
Get Group appears to be
down but actually it's gone ex dividend so it's actually level as the div is
nearly 6p.
So many
investors get caught out by this and I'm sure some will have sold today in a
panic because they think it's dropped for other reasons. Always know your ex
dates!
My recent big winners Istotron,
Carrs and
Dart have all settled nicely
higher and I expect them all to spurt up again shortly. I would expect some
profit-taking in Carrs but I think it's worth holding on
Monday 06th December
A bit of a short update today -
that's because I haven't got much time.. two staff called in sick so I've had to
work.. really hard. As I haven't worked really hard since 1998, it's a bit of a
shock and I'm trying to recover.
I've been on my own making coffees and paninis, throwing coffee and food
all over myself and I look a right state.
Before I flake out, I've at least manage to keep a small eye on the
markets and I have some massive risers today.
Last week's buy Isotron
continues to boom higher.. it was fairly obviously underrated when I bought it
and it looks like plenty of others agree. Despite the huge recent rises I'm
hanging on as I think there is a lot more to come.
Another recent buy Carrs Milling
is soaring yet higher as its deserved re-rating continues. It has shot past my
original target 480p with ease but now it's broken 500p and easily, well, I
think why not 600p? So staying in there.
Get Group is really
breaking through now and the price has ignored a director exercising his options
at 261p. Not surprising he did - he got them at 69p the lucky so and so!
Elsewhere on the market
Burren looks like it's going for
the 400p again. Vanco is up after
a quiet spell - a deal with IBM announced today looks a cracker and I think the
next set of results will be excellent and send the shares back over the 300p
mark.
Friday 03rd December
Onto the markets and another amazing day for my portfolio! My last four
buys have all rocketed up and are still heading north.
My strategy of finding undervalued smaller company shares has paid off in
big style - I must have made over £50,000 profits this year already.
Being
patient and not getting tempted to sell on small rises has been the key to
really big profits.
Isotron is currently
testing 500p. Chart readers I'm sure would agree that a break above 510p would
see a serious rise in this undervalued share.
Carrs Milling is booming,
up yet another 15p that's up 100p since I bought just a few days ago.. nice one!
Dart too is 50p higher than when
I bought a few days ago and is going strong.
Get was tipped in the
Investors Chronicle. Trouble is they said 'Get' was the code when it is actually
'GTG'. I wonder whether chronicle readers are actually buying Geest which has
the 'Get' code!
Those buying Get (GTG) now I reckon will not only get a 10-20% rise from
here but also the decent dividend. The share goes ex div on Wednesday so anyone
buying now 'gets' it.
VP is holding nicely after
the big rise yesterday. I suspect market makers are trying to keep it from going
up because they've not got much stock.
So, not much buying from me this week! But with the portfolio going so
well there wasn't much need to buy!
Thursday 02nd December
So, the baby name saga. Looks like we're swinging towards Robert as we
think with me as Robbie and him as Robert it won't be too confusing. Or will it?
Oh bugger it!
Quite honestly I'm completely in love with this boy. He is beautiful, and
lovely and peaceful. Of course with Elizabeth breastfeeding I'm not getting much
sleep though with all my stocks still going up I guess I don't have to
concentrate that much.
Shall I start with markets for a change? Oh, go on Robbie, do! Oh, all
right then. First I topped up with a small amount more of
VP Group (VP.).
Results out today and they are excellent. Now can someone tell me why a
company that is pushing profits of £10 million with more to come is only valued
at £75m?
Exactly,
it's a fair cop and this one is way undervalued. Increased profits and dividends
and a turnaround beginning at its only loss-making division which would swing
into profit too. The only reason is it's up 20% today is because it's not an
exciting loss-making tech share.
Who wants to buy a boring company that makes good profits, has increased
its dividend and has a strong management team.. oh how dull!
Value
will out here and I believe VP at some point or other will be re-rated upwards
towards 225p at least. Well, when someone notices it.
Get Group is excitingly
breaking upwards at last. Another boring profit-maker! Well undervalued too and
I think the re-rating may be about to happen and not before time.
Carrs continues for another
push up towards 500p and that's still undervalued too as is
Dart, actually all my shares are
undervalued so there! Or am I just biased do you think?
