Posts Tagged ‘ Companies ’

Dart: in for the long-haul

2010/08/25
By Richard Beddard
Dart: in for the long-haul

Boys’ toys This is going to be a harder profile than usual to write objectively. I love Dart (DTG). It’s a great share for Dads to own. On any tedious trip, by road or by air, something rumbling and impressive, a huge articulated lorry with Fowler Welch-Coolchain emblazoned down the side, or a red and...
Read more »

Tags: ,
Posted in Interactive Investor, Publishers | View Comments

Anite passes test, just

2010/08/23
By Richard Beddard
Anite passes test, just

Backing VHS Looking back, I was somewhat reluctant when I added Anite (AIE) to the Thrifty 30 portfolio in October. The company seemed to be financially strong, but a valuation based on past earnings was hazy at best because it’s not the company it was. Having sold off disparate software businesses, it now focuses exclusively...
Read more »

Tags: ,
Posted in Interactive Investor, Publishers | View Comments

Back to the future at Games Workshop

2010/08/18
By Richard Beddard
Back to the future at Games Workshop

Rebuilding its fortress Mark Wells, chief executive of Games Workshop (GAW), is as clear about what his company isn’t, as what it is, in its latest annual report. It’s a manufacturer, not a retailer. It sells games and models people play together, really, not virtually ‘with a screen’. It makes fantasy war games, models and figures,...
Read more »

Tags: ,
Posted in Interactive Investor, Publishers | View Comments

When to sell: XP Power edition

2010/08/16
By Richard Beddard
When to sell: XP Power edition

The loneliness of the long-distance contrarian If you think it’s tricky buying shares everyone else wants to sell, you should try selling one everybody else wants to buy! XP Power (XPP) has done everything right and made the Thrifty 30 money, yet I’ve removed it from the portfolio and added International Greetings, which may just...
Read more »

Tags: , ,
Posted in Interactive Investor, Publishers | View Comments

International Greetings is unexpected present

2010/08/04
By Richard Beddard
International Greetings is unexpected present

Synergise to maximise It’s surprising how much money there is in the most prosaic things. Take the manufacture of gift wrap, a product we use a few times a year and discard almost immediately. Last year, hardly a vintage year but one in which the company showed early signs of recovering from a near-death experience, International...
Read more »

Tags: ,
Posted in Interactive Investor, Publishers | View Comments

10 out of 10 for effort at Dixons

2010/07/20
By Richard Beddard
10 out of 10 for effort at Dixons

Back to basics #2 A shop assistant on the cover of DSG International’s annual report asks: Hello, what brings you to our store today?She might well ask, because I can’t remember the last time I went into a Currys or PC World and bought anything. Actually, I think I can. It was Microsoft Office...
Read more »

Tags: ,
Posted in Interactive Investor, Publishers | View Comments

Finding insecurity in BlueStar SecuTech

2010/07/16
By Richard Beddard
Finding insecurity in BlueStar SecuTech

Rarer than the Chinese Crested Tern Such is my ignorance of banking in China, before writing this blog I had to check the yuan is the Chinese unit of account, like the pound is the UK’s, and renminbi is the currency, like sterling. So let’s talk yuan, and whether BlueStar SecuTech (BSST), a manufacturer...
Read more »

Tags: ,
Posted in Interactive Investor, Publishers | View Comments

Number one for value

2010/07/09
By Richard Beddard
Number one for value

Nice to see you… Having released Marks & Spencer back into the financial ocean, I’m hauling up schools of big fish in my thrifty nets. United Utilities, Dixons and HMV have yet to publish their annual reports but, even though I’m suspicious of retailers and have ruled-out HMV in the past, I’m interested in another,...
Read more »

Tags: ,
Posted in Interactive Investor, Publishers | View Comments

Crisis investing: oil edition

2010/07/07
By Richard Beddard
Crisis investing: oil edition

Crisis, what crisis? One of the prosaic, but educational features of the Barel Karsan blog, is chapter-by-chapter reviews of classic investment books. At the moment it’s reviewing David Dreman’s Contrarian Investment Strategies: The Next Generation. Dreman’s quantitative approach inspired a generation of stock screeners and, considering how towards the end of his life Benjamin Graham...
Read more »

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Interactive Investor, Publishers | View Comments

Standing by Castings

2010/07/05
By Richard Beddard
Standing by Castings

A long and winding road Last October, I added Castings (CGS) to the Thrifty 30 portfolio when its market, iron castings and components for vehicles, had collapsed. Sales were down 15% and profitability (return on total assets) had fallen sharply. Casting’s manufacturing sites were operating at 50% of their capacity, it had laid off 350...
Read more »

Tags: ,
Posted in Interactive Investor, Publishers | View Comments