I have been reading the latest edition of the Investors Chronicle magazine. John Rosier’s article was particularly interesting as he discussed several of my current and past holdings.
For example he mentioned the merits of Paypoint (PAY) which was up 15.8% in June. He says “On 13 June, results for the year ended 31 March were in line with expectations. The good news, however, was the boards commitment to building shareholder value. It announced the start of a £20mn share buyback, representing about 4.5 per cent of the current market capitalisation”. Other positive comments followed. John suggests the market is materially undervaluing the company. Valued at around nine times earnings and on a dividend yield of 7 per cent, he suggests there is more to come. As I have held the share for some years, I hope so even if I don’t like share buy-backs.
John also mentions Serica Energy (SQZ) positively. I bought this at 390p in 2022 on the recommendation of one of my stockbrokers but sold at 255p at the end of that year. It’s now 136p so at least I made the right decision to sell. Is it worth revisiting? I don’t think so. It’s usually a mistake to revisit old errors in the hope of some recovery. The moral is perhaps not to follow share tips from brokers.
John also covers Polar Capital Holdings (POLR), a fund manager. Dividend was maintained giving a yield of 7.8 per cent and assets under management are increasing. So that’s another one I like also.
He also says he has invested in a fund called VanEck Crypto and Blockchain Innovators ETF (DAGB) because he wants some exposure to bitcoin. He admits this is a highly speculative position but as he has limited it to 1.5% of the portfolio it can’t do a lot of damage. This looks like an urge for some excitement in the quiet summer period on stock markets. I certainly won’t be following that urge. Such a small holding is not showing much confidence that this bet will work out. But if it satisfies the urge for action it may be pacifying.
If I want more excitement I will buy more Bango (BGO) or Verici Dx (VRCI) who both made positive announcements this morning. Interesting companies if difficult to understand and certainly speculative.
Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson )
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