There's buying continuing in
Istotron (guess what I reckon it's undervalued) - once the market makers
begin to push up again a big rise is in store.
Telecom Plus looks to have
established a good bottom (oooh er missus) at 260p and is pushing up again ahead
of results next week.
Burren is bouncing around
but once the current hoo ha is out of the way the long-term uptrend will resume.
Let the day traders have their fun!
BskyB long is looking very
good now! And Sondex is starting
to move up after a quiet spell. All in all, a pretty good day!
Wendesday 01st December
A reader writes:
'Just ordered Rich Dad Poor Dad
to be sent directly to my son Ben in Swansea. He's my son who went to an
inappropriate filming course at Swansea University and now owes well over
£20k...
I'm going down to see him as he can't pay the rent. I said the condition
of a loan was to read the book.
One good piece of news was after being unable to cope with the floor in
the student house I searched the web to find a hotel.
All rather pricey until I eventually talked to Rebecca at the Ramada
Encore. From the advertised £69 pounds for one night she offered me a single on
Saturday @£20.
It's
amazing how one's confidence does return. I really can recommend Rich Dad Poor
Dad. By the way Alexander Christopher Burns sounds very good to me!!
Now some answers to yesterday's reader's query:
'Regarding one of your readers request about wanting to get rid of a small
amount of shares. Share Gift is a charity which takes small amounts of shares,
amalgamates them and gives the money to charities. Amazingly it's called 'Share
Gilt' The website is
www.sharegift.org
Tel:
020 7337 0501 They've even got a SPECIAL page for Marconi warrants where you can
download a form from.
And reader John writes: 'I
gave my shares in Telewest to the following:-
www.ShareGift.org
With no dealing charges. Mail to:
Rachel.Browring@Sharegift.org.uk
Thanks folks. I just hope I'll never have a load of worthless shares!
Xmas is a great time for reading. I
get mails from new investors all the time asking for book recommendations..
there are plenty further down the page. I suggest ordering books before the Xmas
rush starts so you can read them over Xmas. Press books button above!
Onto the markets, and it's pretty
quiet out there for me which is just as well considering I haven't got much time
right now.
Carrs Milling is beginning
another climb with a bout of profit-taking out of the way.
VP looks like it's about to begin
a leg up at last.
Hunting
is beginning to make another attempt at the 200p area. A nice dividend just
received too. The RAC short looks
good - just needs to break below that 600p area for good profits.
Get is still poised at the
vital breakout level and is becoming a bit frustrating. The market-makers are
gradually pushing up in Isotron
and I expect a big push up any day.
I have a few shares on the radar and like all of us hope and expect the
usual end of year Xmas rally.
Tuesday 30th November
We're going up to the hospital tonight to take the amazing midwife a
present. She was complaining about NHS tea bags so I've bought her a massive
catering bag of PG Tips and I know she's going to New York for a holiday so I've
got her 200 dollars.
She
deserves every cent and so do all the hard-working and unsung midwives who are
heroes. It has to be said that the NHS is in a state and they are struggling
badly. And all anyone's interested in is Blunkett's shagging exploits and
hunting.
As a friend of mine comments our current politicians are 'selling class' (ie
the worst racehorses). They care nothing except grabbing as much revenue from us
as possible, car charges, fines, taxes, fines, taxes, stamp duty, vat, taxes....
And of
course they lie to us continually and don't care about any of the real issues
just news soundbites.. and they are NEVER wrong or make any mistakes...!
Sadly the Tories aren't up to scratch either. Who are they? What do they
stand for now? And where are all the radical and refreshing policies? They need
to take some big gambles.
Jeremy
Paxman brilliantly destroyed Michael Howard in his Newsnight piece. Yet another
soundbite politician with no grasp of why this country is going downhill. Oooh,
I enjoyed that, think I'll apply for a job as a columnist on the Daily Mail!
Norman, you bad man! Norman
is my reader who is often in great pain and unbelievably finds my website a
source of comfort.
Norman,
I got your amazing present for the baby in the post this morning - what a lovely
hand-knitted top, it's gorgeous - a big thanks from me and Elizabeth.
