This week there were no major updates for the shares I own but it was announced that Shaft Sinkers, one of shares I used to own, would be delisted with shareholders unlikely to realise any value. This company has been hit by the South African mining strikes affecting their clients and the uncertainty surrounding legal action involving a failed project with Eurochem. Although I wasn’t left holding the shares when they went bust, which is progress when compared to my ATH, HMV and RSM Tenon investments, I did only manage to release £192 of value from my shares having lost £1,188. This is just the sort of disaster I hope to avoid with my new found trading discipline!
Another event during the week was that one share I do still own, Naibu, a Chinese shoe producer, has had its shares suspended because the Chinese executive directors seem to have gone AWOL. The UK based non-execs have called in an auditor to see what is going on but all the signs point to the fact that this company is basically a scam to enable the original Chinese investors to get cool, hard cash out of the company by listing on AIM at the expense of mugs like me who bought the shares on fundamentals alone. This has been another learning experience for me not to take audited accounts as gospel truth and just because a company is listed on a UK exchange, does not mean it is a genuine business.
Also during the week, I completed analysis on E2V, Finsbury Food and Circle Oil. All three companies look like decent potential investments but Circle Oil has a pretty poor looking chart and is probably not a sensible investment given the current oil price environment but I have been looking for decent entry points for the other two. Sylvania Platinum released their interim results so I wrote that up during the week – this is another decent looking company, a bit of a rarity in the precious metals space but the fact that they are cash generative and don’t actually mine anything but process tailings from other mines, makes them look interesting. As far as transactions were concerned, I sold out of my last holdings of Matchtech as on reflection I am not convinced by the acquisition and feel there may be some more short term difficulties to come. I realised a £663 profit on this tranche so this has been a good investment overall. Elsewhere I sold part of my Tristel holding. They have raced ahead over the last year, and have an update coming out soon and there has been some share price weakness so I felt it prudent. This sale realised a profit of £607 so another decent investment and I still have more than half of my holding in case the results surprise to the upside.
My only purchase this week has been E2V. I have been looking for an entry point and the share price seems to have recovered following a recent pull back so I have taken the plunge at £1.92. Next week is going to be quite busy for me. I should have completed my analysis of St. Ives, a printing and marketing company but a lot of the companies on my watch list and in my portfolio release final and interim results with Dechra Pharmaceuticals kicking off by releasing Interims on Monday.