It's been an age since I did a portfolio review, and the Chelsea v Hull game isn't likely to be over inspiring, so this will be a nice background job. I've kept text from the last review where still relevant.
As with the last review, this is in order of the shares with the highest percentage in my portfolio.
OPTI:Optibiotix 12.2%
Currently down about 8% and losing £494.08
This is my favourite share. You wouldn't believe it from the performance, but this is the one I believe can make me huge amounts of money. That's why I kept buying at 86p, then more at 78p, then more at 74p, 70p, and 65p. I broke my 10% rule completely because I'm so excited about it.
Up until recently it's been my Nemesis Share, losing around £1,100, but the breakout has happened at last. I have a feeling it will do rather well over the next few months, and when the different divisions are split off, the free shares in those will multiply the profits.
I've bought a promise. A promise of a cure for obesity, of a new type of sugar that acts like a fibre and can be eaten safely by diabetics, of a skin treatment that can combat MRSA.
The first commercial product using the "Slimbiome" bacteria in the "Go Figure" range has hit retail stores in a joint venture, and early reviews have been very favourable. Optibiotix have bought an increased stake in the company that sells the Go Figure range, and despite no advertising, are having to invest to increase production and meet demand.
There should be news on the splitting off of Skinbiotix soon, and the partnerships with multi-nationals currently subject to non-disclosure agreements will hopefully bear profitable fruit this year.
I can't get any more as I've already broken my rules, so will just hold what I have.
AMYT:Amryt Pharma 8.7%
Currently down 2% and losing £137.84
I first spotted this share when is was
FAST:Fastnet Oil & Gas
when I read it had sold up the oil and gas side of the business. It then became Fastnet Equity and started to search for a pharma company to buy out.
I bought more shares at this point, because I felt a
company with the sense to get out of oil just before the crash had a
good chance of finding something worth buying.
The big attraction, and the reason I kept topping up was the quality of the board of directors. The key for me is the involvement of Harry Stratford as Chairman. He took
SHP:Shire Pharma
from a startup to a massive company with a share price of around 5,000p, although it's pulled back a bit recently. He's
applying exactly the same formula to Amryt, seeking out orphan diseases
with no existing treatment and developing treatments that will dominate
the market, as well as improving people's lives.
They have products on the market, others in clinical phase 3 trials funded by a £20 million grant, and have recently signed a deal to sell a drug produced by American company
Aegerion Pharmaceuticals in the EU and Asia.
My repeat
purchases have taken my average price from the initial 24p at the time
of the reverse takeover to 17.5p. I now have 28,454 shares, so every 1p it climbs is worth £272. It was making profit until recently, but has dipped to a small loss, which I should take as a signal to buy more. This was 9.5% of my portfolio, but is now only 8.7% with the portfolio increasing in value, so I could get more without breaking the 10% rule.
GVC:GVC Holdings 6.5%
Currently down 10% and losing £380.11
This
is an odd one, as I bedded it into my ISA, which meant selling for
£1,490 profit and buying back. That had the effect of upping my % figure
to 6.5% as it's based on percentage cost of portfolio. It also means
that although showing a loss now, it's still really £1,100 up on when I
bought it.
The
merger with Bwin Party should increase revenues substantially, and a pretty big dividend will appear in my account next month.
The
price appears to be getting forced down by shorters at the moment, but
at some point the short positions will close which should allow the
price to get back above 700p. I really wish I had spare funds to top up
at this price, as I don't think it will last for much longer.
This is now a long term hold for the dividend.
KIBO:Kibo Mining 6.5%
Currently down about 12% and losing £324.83
When
I bought these it was based on the companies fundamentals. Everything
except cash flow was green. When I investigated further, I was intrigued
by the plans for a coal to power project in Tanzania. Kibo own the coal
mine and propose building a power station at the mouth of the mine. All
the licenses and feasibility studies are being completed and the share
price was starting to reflect the optimism that things will happen
The share price was doing really well last month, as things were starting to happen, and the promise of free shares in the new Katoro Mining gold mine was another incentive. I topped up a lot, and was quite surprised to see I'd gone up to 6.5% of my holding when putting this review together.