How about a return to the postbag? A reader writes:
'I
wonder if I may ask a question to you about warrants which I have never used
before and am in the dark a bit about them
Stupidly I was a share holder of Marconi a few years ago when we all got
stitched up by the great Lord Simpson - now I'm the proud owner of just 7
warrants - which seem to have a market price of 16 pence So the question is:
what can I do with this vast amount (£1.12) ??
I can't sell them because I get charged £12.50 each time....so I'm at a
loss as to how I can get rid of them.'
Can anyone help? I vaguely remember there is a charity who takes old share
certificates and can make money out of them, if anyone out there knows what the
reader can do, please e-mail me!
Another reader writes;
'Congratulations on the birth of your boy. I had a 6lb 12oz boy on
November 13th. We've named him Oliver.
I woke up at 6.30am to find my partner in the bath, and to be greeted by
'the labour has started'.
I'll remind Oliver, when he is older, that he was the cause of his father
missing the Spurs v Arsenal game. As an Arsenal season ticket holder that was
some sacrifice. particularly as Arsenal won 5-4.
I have another boy, aged 3. I wish you all the best with your increased
family. It is a fascinating joy to watch them grow, talk, laugh etc.'
I feel like I'm missing something..
in fact I'm so tired that I've rambled on without mentioning the markets!!
Burren produced a report
and I can't pretend understand much about it... but I have little doubt this
one's a long-term winner and don't feel in the slightest bit worried about
holding on for a while to come for more profits.
Telecom Plus has slipped to
close to the bottom of its current 250-300 trading range. Just remember I love
this company so my comments are probably irrelevant. Obviously the company's
profits are going to be affected by lower margins in telephony and energy.
However much of this must be in the
price and its rating bearing this in mind seems reasonable.
A trading statement is on the way -
head cheese Charles often pulls things out of the bag and I suspect he will be
happy to start buying shares at this level once he's allowed to when the
statement is released.
Get Group continues to
stand right at the major breakout level. It got through for a while today, I'm
hoping for another attempt this week for major gains. Could be just a tree-shake
this morning.
Dart is darting around (gettit?).
But I'm comfortable there is more mileage and happy to hold.
Various of my shares are sitting just under major breakout levels!
Rotork is there,
RPC,
Umbro and
Dyson in particular. They all
just need a bit of a kick.
A nice big buy has gone into
Isotron and it's going up again. A few more of those and we'll be well on
our way to over 500p. As I've said this looks like a beaut of a share.
Monday 29th November
Get Group is climbing. I'm
at a loss with this one and can't understand why it isn't a lot higher! It's
making profits of more than £5m and yet its market cap is only £40m. This is
just way too low. Even the dividend is excellent and pays nearly 4%.
The pe is nice and low too and at some point GET will be noticed and
re-rated. I'd be tempted to buy more but I already have two big packages of
shares.
Carrs and
Dart continue to hold well after
recent gains, it wouldn't be surprising to see some profit-taking in both but
I'm happy to hold for longer-term gains.
Isotron is holding up at
higher levels - it's one of those that may not move for a bit then suddenly
canter - a rise above 500p would be a bullish signal.
BskyB looks a good buy when
I bought at under a fiver and I think it's only a matter of time before 600p is
breached again.
Friday 26th November
Phew! Another difficult night. Thanks for all your
interesting mails on the benefits of breast feeding and we think it'll be worth
the sleepless nights for the months.
I see the BBC has lost the radio rights to the boat race. Can't think of
anything more boring to listen to on the radio. 'Oxford in the lead,' 'Cambridge
in the lead..' A boring two horse race and anyway who cares?
Onto the markets and a slightly dull
end to the week!
Yesterday's buy
Isotron is rising well and a
break over 500p which I think could occur quite soon will set up a very bullish
outlook. It could be a share I'll have to hang onto for a bit but I think when
the next rise comes it will be a very big and fast one.
Burren
is marching up well and the current price opens up a possible return to 450-480.Carrs
Milling and Dart are
holding on well to their fantastic recent gains.
Get Group
and Havelock Europa are both
poised right at resistance levels - any further rises will open up bullish
scenarios.
