Personal Assets Share Discussion Threads

[topvest] 30/1/2009 21:13

£5 a share, but it will have increased the dividend 20/20 years this year.

[h101] 30/1/2009 11:28

I came across this while looking up someone I was at school and Uni with, who is on the board. I've yet to buy in and literally minutes ago did my research. What sort of dividend does this produce?

[arichard] 29/1/2009 07:56

Yes, I've been holding (and adding) for many years now. They avoided NAV drops over the last few years (highly liquid during those times) and then went "all in" with the banks just before RBOS and others fell. Very disappointed to see that then IR's sudden death. NAV dropped from its usual 250 to 200 and has slowly crept back up from there. Glad they've decided to move to caution again having been 100% invested for a while - a very rare situation for them.

They have a wonderful regular savings scheme (and ISA) offering absolutely no costs (not even stamp).

Has done well in the downturns and not so well in the upturns over the years - I've been with them for 6-7 yrs now.

[topvest] 25/1/2009 12:19

I thought I would start off a thread for any holders of this unique investment trust.
Anyone else hold? See that they have just gone 40% liquid, indicating they believe we are heading for another bit of market wobbling. I've been researching investment trusts quite closely as a safer refuge in these tough times and I like the record and philosophy of this one.

[topvest] 25/1/2009 12:12

An interesting set of "rules" from their 51st quarterly report from the late Ian Rushbrook: wise words!!

PREPARING TO BE BULLISH

In February 1991, when I worked with Hamish Buchan in the investment trust team at the stockbrokers County NatWest Woodmac, the market was gloomy. We were in the middle of the First Gulf War. There were tensions in what are now the Baltic States and it seemed that the USSR might explode into violence and chaos.

The UK was sliding into a particularly nasty recession and there was little confidence in John Major's government. 'Black Wednesday' was still to come and Norman Lamont's famous 'green shoots' were a long way from sprouting. Surprisingly, however, in my Investment Trust Review of 1990 I found myself writing thus:

'The world is in a hell of a mess. We have never written a piece of trust research against so depressing a global background . . . Nor shall we pontificate(here, at least) about the state of the economy or the market . . . All we shall say is that cleverer people than we are seem to be making very gloomy noises. It will therefore surprise our clients if we say that this will be a cheerful Review with a clear message: START BUYING.' 2

How did I justify this? I did so by suggesting ten rules for common sense investors.

1. Markets go up when lots of people want to buy.
2. Markets go down when lots of people want to sell.
3. Markets also go down when few people actually want to sell, but nobody very much wants to buy, either.
4. It is unlikely that anyone buying OR selling knows much more about what's really going to happen in politics or the economy than you do.
5. It is therefore safe to back your own common sense judgements without fear, since common sense is an attribute which investors tend to forget they possess.
6. Always buy shares which offer intrinsically good value.
7. This means that you should usually buy on a yield basis.
8. Always buy too early. Market timing is unreliable as a technique. It will, of course, work well for you if you can manage to get it right more often than not. But you almost certainly won't.
9. Very clever people will tell you that there can be exceptions to these rules. When they are telling you this so insistently and so persuasively that you start to believe what they say, remember Rule 10.
10. There aren't.

[trustman] 26/10/2008 18:31

RIP Ian.....great investor,this should have been his time.investing in to the market fall.....then leveraging up in the capitulation period, as he showed the advantage of investment trusts over open ended funds.
Worrying that he still held 25% cash at the time of his death!

[trustman] 22/7/2008 21:52

Missed an RNS.Reduced liquidity from 100 to 25%-good pointer for market rally-at least in financials.Stated at AGM a week ago that market15% cheap, but could reverse quickly.With no major incident could be further 10% rally ........and similar slippage in resources!

[trustman] 16/7/2008 17:34

100% liquid.....this is the stock, in my view, to ride out the bear market.I found it hard to back when highly liquid but the market still rising......now the market is crumbling mr rushbrook could look a genius if he holds fire till the market turns.Also because he runs an investment trust he could also borrow another 20% say to magnify returns.

[trustman] 21/8/2007 23:14

If you really worry about a bear market this stock has just gone 70% liquid.

[vision88] 01/11/2004 19:09

long legged d6

[vision88] 28/10/2004 11:37

GLAD I BROUGHT 4 MLN

[abcd1234] 15/10/2004 10:33

whats good too is that the spread is just 1.2% :O)

I think it looks toppy though , so I am going to dump my large holding ...lol

[luchan] 15/10/2004 09:07

errr ?????

[sugarbeast] 15/10/2004 08:14

glad I bought 1 mln shares yesterday.

[arichard] 03/6/2003 13:12

(apologies in advance for lack of HTML knowledge...!)

[arichard] 03/6/2003 13:04

ben gunn - just got the Annual Report for y/e April 2003. GBP74m in UK equity exposure and GBP2.6m in US equity exposure (nothing elsewhere). A further GBP27m in cash, fixed rate, zero rate etc. , giving total shareholder funds of 104m.

They've outperformed the all-share by 22% over 1 yr and 48% over 3 yrs. Not a bad performance.

[arichard] 14/5/2003 00:19

that, I don't. I do have the regular newsletter published by the trust that I can check later.

I was reading a figure of 50% held in cash (or "liquid assets", in fact) still, but they're using derivates contracts to catch index movements, thus reducing potential liquidity if things went awry.

[ben gunn] 12/5/2003 16:26

I like its management style too....flexible but I'm not keen on equities at present.
Of the non-cash holdings of the fund do you know the percentage held non-sterling?

[ben gunn] 12/5/2003 16:26

I like its management style too....flexible but I'm not keen on equities at present.
Of the non-cash holdings of the fund do you know the percentage held non-sterling?

[arichard] 12/5/2003 13:21

OK, you see the odd thread on Investment Trusts here on ADVFN, but Personal Assets is a unique one, well more that its savings scheme is unique.

It's run by Ian Rushbrook - the guy who sold 50+% of the trust's holding at the peak of the market, much to the p&*s-taking of "industry experts" at that time.

The shares are trading around the GBP200 mark (!), and have been in the 172-210 range for some time. In some respects, it's just a regular investment trust, but a few things stand out:

1. The shares typically trade at a premium to asset value. The trust will always buy back so many shares from the mkt if the price ever falls to a discount, that the MMs are permanently running for cover.3-7% premium is typical.
2. The savings scheme is free. Well, it's actually cheaper than free! The trust issues new shares each month for the scheme (typically), thus avoiding not only stamp duty, but also the bid-offer spread - the shares are issued at the bid price, not the offer price.
3. Rushbrook has a subtantial holding in the trust.
4. The trust has dividend reserves of several times the current divi.
5. Like the savings scheme, the same applies to its ISA scheme. Cheaper than free.
6. The trust can hold cash, and lots of it, if it feels the roar of the bear.

I've been checking this out for a few months now, and it's an interesting beast. Just transferred my ISA in, and set up a new monthly savings scheme.

Thoughts?