I'm convinced the current performance is a blip and they will soon be back up to 7p, and as news flows then I expect a significant re-rate. At 6.5% I won't be getting any more though.
CAML:Central Asia Metals 5.8%
Currently up by 45% and making £1,529.60
My favourite company and Star Share, as it is making the most paper profit. The company is so well managed and so generous to shareholders.
The share price declined for a long time, but I held for the huge dividend. As the price of copper increased, so did the share price. As well as the paper profits, I've had £260 in dividends over the 18 months I've had them.
I want to get this up to 10% of my holding, but the price is too high to buy at the moment. It may drop soon, as it's looking like they will abandon the Copper Bay project after spending about $8 million. The recent project update was as luke-warm as any I've read, and this company will only set up production if they can make a good enough margin.
It still amazes me that they have paid back more in dividends to shareholders than they got for
their listing, and still have a gigantic pile of cash. I defintely plan to buy more on a dip.
CWR:Ceres Power Holdings 5.5%
Currently up about 15% and making £310.77
I
bought this on the story. A steel and enamel power cell that can
generate electricity efficiently when heat is applied. Existing
partnerships with boiler manufacturers and car manufacturers ooze
potential. The possibility of fitting a Ceres power pack into a domestic
boiler to generate electricity. The possibility of putting multiple
power packs together into small regional power stations. No more
turbines, just gas powered electricity direct from the power pack. The
possibility of putting into a hydrogen powered electric car, with far
better distance and re-fueling time than a lithium-ion battery.
It's
a risky share as they have nothing generating revenue yet. The plan is
to licence the production of the power cell to partner companies rather
than manufacture it themselves, although they do have a small production
line churning out a fuel cell every 3 seconds.
Originally I thought I'd stick with my holding, but when the price dropped recently I topped up, increasing my holding from 4.7% to 5.5% as it only takes one of their joint ventures to take off and this could be stunning. The one I'm most excited about is the partnership with Honda.
JLP:Jubilee Platinum 5.0%
Currently up about 15% and making £623.99
This is the only share that I've bought in each one of my SIPP, ISA and standard share accounts.
For a long time it was very volatile. Every
time news came out there was a surge, followed by a trickle back down to
3p. In the last few weeks it's finally broken out and is holding above 4p. There's a barrage of news about to hit, with a decision on selling platinum concentrate from ASA, production of chrome and platinum about to start at Hernic, the imminent mining licence at Tjate, and the potential for several new projects.
The
plan has always been to keep the ISA and SIPP shares for the long term and sell the
ones in the main portfolio when they get to about 100% profit which will earn me £1,300. That holding is up by 25% currently. If things look really good I may hold them a little longer.
TRX:Tissue Regenix 4.1%
Currently up about 8% and making £209.84
The
concept is great - designing tissue that can be used in skin and muscle
grafts and which doesn't need to be refrigerated for transport. It's
being adopted all over the world and I'm convinced will see the company
bought out by one of the pharma giants.
They have been granted permits to sell to most American healthcare providers since the last update, so revenue should be coming in and although the share price remains mostly stagnant, when it moves it should really rocket.
I'd still like to get the holding up to 5% but will probably only get a chance if the price drops back below 20p.
RDT:RedT 3.7%
Currently up around 8% and making £113.91
I'm
still dead excited about this share, and doubled my holding shortly after the last review.
A
Vanadium Redox battery the size of a container truck linked up to a wind
farm can store all the excess electricity, then feed it back into the
grid when the turbines are under capacity. The same goes for solar farms
at night. This is exactly the technology the world needs to make
renewable energy work.
There are other manufacturers inventing
other types of battery, so this one needs to demonstrate it's the best
for RedT to really fly. It's a risk, but it's an exciting risk with
potentially massive rewards. Alternative power and electricity storage
is the post-fossil fuel future, so now's the time to start investing in
it.