I decided to sell the website
5,000 holding yesterday afternoon in
UCM to take a loss of
£500. That's actually selling
half my real holding and I'm holding on to my pension ones.
This is a nod to regular
reader Frank who says I should
respect my stop losses. So I did. However I feel the shares will probably bottom
out here and I'm happy to hold the rest of them medium-term for recovery.
Looks like the FTSE is set to test 4650-4700 but I can see a decent year
end rally and hope to be part of it. But afraid I'm still gloomy over prospects
for 2005
Thursday 25th November
The sleepless nights are definitely here. but it's all
worth it. I'm relying on "power naps" during the day as the little mite requires
feeding every 3 hours at the moment. Shame my nipple isn't of much use.
The hard thing is keeping guests away. So many people want to come and see
us but it's tiring having them round and I've cancelled them all including
grannie until Sunday. Elizabeth needs to concentrate on feeding the baby and
sleeping and that's it.
Thanks for the continuing messages coming in and some of
you telling Eliz to keep going with the breastfeeding. I'll just publish one
letter to represent the hundreds that have come in:
As a reader (and occasional contributor) to your web site I would like to
congratulate you on the new arrival.
After what you have had to
endure I am sure words cannot not describe the emotions and feelings you have
gone through.
As a father of two (ages 5 and 1) I can honestly say that it is a truly
amazing and life changing experience.
Your time is no longer your
own, but who cares as babies/toddlers are so amazing, and although there will be
highs and lows, the highs far outweigh the lows and life has just changed for
the better.
Hopefully you will still have time for stock picking (I have found that I
have had to cut down on the time and effort spent on analysing shares with no
adverse affect on performance!) and will keep the web site going.
Congratulations Nick.
Right, moving on now to the markets. One new buy made yesterday afternoon.
That's 3,000 shares in
Isotron (ISO) at
458p. Target
550p, stop loss
420p. I also picked up some for
the pension and for Elizabeth's ISA.
It sounds like a risky tech share but in fact is an excellent profit-maker
whose main business is the contract sterilisation of medical products. It
operates in four main market sectors: Medical, Biological, Chemical and
Laboratory Services.
Isotron is a multinational, market leading UK based
company with plants in the UK, Ireland, Holland, France, Germany, South Africa,
Malaysia and Thailand.
The company's profits have
leapt from £2.9m to £7.8m. Yet the market cap of the company is only
around 90m!
That looks way too low for
me especially when they updated with a statement yesterday saying everything was
positive.
This one is completely overlooked by private investors and is on no-one's
radar except for me and the institutions!
Probably because it's not an exciting volatile tech share, just a company
that is obviously in an excellent market with increasing profits and dividend..
a bit boring to discuss on bulletin boards but I don't care because I'm certain
I'm going to take good profits.
Looking at trades, there is buying going in the background by funds, so
the company is gradually being noticed.
It isn't even illiquid! When I bought 7,500 shares were available to buy
online or £34,000 worth. So it's dead easy to buy or sell a lot of these shares.
My view on buying these is, just sit, wait and watch for the share to be
discovered and re-rated to nearer 550-600p.
That'll happen within six months unless the company's fortunes turn down
for reasons unknown.
I decided it was time to take profits in my buy in
White Young Green. This one has
been a cracking share for me but I think the time has come to cash in.
So I sold at 286.05p to
bank a lovely profit of £2,431. I
originally bought at 205p. While a great company for right now it's valued about
right and I can't see it going up a lot more short-term. It remains on my list
as one to watch for the future.
Umbro shot up well
yesterday after a good-looking trading statement. And it looks like a lot of
shares were snapped up by institutions with buys of nearly 2 million shares. I
expect a rise to around the 113p level in the next few weeks.
Rotork issued a bullish
trading statement - the shares look worth hanging onto.
Havelock is nicely poised for
another leg up as it's breaking through quite tough resistance at 131p.
Burren too has broken up
and a quick rise looks likely. Carrs
Milling continues its excellent progress - a break up through 500p would
prove very bullish and open up 530p.
Dart is spurting up again, it went ex dividend yesterday. Looks like
plenty more in the tank.
