Investment Share Discussion Threads

[vizcaya2] 09/11/2012 19:56

Crest I believe and I hold it in my nominee account.

[topvest] 09/11/2012 19:21

Does this trade in Crest or is it a residual stock please?

[vizcaya2] 09/11/2012 08:50

Good rise in NAV today and as usual concise and informative(...pasted below!)
But the last sentence is "interesting"!

Chairman's Statement

To the surprise of many commentators Stock Markets around the world have in general experienced rising trends in recent months. Anxiety about the problems of countries in the Eurozone has waned as a result of more forceful action from the European Central Bank and the knuckling under of debtor nation Governments to the austerity demanded by creditor countries. Fears of a slow-down in China recur from time to time and cause volatility in some commodity prices but in general fears, in the short-term at least, have proved exaggerated.

In America the re-elected President is faced with serious economic problems and how they are addressed will probably be influential in the short term direction of US Stock Markets.

Against this background your Company's assets have appreciated usefully with the net asset value per ordinary share rising from 315.6p at 31st March (audited) to 357.5p at 30th September (unaudited). After the exceptional income receipts of the previous year to 31st March 2012, revenue in the six months to 30th September 2012 is lower partly due to accounting treatment of accrued interest. A greater proportion of your Company's revenue arises now in the form of interest rather than dividends as the balance of our portfolio has swung away from preference shares, several large holdings being redeemed and replaced by interest-bearing loans and bonds.

Your Board has Resolved to declare a maintained interim ordinary dividend of 2p which will be paid on 21st December 2012 to ordinary shareholders registered on 23rd November 2012. The ordinary shares will be quoted ex dividend on 21st November 2012. The half-year basic preference dividend of 3.5p will be paid on 1st April 2013. The amount of the participation dividend, in addition to the half-year 3.5p basic payment, paid to the preference shareholders on 1st October 2012 was 1p (0.75p in 2011) but the total amount payable on 1st October 2013 will not be known until the total ordinary dividend for the current year is determined.

I have commented before on the diminishing number of preference issues available at attractive prices for purchase to include in the Company's portfolio. With the general recovery of confidence in the prosperity of the banking sector in the United Kingdom (just one year ago the Chairman and several directors of Lloyds Banking Group announced their personal purchases of ordinary shares at 22p which at the time of writing could now be sold at 44p!) our largest holdings are all standing at or above par. This is a circumstance with which we find ourselves less comfortable than when market prices are way below par values. We are therefore continuing to investigate possible developments which we believe will be attractive to shareholders.

Sir David Thomson Bt.
Chairman

[vizcaya2] 11/4/2011 20:22

Very little volume.........but big % gain!
Old average age on the board.........but astute!

[businessquotes] 10/2/2011 22:58

Which part? Too high a return? The guaranteed minimum losses?

[on target] 10/2/2011 22:48

Looks like a scam. I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole.

[businessquotes] 10/2/2011 22:39

"Thank you for your interest in our freedom2 fund. This is the follow up to our highly succesful freedom fund which is currently showing a profit of 54% for the 6 months it has been in operation.

An initial £1000 investment would now be worth £1540 !

Unlike other investments we guarantee the most your fund value can fall in any 7 day period. We will also email you each week telling you :-

1. The surrender value of your investment
2. The highest we expect it to go the following week.
3. The lowest it will go for the following week.

So your funds are always protected and you decide when to cash in! An example of how this works would be :-

1. Surrender value £1540
2. Maximum projected high (7 days) £1850
3, Guaranteed minimum value (7 days) £1460

............. " (blah blah blah)

Too good to be true ?
Thoughts ?

[smallgiraffe] 18/12/2010 21:29

Thanks for the reply Yoyoy, I appreciate your info.

Had a look at iii as I use their Iphone app, their boards seems a little less angry.
I'm not sure having planty of neck is a good thing in this game?!?

[yoyoy] 18/12/2010 20:22

smallg,

London Stock Exchange provides new issue information.

Investegate provvides news and has searchable facilities.

There are two other sites that provide BBs but Advfn might not let me post Interact invest and Motl fo ol.

No-one has a clue who you are so just ask and dont be offend . Most of the posting here is bulls####t and rampng/de-ramping.

Digital look is a good site.

Enjoy it and dont invest more than you can afford to lose.

run your winners and cut your losses.

Use the newsmon in the news area to check on what that poster might be saying on other threads.

This is still the best site but can be a bit manic. MF is the calmest but has a smaller community and doesn't cover all shares but can be very helpful for the beginner.

As you are a giraffe you should have plenty of neck.

[smallgiraffe] 17/12/2010 18:11

Hi All,

I'm a new investor and have already made mistakes in trading. I find its quite a lonely game and difficult to find genuine help and to know who to trust.