The share price soared, but then a placing at 8p caused
it to crash. I bought my open offer entitlement but it was a very small
number of extra shares. The price is gradually recovering as revenues
appear on the horizon.
I'm so excited about the potential I bought
BMN:Bushveld Minerals shares too, as they manufacture vanadium electrolyte!
AFG:Aquatic Food 3.5%
My Nemesis Share at the last review, and although since then
OPTI:Optibiotix took over for most of the time, this went back to the bottom of the league last week and regained the title. Currently down 42% and making a loss of £879.25.
I
bought the shares because the company fundamentals seemed sound - in
fact it seemed like a crazy bargain at 35p, with my analysis spreadsheet
showing a fair price of 396p. The potential upside looks too good to be
true.
Unfortunately that seems to be the attitude of the market -
it is too good to be true. There have been too many companies based in
China list on AIM, take the listing money, drive down the price of the
share, then de-list taking all the shareholders money. The fear of this
happening seems to be keeping people away from this share.
However,
I still believe it's genuine and have doubled my holding since the last review - at half the price of the original shares. It has supply contracts to USA as well as
within China. The listing was done to raise funds for additional
processing facilities, which seems perfectly reasonable. The slowdown in
China has caused them to put the plans on hold, but that seems prudent.
Their new finance director is well respected, and they are still paying dividends, but I'm nervous about topping up despite believing they are genuine - because if I'm wrong, I stand to lose a lot!
LOOK:Lookers 3.5%
Currently down 31% and losing £648.34
This was meant to be a safe
FTSE250 company. I bought originally at 179p because I thought it was
cheap, then topped up at 173p as it was even cheaper. Now it's trading
at 123.5. It's climbed 9% since the last portfolio review, which is painfully slow.
I still think this is worth 254p.
They make good profits every year and pay
a dividend.
There's just really bad sentiment towards the whole sector at the moment, possibly down to the VW emmissions scandal. I'm not planning to top up, but will hang on to it as a long term dividend payer. I remain distinctly miffed at how bad it's doing.
IQE:IQE 3.3%
Currently up 31% and making £602.86
I bought these shares as soon as I read up about the company, and doubled my holding as soon as I could free up some cash. They manufacture semi-conductors and have six divisions, all of which are soaring.
They talk about who will be the new ARM - and I think these will be.
The shares are still dead cheap but are suffering from some profit taking. If they continue to slide I'll buy some more.
ALM:Allied Minds 2.8%
Currently up 2% and making £40.02
I'll
freely admit that the main reason I invested in this is because Neil
Woodford has. I can see the massive potential should any one of the
companies under this banner start generating serious revenue. At the
moment none of them are, so it's a slow burner wait-and-see share.
Perfect for my pension where it will sit happily for the next 18 years.
No plans to add any more.
I've not altered a word of the above from the last update. This is an incredibly volatile share - soaring and diving on no news. I just avoid looking at it too closely and will leave it alone.
LGEN:Legal & General 2.7%
Currently up 18% and making £288.86
I had my eyes on these for a long time as a potential pension fund share, as they are secure and pay a 6.28% dividend.
As
soon as I saw the Brexit crash, I decided this was the share I would
buy in order to take advantage of the inevitable rebound.
I'll
added my monthly SIPP savings and added more to increase my holding since the last review. I've had £32 dividends and will hold in my pension for the long term.
I've cancelled my monthly pension top-up while I pay off a big holiday, so no more of these for a while.
TW.:Taylor Wimpey 2.1%
Currently down 19% and losing £228.75
Although
there is much misery with this share, all thanks to Brexit, it's increased 7% since the last review. I've had £65.46 dividends
from this. The dividend is guaranteed
for the next 2 years even if there is a downturn in the housing market,
as enough cash has been put aside already.
Great management, great
dividend, and great prospects as there's no real sense of the housing
demand decreasing
I don't intent increasing my exposure to house builders, but will hold this for dividends.
VEC:Vectura Group 1.9%
Currently down 17% and losing £199.83
I bought these for the long term, and the final tipping point was the merger with Skyepharma.