The portfolio continues to climb every day but I think next year may be
gloomy so I'm keeping an eye open for taking profits.
Wendesday 24th November
Where am I? What time is it? Yes, the sleepless nights
are here but who cares? We are both madly in love with our new addition and he
gets better looking every day. (Must take after his father). Elizabeth can still
hardly dare to believe she has a live baby this time round.
The cat's throwing all kinds of cute shapes to try and get attention but I
told her she's been retired now as the cutest thing in the house. Well,
sometimes it's best to retire gracefully.
Elizabeth is going through all the new mother things, like crying her eyes
out because she's not getting any sleep. She's determined to breast feed.
I'm just there to support
her when she needs me and the same with the young lad. Can't wait to get the
train sets out! The house is filled with flowers, the mum in law is here and
everything is dandy.
But thank goodness I could afford a newborn baby nanny! It's hard enough
with one, god knows what it must be like without. I feel privileged to be able
to afford it. Anyhow you must all be sick of my baby talk so back to business!
Those of you who wanted application forms to join as customers should also
get them today and enable you to get me in your e-mail box every day! (See
details further on if you've missed them).
One point I'd like to make
is, I think most investors are too cautious/scared to buy shares that have
already gone up a lot. They think 'oh no, it's already gone up a lot, I daren't
buy in.'
But for most of this year
it's what I've been doing. I believe for the moment as long as the company
remains undervalued (using pe, forward prospects or/and market cap to profits)
there can still be plenty of rise left in a share even after previous rises.
For example I bought Dart
at 296p although it had pretty much doubled already. But looking at market cap
compared to profits it looked undervalued despite the rises. What I'm saying is
don't be afraid of buying into a share that's storming up.
It amazes me that some people would rather buy into a share that's
hurtling down because they think they're getting a bargain.
Far better to buy something
that's going well than a company that's got problems and try and buy a bounce.
Lecture over!'
If you'd like to chat to me and everyone else on my own discussion board,
to sign up to my board on ADVFN's premium BB for just £3.33 a month instead of a
fiver, just mail me and I'll tell you how to get it for £40 for the year instead
of £60.
As well as being able to
chat to me directly you get the premium lists too including all the ex dividend
dates and payout dates.
Onto the markets and the portfolio is still going well - no action today,
far too tired but no need either as things look good.
Recent buy Umbro is
starting to rise - a good trading statement today and an analysts visit is going
on. If they come back happy and Umbro goes onto some buy lists it could easily
lift back up to the 120p level.
I'll have to see if these reports are positive but the
trading statement was and I'm hoping for a good break over that always difficult
to break 100p barrier.
Not surprisingly Dart and
Carrs my two huge risers are
getting volatile - but I still believe both have a way to go.
Looking at the market cap
VS profits of both there is still room for more, especially in Dart's case. But
Carrs could easily break 500p with good momentum there.
Burren needs to bash
through that 430p level - investors fret too much about founder shareholders
selling out in December, institutions will snap up the shares if they come onto
the market.
Burren could still double
in value from here. A break above 430 for now would signal a rise back to the
450 level.
Rotork is climbing back up
to the breakout level - a break above will be significant and a report is due
any moment. And RPC looks strong
too.
Tuesday 23rd November
Well, folks, fatherhood is everything you all told me it
would be.. marvellous! We both sit there staring at our son, hardly believing it
really happened...
And now a spooky and true story. Bear in mind when you read this I am not
religious at all though I do believe there is a higher power as such I don't
believe this power wants to be worshipped. I just wish everyone of all faiths
could get along instead of fighting.
So, to remind you I had a visitation from an Indian lady who told me Eliz
was pregnant before we knew and that everything would be fine.
On Friday morning I nipped back home from the hospital to pick up some
stuff and took the chance for a ten minute nap.
During this my Indian lady revisited me. She said: 'You will have a boy
and you will call him Christopher.' I got up immediately and e-mailed this to
myself to prove it had happened.
So later that day our boy was born. I then told Elizabeth about the
visitation. I said the Indian lady had told me the name.
And blow me down. Eliz said immediately: 'Was it Christopher?' I went
cold. 'Yes,' I said. 'I can't believe you just said that'.
