My portfolio in 2007

Not a vintage year but not too bad
Today is my last day at work (hooray!) so I’m also going to make this my last post of 2007. Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year to you all.
I’ve been trying to estimate my portfolio return for this year, which given my slipshod accounting is […]

The Xmas volume dodge

One way a fund manager can improve his annual performance
So - your smallcap fund is a little below the benchmark this year, and your bonus depends on a minimum of second quartile performance. Between now and Dec 31st you need to beat the market by 0.5 per cent.
Fortunately there is an easy way to do […]

Newport Networks (NNG)

Distressed sellers maybe, but I wouldn’t want to be a distressed buyer
This line in yesterday’s FT market report caught my eye:
“Newport Networks, the telecommunications equipment maker, slumped 54 per cent to a record low of 1.37p after a distressed seller dumped large chunks of stock at prices as low as 1p. Traders said a […]

Provident Financial (PFG)

Why it might be good to be a subprime lender in a slowdown
There is an interesting market argument going on about Provident Financial, which specialises in small, short-term, unsecured loans to subprime customers.
On the one hand, PFG will suffer higher default rates if there is an economic slowdown next year, and two-thirds of its capital […]

The Winterflood Tax

Marketmakers are the curse of the smallcap market
As a retail investor, there are lots of institutions in the stockmarket that wind me up: mealy-mouthed investor relations departments, spivvy investment banks, and lazy retail brokers who just type your order into a computer.
But the most irritating of all are the marketmakers who set bid and offer […]

Weird financial alchemy at Rightmove (RMV)

How to create £500m out of thin air
I posted a little while back on Rightmove, the property website, which I consider to be overvalued.
On Tuesday they announced details of a financial restructuring which will mean a company with £33.2m in total assets suddenly has £500m in distributable reserves.
Here are the main points:
“The Proposals seek to […]

The rules of Sharemark

Why auctions should not have a fixed cut-off time
Emma Vigus, who runs Sharemark, has kindly posted a comment on the site which is worth reading in full.
She wants to clarify a few points: first, that the frequency of Sharemark auctions differs between companies and can easily be adjusted; second, that the number of brokers […]

Disclaimer insanity

Don’t worry - additional information is available on request
One odd feature of today’s investment research is the efforts brokers make to disclaim all responsibility for its use, by anyone, anywhere.
Below is an entirely representative example: the disclaimer from today’s Citigroup note on HMV. The legal stuff - three pages of 8pt text - is substantially […]

I’m a sucker for good BS

What is the best order in which to read a company’s financial statements?
I’ve just come back from a long, boozy Xmas work lunch so apologies if today’s post is (a) late and (b) incoherent. Right now, however, seems like a good time to air my general theory of investor classification.
I reckon you can judge an […]

Treatt & the dollar (TET)

Weaker dollar, higher costs - sound familiar?
Essential oil supplier Treatt is not a company I have ever looked at but I was struck by its results statement today.
Treatt was hit by the falling dollar:
“The weakening of the US Dollar had a seriously negative impact on the UK business and resulted in sales (on a constant […]

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