The
fundamentals don't look great and I regret buying them. They have dropped relentlessly ever since.
I hold them in hope rather than anything else and may tolerate a loss to free up the capital.
PAF:Pan African Resources 1.8%Currently at 0% and losing £4.08
This
company has been very good to me. I initially owned it in my standard
share account, making £360 (9.6%) profit plus £90 dividend. When I wrote the last review the new holding was at £500 profit, but they have dropped horribly recently. I have had a £52 dividend though, and am very tempted to top up at this level.
The only thing stopping me is the civil unrest in the vicinity of the mine. It's not at the Pan African mine, but I think it's the risk of trouble that's keeping the share price down. They do however have other projects and I really ought to think about getting some more as they could rise significantly if gold rallies.
TLOU:Tlou Energy 1.8%
Currently up 17% and making £174.99
I
bought this after hearing there was a gas company in Botswana that was
about to hit the big time. I Googled Botswana Gas Shares and was happy
to see this company listed on the LSE.
I did my research and came
away really impressed with the management of the company. They've all
been there and done it before, making loads of money in the process. As
they say good management makes a good share, I bought a tentative amount
at 4.1p. These immediately made loads of profit and I could see there
was great momentum, so I nearly doubled my holding, buying the new
shares at 7.2p. Guess what happened next - ooh yes, I had bought on a
spike and they dropped back to 6p.
They climbed to 12p and were one of my most profitable shares, but have since dropped almost to what I originally paid.
I'm still excited about the project, particularly as they have had
approval for a power station five times the size of the one originally
proposed. This is all in my ISA and I want to still be holding when they
are generating power and selling both their gas and electricity. I
still don't plan to top up any more though.
TND:Tandem Group 1.8%
Currently down 53% and losing £572.53
This
company has just 4.7 million shares in issue and a market cap of £5.05
million. Part of me wishes someone would just buy them and put me out of
my misery.
I bought them on the basis that they were involved in
franchised toys, particularly Star Wars which was due out soon and would
surely mean loads of revenue.
What I hadn't counted on was just
how badly their bicycle sales were doing, and it was that which caused a
massive 30% drop in March. Things had started to recover, until Brexit
which sent it collapsing to a 50% loss.
The dividend gave me £20 so not all bad news.
I still intend to get rid if they ever get back into profit - too tiny and illiquid.
CMCL:Caledonia Mining 1.7%
Currently down 26% and losing £264.11
I bought back into these because I regretted selling them and they pay a quarterly dividend. I got my £8.31 dividend, but bought at the peak and the shares have plummeted.
They will go back up and into profit, but I'm annoyed at my bad timing. A few more weeks and I could have bought much, much cheaper.
I'll hold at this level for the dividend.
SLP:Sylvania Platinum 1.7%
Currently up about 3% and making £27.25
After
thje last review when I regretted having so much invested here, I sold
half my holding for £120 profit. The rest is split between my trading
account where it's ruined my fun by being at loss for 6 months, and my
share account where it's making a small profit. I think it's almost
ready for a re-rate but may or may not hold long term. It depends if
they declare a maiden dividend in the next few weeks.
NANO:Nanoco Group 1.4%
Currently up 15% and making £124.26
Bought due to the potential of their quantum dot films being used in TVs, monitors and mobile phones all over the world.
Dow and Merk are building plants to manufacture their film, and Nanoco demonstrated TVs using their film at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
I do have a nagging doubt. The big boys like Samsung and LG are doing their own thing, but that doesn't mean to say Nanoco won't be able to make revenue from their product.
Another slight concern is that the production plants could easily be switched to produce other types of film, so it's unsure how strong the commitment of Dow and Merk is to Nanoco.
I'm making a profit on them, as my timing was very good. It's tempting to take it, as I'm not convinced there's going to be any news to drive the price up soon.
On the other hand, it only takes one biggish producer to adopt this, and it will make money, and they are working with three. It could do rather well.
The decision is whether I stick with it and put up with the risk, or sell and top up one of my favourites like
AMYT:Amryt Pharma - tricky decision!