And to further add to the spookiness, at around the time I was having the
dream, Eliz and the midwife had been briefly taking about the name as the
midwife's brother was a Christopher!
We had never even mentioned this name previously. Was it a psychic thing?
Is there a benevolent higher power having a bit of fun? I don't know but I
thought I'd tell you all the story!
We don't even know yet whether he will be called Christopher. We were
veering towards Alexander - but last night Eliz said she was veering towards
Christopher!
More baby talk tomorrow! I've spent too long writing this already and I
have loads to do so a quick look at the markets!
I'm glad to say every single share buy in the portfolio is in profit
except for UCM. Some very big
profits too and the portfolio is going up every day which is quite handy when I
am so busy!
My two most recent buys Carrs
Milling and Dart continue
to zoom upwards - I've made near 15% on Dart and near 20% in Carrs in just a few
days!
Hunting is also rising
fast, Burren is on a roll and
even my recent short RAC is going
down nicely. It couldn't be better so I'm going to leave things as they are for
another day.
Time being short, I'll leave you now with this short update.. what follows
is the last couple of updates which I hope will be handy for those who have been
away or new readers from the Sunday Times.
And just to say last night I went for it and sent all of you who wanted
them the Telecom Plus application forms! You should get them in the post
tomorrow.
And thanks yet again for all the great messages.. I'll be back tomorrow
with the first normal update for a few days!
Monday 22nd November
Wow! What an experience! As you can tell by the
picture above we are both knackered but extremely happy.
And as you can see the main thing is he has my
amazing hairstyle which will have all the girls running after him as bald is
best!
I guess we both thought after last time the baby would be stillborn or
there would be something wrong but we have been given the gift of an amazing
baby with everything in the right place. Birth weight 6lb 9oz.
We had a share of anxious moments like his hear beat trace going faint at
one time and other things I won't go on about. I am so pleased for Elizabeth
that this time a sad story had a happy ending.
I remember crying my eyes out last time when her milk came and there was
no baby. This time, there is.
Names? Well, shortlist is Alexander, Christopher, and Edward. Maybe all
three so his initials spell 'ACE'.
I've changed my first nappy and that was much more pleasurable that
cleaning out the cat's litter tray I can assure you!
One reader writes to say make sure the cat doesn't
poo on the bed because hers did! While the cat is extremely jealous, I don't
think she'll resort to that tactic.
I'm very tired and of course Elizabeth is trying to sleep. I've thrown
money at a nanny to help us for the first two weeks and I'm glad we did as it
gives us a chance to try and get some rest after 3 days at the hospital.
Thank you all so much for your support over what's been an extremely
stressful few months - the number of lovely readers of this website continues to
amaze me and the mails I'm getting from you are just amazing and I can't thank
you all enough.
I've got hundreds of mails piled up right now and when I get a few minutes
I'll get round to answering them!
I know some of you are waiting for either Telecom Plus distributor
application forms or info and I promise you'll get what you need by the end of
the week as I'm setting aside tomorrow morning for this purpose so please bear
with me. The same with bits of other stuff.
I'll update with more news about the baby tomorrow! Including an amazing
and slightly spooky story about his possible name....
I can see while I was away from the screen for a couple of days my
portfolio shot up! Nearly everything went higher, maybe something to do with
celebrating his arrival (he arrived just as the market closed on Friday!!)
Dart Group has shot up
after good results. Carrs Milling
has soared and they both still look well undervalued.
Hunting went much higher,
as did Burren,
White Young Green and
Umbro! And even my short in
RAC went well!
So that's all great, I'm far too gone to do any trading today, as you can
imagine I'm more interested in sharing time with the baby.
I think the best thing I can do now is help Eliz get some more sleep! So
I'll leave you all now with my thanks once again for your support.
Thursday 18th November
It's 12 noon and I've just popped
home briefly to grab the car seat for the baby! The hospital is only ten minutes
away.
Elizabeth has been induced but it
takes ages for anything to happen and we're guessing the birth will be sometime
this evening.
She's been given a great room on her own after what happened last time and
she's being treated like royalty!
I hope tomorrow I can update with some very good news. We both hope labour
will be short and not too painful.