It would be helpful if the site let you send PM's to other posters so we could maybe have someone that wouldnt be annoyed to ask the annoying newbie questions that float about the boards. I for one dont like asking potentially daft questions in fear of a BB beatdown! lol

3 questions I have though, firstly, would anyone like to act as a mentor, maybe via e-mail, just to ask the odd stupid question or two? I'm not looking for someone to be responsible for my financial success or failure, just some info every now and then.

Secondly, Are their any seminars or courses that can be recommended? I stay in Scotland so would prefer local, an evening course or something perhaps.

Thirdly, I do really like new tech companys. I recently bought into one that is doing well, but I would have been much better off buying as soon as they hit the main market as I feel I've missed the bulk of the potential. I check AllIPO for new admissions but this company didnt show in there?! Is there anywhere better to check new admissions to the market?

Thanks in advance guys

SG

[eek a mouse] 02/12/2010 14:04

i agree, not hung up on mid i just usrd it as reference

[zorija] 02/12/2010 13:38

The mid is generally just a calculated figure - never bother with it esp. on some free portfolio sites. And on-line limits/indicative prices move constantly - but I agree with your suppositions...

I never get hung up about the mid price it's the price to buy and sell that are key. L2 gives you the order book and whether the MM's are after stock...
ZZZ

[eek a mouse] 02/12/2010 13:25

ZZZ
what i cant understand is how can both the bid and offer be above the mid, as the way that a simple folk as myself understand, if the bid is the same as mid that in essence is reflecting that from the MM's standpoint there is demand for that stock and he/she is willing to pay above the mid in order to tempt holders to sell.?
have i got that wrong?

PS thank you for opening this thread, there are many thing us simple folk cant find in books or goggle
does not appear to have too many simple folk around evidently

fellow AVNer

[zorija] 02/12/2010 12:35

eek,
423p bid 425p mid 427p offer as I write...
ZZZ

[eek a mouse] 02/12/2010 12:04

eek scratches his whiskers and wonders what the hell is going on.
telecom plus tep 11.45 mid price 415 bid 420.75 offer 425.
puzzled novice investor (computer error anomaly i guess)

eek

[eek a mouse] 23/11/2010 18:07

thanks Z
will have a hunt on download.com, shouldn't cost too much

[zorija] 23/11/2010 12:06

I do not know of a free portfolio service that can handle the types of scenario you need. Some allow the input of user notes ; I still use three free portfolio services backed up by a manual paper system to cope with the non run of the mill stuff e.g. scrips, R.I.s whilst the others are good for day to day rough portfolio calculations.
In fact the latter ( manual system ) is the primary source for accountants...
ZZZ

[eek a mouse] 22/11/2010 20:38

Thanks Zorija
noted.
If anything I tend to be too cautious,and looking back I have lost quite a bit by being too hesitant to press the buy button especially before 9am, the other side of coin, have watched many a price drop almost as fast as they have risen, and thank my lucky that I wasn't in.
another question if I may, I use advvn portfolio manager and find it has bin a great help in enabling me to better understanding (after adding historical data)how big a hole I have dug in the past/ and on the positive side how successful has been my current correction.
can any of you guys suggest a good easy to use portfolio tool that hasn't got the limitations of avvfn's?
That can handle (manual inputs) hbos, splits etc? I have tried to structure my own and that was such a disaster, I think just buying one will spare me any more headaches.
at my age I have to preserve the few braincells I have remaining.

eek

[zorija] 17/11/2010 21:49

eek,
I've recently changed broker from execution only to 'you can ring me and I'll deal directly with the MM's'...
Frequently there is an auction period prior to normal trading hours in some stocks and my broker did not recommend dealing, but would act as instructed. I suppose you could end up lucky or conversely not.
Also trying to deal early alerts the MMs to news so they might artifically hike up the prices...
The market is omniscient...
ZZZ

[eek a mouse] 17/11/2010 16:49

thanks for the reply gb,i will do just that

[gb234] 17/11/2010 14:50

Ring your broker up at 7.45am and ask if any market makers are open yet.Then ask them to buy/sell,usually at the full bid/offer price.They charge you phone rates for the trade which may be considerably more than on-line rates.

[eek a mouse] 17/11/2010 14:22

Hello Zorija/others
Thank you for setting up this thread, although I am not a totally new investor I am still a novice/newbie.
I am puzzled sometimes by the market opening with some shares already way above the previous close, at present I use halifax sharedealing for all buying and selling and I am aware that I can place an order to get a best price or limit order.
but it appears to me that there is sometimes a lot of buying going on before the market opens.
is there a way that I can benefit from a very good rns and buy or sell before market open?
what's the secret