BMN:Bushveld Minerals 1.3%
Currently up 65% and making £492.10
I bought these with dividends and tax rebates in my SIPP in order to take advantage of the increased demand in vanadium coming from redox flow batteries. Bushveld bought a company that makes the electrolyte, and they mine vanadium, so this seemed a good prospect, especially as the share price was at a low.
Thankfully the timing was good, and assuming they do make money from the electrolyte production, this should significantly re-rate.
I'd like to hold it long term, but it will be very tempting to sell some if the price continues upwards at this rate.
It's high risk so I won't buy any more.
MSLH:Marshalls 1.2%
Currently down 23% and losing £167.43
This
share was meant to be another safe FTSE250 share, but is also
struggling thanks to the same sentiment that's bringing down the house
builders.
It's climbed a massive 2% since the last review, but has paid a £23 dividend
I won't take a loss on it, and will off-load as soon as it gets into profit.
AFPO:African Potash 1.2%
Currently down 100% and losing £708.78
I
bought these at 1.876p on the great promise of a wonderful story. As
the price went up I bought more at 3.2p, riding the wave of momentum.
The selling factor was a deal with COMESA to supply fertiliser across
Africa. The trading operation would generate income to fund the potash
mine being developed in DRC. Eventually they would supply their own
potash and the profits would come rolling in.
Tragically the first
deal went wrong. Thousands of tons of fertiliser stuck in a Tanzanian
port when the buyers pulled out of the deal, citing drought in Zimbabwe
as the reason for not needing the fertiliser. Needless to say the share
price tanked to 0.35p.
Things got even worse and the share price dropped to 0.05p. The Nomad resigned and the shares de-listed from Aim. They are still trading on ISDX but are worthless. I hold them in the futile hope that they sort themselves out and re-list on Aim, otherwise I've lost the entire investment.
It's a very harsh lesson that a CEO can spout as much optimistic rhetoric as he likes, but if the contracts the business relies on are so flimsy they are worthless, then it's likely to go bust. Lord Peter Hain didn't do much good as a director either!
BDEV:Barratt Development 1.1%
Currently down 28% and losing £189.35
One
of my first shares. I bought it for the strong company fundamentals,
good dividend and unbroken climbing chart over the last few years. It
was meant to be a good, safe FTSE100 share.
That was before threats of increasing interest rates, extra stamp duty on buy-to-let, and the nail in the coffin Brexit.
Dividends now stand at £51 which is good, and there's been a 9% recovery since Brexit, but I will sell as soon as it gets back into profit.
ARL:Atlantis Resources 1.1%
Currently down 18% and losing £120.76
I
managed to buy this right at the top of a spike, excited by news they
had connected their underwater turbine site to the national grid with a
very long cable and were about to install the first turbine.
Since then it dropped, but then soared into profit. Then they installed some turbines, grant money dried up, and the price plummeted
I still think it's a great concept to
have massive under-sea tidal turbines. So much better than tidal
barrages for the environment. There's also work in Indonesia where
this company could revolutionise electricity supply to the hundreds of
islands that make up the country.
I plan to hold at this level for the long term.
JLG:John Laing Group 1.1%
Currently up 11% and making £70.00
I
had these as my auto-purchase SIPP shares for the first 3 months, as
I've had shares in this company before and really like it. I put them
back as my SIPP monthly share for a few more months so now have more.
One
of the things I like most about this company is that the directors are
bought up to the hilt in shares - so they have huge incentive to do
well. They also have very strong fundamentals, with cash flow the only
weakness. The dividend is ok too, at 3.2%.
I'll keep these in the SIPP as long term dividend payers.
WRL:Wentworth Resources 1.1%
Currently down 5% and losing £34.25
These were one of my earliest shares. I can't even remember how I found them.
I was excited that they had just started production of gas and would immediately start generating revenue.
Things
went distinctly quiet since then, and the share price dwindled
to a big loss. Recently it's bounced back and is almost in profit. They have a new contract to supply gas, so there may be some revenues coming in.