While I'm here, I've had a few seconds to look at the portfolio and just
got time to write this quick update.
Yesterday afternoon I bought back into
Umbro (UMB).
6,197 shares at
92.75p. Looks like a terrific
double bottom on the chart and this one owes me as I lost money on it last time.
Target 107p, stop
85p.
All looks good with the portfolio.
Dart's report at quick glance looks excellent.
UCM's is not so good but a quick
glance doesn't show too much to worry about as profits still rising.
Carrs Milling continues its
re-rating as I predicted and my buy at 392 a few days ago looks rather good -
I'm still waiting for 500p, and that might not be long. Other shares also
sprinting for me are Burren,
White Young, and
RPC.
I'll leave you now with yesterday's update in case you missed it and I
hope to have a rather exciting update tomorrow.. ok, got to get back to the
hospital and by the way thank you all for your lovely messages of support.
Wendesday 17th November
Panic! Stress! Fear! No, I don't
mean there's been a huge profits warnings on one of my shares... Baby Burns is
due to arrive probably sometime late Thursday evening.
We've been told sex will help to bring the baby on so I could be going out
with a bang tonight. Don't call me between 9pm and 11pm!
Elizabeth is scared and I don't blame her - we both want a healthy baby
and we're worried because we had a bad experience last time.
Well, tomorrow we should know all. I'm off to the hospital with her at 8am
when she is going to be induced - this takes quite a while to work so I am going
to be ordered home for a while and her friends are taking over.
So there should be an update tomorrow - and as soon as I know any news I
will make a full update on events - hopefully sometime Friday.
We really have no ideas on names yet - we want to see the baby first. If
the site doesn't get updated for a while it could be bad news and I might be
away for a time, as I'm sure you will all understand.
OK, well moving to the markets, my little gamble on a downward shift in
the price of RAC is paying off at
the moment - the shares currently below the breakdown area. Should be more
downside to come I hope.
It's a fairly quiet day which I'm happy about as obviously my mind is
elsewhere! Telecom Plus is having
another stab at regaining the 300p level. Shares look fairly valued in the
300-320 area while we wait for the next results.
Obviously TEP has had to cut prices
to compete effectively which is bound to effect profits - however if it's added
enough customers and distributors then profits could still go higher, I'd like
to see them up to about the 13m mark from 10m.
White Young Green looks
ready for an assault on the 300p mark and could easily rocket from here with one
market maker who was holding things up out of the way.
I have a number of shares poised right at breakouts!
Get,
Dart,
RPC,
Havelock, and
Dyson especially. All they need
is a little kick and they'll motor...
Carrs Milling quite
remarkably is holding onto its gains - I would have expected some of those like
me who bought in the 390p area to be taking some profits. But this seems not to
be the case and like me they are looking for a move to the high 400s.
Tuesday 16th November
Wow.
The good wishes for this week keep pouring in and thank you so much! We are
keeping our fingers crossed for Thursday and hoping the baby comes out alive and
well probably late on Thursday evening.
I can't print all your mails of course but I thought this one was a good
example of the kind I've been getting:
'Would just like to send my very best wishes for this weeks 'happy event'
to both you and Elizabeth.
I know I have said this before, but
it really is a fantastic happening and worth all the hardship you both must have
endured.
I for one will be delighted when your website is NOT updated because you
are busy overseeing something that is even more precious although I really do
enjoy your sense of humour together with your thoughts, buys, sells and
ramblings.
Please don't stop, Richard.
So thank you all for these types of messages. Normally I would probably
say 'pass the sick bucket' but actually for now these types of messages have
made the coming stress feel bearable.
I went out to buy some nice 'smellies' with Elizabeth for when she returns
to the house hopefully at the weekend.
I
bought what looked like a nice bottle of bubble bath. £16 for a small bottle! I
had a look at the label when I got home to check one of the ingredients wasn't
'gold'!
The label said: 'This intense bath therapy harnesses the potency of yuan
zhi extract to promote inner peace.'
Yet if you look at the label you realise you're sitting in a bunch of
horrible chemicals. Top ingredient? Sodium Sulphate!
Isn't the nasty stuff I used to set
fire to with a bunsen burner in chemistry class? Next ingredient 'Aqua'! Er..
water actually!
