Since last month’s article, I have investigated and ranked three companies – two of them, Bloomsbury Publishing (see Share Sleuth and this interactive investor article) and PZ Cussons, for the first time.
This month Share Sleuth is spoilt for potential trades. Victrex, one of the most highly rated shares in Share Watch, is under-represented at 2.5% of the portfolio’s total value, whereas the share price of Judges Scientific has risen so much that the portfolio’s holding has grown to 8.5% of its total value, so it is over-represented.
Over the long term, companies investing for future growth should earn higher returns than firms returning most of their profit to shareholders. Thinking 10 years ahead as usual, I prefer innovative Renishaw and Goodwin to conservative Colefax.
I recently ejected Colefax from the Share Sleuth portfolio (see previous page). Though the company believes it can grow, it has not grown convincingly for a long time. Revenue and profit remain stubbornly around their pre-financial crisis highs over 10 years ago.
This month, I have liquidated the Share Sleuth portfolio’s small holding of 434 shares in Colefax, raising £1,747 after a £10 deduction in lieu of broker fees. The share price, quoted by a broker, was 405p.
For me, investing is a continuous learning process. That is the joy of it. The world of business and finance is as complex as we choose to make it, but we don’t have to be particularly clever to succeed. In my experience, we need to be thoughtful, honest with ourselves, and always remember there’s more to life even than money.
As luck would have it, two of the Share Sleuth portfolio’s best performers, Games Workshop and Dart, have published their annual reports recently. To find out more about how they have helped the portfolio beat the market, see Share Sleuth. Here in Share Watch we will consider their merits as investments now.
Neither company disappointed shareholders.
If you have read my contribution to Money Observer’s 40 tips for better investing, you will know I do not dwell on performance. However, it is not just Money Observer that is celebrating an anniversary this month. On 9 September, the Share Sleuth portfolio was 10 years old.
The last decade has not obviously been a propitious time to invest. The Share Sleuth portfolio was born towards the end of an 18-month-long contraction in the economy, the longest UK recession since quarterly figures on economic growth were first published in 1955.
This month, I have been agonising about something I am very bad at: selling a loser. Specifically, I have been torn between reason and sentiment, which is ironic because that is what System1, the company concerned, is all about.
As well as soul-searching about System1, I have investigated two companies for the first time and two members of the Share Sleuth portfolio this month. Let’s take the newcomers first...
IntegraFin operates Transact, an investment platform for financial advisers and their clients. By consolidating peoples’ investments in one place, it simplifies record-keeping, reporting and trading.
Welcome to the new Share Watch, which from now on will sit by the side of Share Sleuth in Money Observer so you can better see the connection between the two.