Given the high risk region they operate in, I intend to liberate the capital as soon as they get to a small profit.
IKA:Ilika 1.0%
Currently down 24% and losing £137.60
This was purchased as a speculative buy based on my current obsession with batteries.
They have developed a tiny lithium battery that contains no liquid and can operate at extreme temperatures.
It can be trickle charged quickly by solar cells, so is ideal for sensors used in the Internet of Things.
They have close ties to ARM Holdings
and are planning to develop a similar model where they licence the
battery technology but do not actually manufacture the batteries.
It's
slipped relentlessly since I bought it, but they remain a long term hold in the ISA, with no intention of topping up.
WRES:W Resources 1.0%
Currently down about 40% and losing £232.62
This
share is a good example of how it's a bad idea to buy something just
because it's so cheap you get loads. I bought 98,735 shares - wow!
I'm
not as down on them as I was when I wrote the last update, but I don't
have much faith in the company and still have a target to sell at 1p.
REDS:RedstoneConnect 0.8%
Currently down 14% and losing £65.73
A recent purchase to spice up my trading account.
They have just been awarded a huge contract to fit out a smart office for a major tech company, rumoured to be Google.
Although the share price had just spiked as a result, the news wasn't that well known and most of the rise held up under large volume despite profit taking.
Most of the loss is spread and commission, so I'm hopefull these will have another spike and I can sell for a small profit and start using the trading account as I was meant to.
RDT:Rosslyn Data 0.6%
Currently down 65% and losing £234.30
These
were a bit of a punt when I was starting out. I was persuaded by their
big-name clients and couldn't understand why the share price kept
dropping. They only listed recently and so have not made a profit yet.
Buying them was a
mistake, and I wouldn't go near them now, but I don't intend selling,
especially as it would liberate such a small amount.
The share price has taken another recent tumble so I don't hold out much hope, but the investment was only £362 so it won't be a disasterous loss.
BLUR:Blur Group 0.2%
Currently down 78% and losing £85.35
One of my biggest disasters of a share, but thanks to only paying out £109.40 in the first place, protected from too much loss.
I
bought them when I didn't know what on earth I was doing, and looked at
the 52-week low report to find a share price I was sure could only go
up. The big mistake was failing to examine why the share price was so
low. Clearly the company is in trouble, with massive cash burn and not
enough revenue to cover it. They have tried to re-invent themselves and
focus on repeat income from enterprise customers, but at the moment there's no sign this is working.
There's a ray of hope, as a major new investor has bought up about 13% of the company and may turn things around. The share price rallied, but has since dropped almost as far back as it was before the purchase.
I hold my tiny volume just out of interest.
TRK:Torotrak 0.2%
Currently down 86% and losing £91.33
Another disastrous purchase when I didn't know what I was doing and picked a share because it was the lowest it had ever been.
If
I'd just read the bulletin boards I would have heard all the
disgruntled investors moaning about poor management, great ideas failing
to be marketed, and still no sign of a commercially successful
application for their KERS system.
Somehow they manage to stay
in business, and some day they may get the system in a car, but in the
meantime I'm really glad one of the other symptoms of not knowing what I
was doing was I only invested £106 as they are even worse than when I did the last review.
PUR:Pure Wafer 0%
Currently suspended awaiting liquidation.
This company de-listed after their UK factory burnt down and they re-located to their USA factory.
The insurance money for the fire and sale price was paid back to shareholders.
At
the moment this is resulting in a £3.50 profit after £12 was paid, but the shares are held
in a suspense account awaiting the final liquidation, at which time an
estimated £33 more will be paid.
In the meantime I keep
them on my portfolio listing with a £0 cost and £33 profit.
This was meant to have been wrapped up in September, but a dispute with the Inland Revenue put a stop to that. Other shareholders have had another 5p so I'm waiting for £15 to arrive in my account from my Brewin Dolphin holding account. Then I think there's one more payment due.
Well, that just nicely took the same amount of time as the footie. Time for tea!