It gets
worse - hydrolysed wheat protein (ugh) propylparaben (double ugh!) and the
longest word I have ever seen: germamidopropyldimonoim hydroxypropyl. If that
lot really promotes my inner peace, boy have we got problems!
I'm obviously being slightly cautious ahead of the baby being born - some
profit taking going on today as the market's had a good run.
I've been tempted into a little short of
RAC. For
£7 at
641p. Target
620p, stop
650p. We've been discussing this
on my discussion board.
It's
very delicately balanced in the 640 area and could go either way. But if it does
sink below 640 then there is a way to go. I would come out fairly smartish on
any rise.
Things looks pretty good still with the portfolio.
Burren is on the way back up
after a decent drilling update.
The re-rating of Carrs Milling
shares continues - the market makers want your shares but very few are taking
profits. There is more to come! Get
Group is being tree-shaken. The MM's look short here and it's still above
its breakout point.
Dart
Group is in the same category.White
Young Green is starting another move up, as is
Sondex.
Monday 15th November
I think both Elizabeth and I are part excited and part s***** ourselves!
She's due in the hospital at 8am on Thursday morning to be induced one week
early.
This is
to be on the safe side after the awful events of last year. So the baby is
likely due some time late Thursday or early Friday.
I'm pretty much bowled over with the good wishes and karma coming from
e-mails. It's strange though I don't know any of you really, I feel as if I do
if that makes sense.
And without being sickly about it, the good wishes from people of all
kinds have helped us get through what's been a very stressful nine months.
I'm glad we had the courage to try again - well, really not me, Elizabeth
and if all goes well this will be our one and only child and we'll be very
grateful.
Of course in the back of our minds is will something go wrong like it did
last time. I'm feeling positive and hopeful. I will keep you all in touch and if
the site suddenly isn't updated it could all have happened early.
Postbag time....Firstly from Tim:
'I am seriously worried about you and Mrs F. This is a big retro phase,
what with Hong Kong Phooey, Top Cat and The Clangers( anyone out got soup ?).
Enjoy yourselves in the last few days of freedom. Once the nipper makes an
appearance it is like nothing on earth believe me as the father of two young
daughters.
I did like your website but am beginning to wonder about your wisdom. You
espoused the book Rich Dad Poor Dad but seem incapable of telling the difference
between an asset and a liability (ala homeownership).
A child is a (financial) liability.
It feels like an asset at the time but believe me the school fees, music
lessons, swimming lessons, riding lessons soon change that.
Seriously though have a good time. Enjoy it all. It is horrendous and
scary at the time but it is one of those truly magical moments.
Especially
the first born. I remember holding mine, just talking to her for an hour, saying
nothing but just babbling on.
Thanks Tim... this is one liability I don't mind!
A question from reader
Steven:
Could you please tell me if it is allowed to put FTSE fledgling companies
in to my self select ISA trading account while still benefiting from the no
capital gains tax as with FTSE small cap companies? Thanks, Steven.
Glad to clear this up Steven. You can put anything you like in an ISA
except AIM stock, as simple as that. And I always urge investors to put as much
into ISA's as possible to avoid capitals gains tax. This has saved me thousands
over the years.
This from Mr Christie:
Now the markets. I do have my eye on one share that I think is incredibly
undervalued but I'm waiting for a sign.. not sure from whom...well, maybe from
the market makers. I'll keep you in touch if and when I buy.
There was a sudden huge leap in my most recent buy
Carrs Milling this morning.. I
did say on Friday I thought it would be re-rated up to about 500p but I expected
that to take a few weeks.
At this rate it may only be a few
days! Anyhow it's still way undervalued even given today's rise.
Get Group looks like it's
about to burst upwards - the market makers look very short of stock, you can
sell as many as you like but they are hard to buy! Always a good a sign of the
rise to come.
Dyson is reporting on Dec
9th - look forwards to it and hopefully a re-rating here and a nice pre Xmas
bonus! Rotork is beginning to
shift up again and looks good.
Vanco
on the move too. The market looks strong and it seems like a good end to the
year is likely!
Friday 12th November
