Venture Life Share Discussion Threads

[old fool2] 04/3/2018 11:53

I need help!

I am setting up a diversified portfolio of 8 to 12 shares for growth (income a bonus) to hold for the next 4 – 5 years in the following sectors. I would appreciate your share suggestions. Thank you.

Technology (2)
Oil (1)
Mining/gold (2)
Financial (1)
Gaming/Spread betting (1)
Internet security (2)
Pharmaceutical (1)
Healthcare/Beauty (1)
Software (1)

[rp19] 04/3/2018 11:08

Great, thanks both for that. Big resources/mining focus. FLX (cyber security consultants) who I did hold sometime ago and subsequently sold due to lack of performance are represented.

[attrader] 04/3/2018 10:57

Yup and here as well if some companies are not listed elsewhere . Http://investhog.com/search?query=Beaufort%20securities

[jamielein] 04/3/2018 10:43

You can find them from their RNS announcements:


Also fewer seem to be listed on the LSE website:

[rp19] 04/3/2018 10:40

Is there a list of companies represented by Beaufort? Can't seem to find one online and their website is no longer active.

[felix99] 04/3/2018 10:02

KEYS - its basically rent a seat for lawyers . Impossible to set up one or two lawyer firms these days due to regulation costs and getting PI insurance which is massively expensive and nigh on impossible to get for one man bands or lawyers in high risk law areas. All KEYS does from what I can see is do all the regulation and PI insurance stuff for all lawyers to piggy back off.

The lawyers just eat what they kill less a nice chunky percentage to KEYS for the regulation and PI cover. So the more the merrier lawyer wise and I assume they care not how many etc as long as lawyers don't get sued and tar their PI policy !

Plenty of others doing it as well in the profession but no idea how they compare cost wise etc etc.

[attrader] 04/3/2018 09:40

List of companies associated with Beaufort is astonishing long.. hope no one here is stung .. I also noticed that oil and mining tiddlers are constantly presenting at one investor event or other promoting their stock aggressively. Aviation is another one . Why would a good business need so much promotion ! Rarely see businesses like bioventix at these events .. hmm

[haywards26] 03/3/2018 20:04

I find director buys interesting to review, especially the large individual transactions or collections.

They are a starting point for some research.

[mattjos] 03/3/2018 18:10

Ok piedro, will try to remember to shrink in future

[attrader] 03/3/2018 18:08

Thanks Hayward, ADT's director purchase after latest acquisition looks interesting..it has quite a lot of debt though.

[melton john] 03/3/2018 17:49

apad, re your post about 1M BOO trade after hours.

ADVFN aren't very prompt about posting after hours trades, there are loads here. Lots of cryptic codes which take some fathoming but I'm thinking off-exchange trades.

[haywards26] 03/3/2018 16:20

2018 (Feb) director purchase analysis for anyone interested.

Top 3 purchases in value and quantity

1) - ADT - Purchases £2,774k - 4 purchases
2) - HZD - Purchases £1,090k - 4 purchases
3) - STOB - Purchases £858k - 2 purchases

Summarized director purchases monthly totals

* Jan-18 £7.2m
* Feb-18 £13.8m

[piedro] 03/3/2018 12:34

Mattjos, not all of us have large screens
would appreciate a reduction ...

[redartbmud] 03/3/2018 11:23

APAD

Thanks for the input.
I agree with your assessment. I would liken IMI to Smin when that was in disarray. It was a sprawling mass of businesses that needed rationalisation. They could not invest the capital, and manpower, across all parts to restructure effectively. their new board turned it around by disposals and repositioning with some appropriate acquisitions.
Selway is on the same tack and he wasn't afraid to replace a senior member of the team in the division that had failed to meet targets quickly enough in the last year!
When I spoke to Selway, last AGM, he was quite open about the lack of investment in IT prior to his appointment. Factories could not communicate efficiently with each other, stock control was a shambles etc, etc. it was a serious weakness.
I do like that app that they have developed and the 'lean' operating philosophy.
It is the conglomerate aspect that is the concern, and I feel that there are better opportunities elsewhere. The trade, together with my holding, is in line for disposal at the right price. The April Xd may offer that opportunity.
Having said that, I do believe that Selway has done a superb job to restructure to this point in the business cycle. In the future, I am sure that the move of manufacturing to cheaper cost centres will improve margins, and the adoption of state of the art technology will reduce the workforce.

It is a good case study in how management is implementing a business plan to improve it's operations and profitability.

red

[hydrus] 03/3/2018 07:35

Mattjos - I know from friends and acquaintances that younger lawyers are like all other younger professionals these days - they all want a better work life balance and are fed up of the traditional law firms flogging them to death. KEYS enables them to do that but it also allows lawyers who do want to work hard to potentially make an absolute killing as they keep such a high percentage of the fees. I don't think they necessarily need to attract the very best lawyers in the country to make it work. There is no moat though. I wouldn't go crazy with a large investment but like I said I think they can make some very good returns over next couple years. Caveat being I want to understand IR35 more.

[apad] 03/3/2018 07:21

Looked at the IMI video, red. It certainly explains the business well.
Random thoughts:
Conglomerates need a lot of management systems that more focussed specialists don't need.
A lot of employees.
A lot of factory movement from the West to the East.
Gross margins not bad for a conglomerate, but even with all that management going on they are unlikely to get much bigger.
The more focussed engineers, that I like, are epitomised by XPP, that has something like three times the gross margin of IMI. This means I can get my timing in XPP wrong, but it is soon history. Whereas, with IMI I need to time the cycle well.
Over the last 5 years the more focussed SPX has grown about 110%, XPP about 180%. In that time IMI has fallen about 20%.
In terms of IMI's systems powering a recovery of past performance, based on an improvement in their customers spending (particularly O&G), I would rather back Hunting, which is up 15% YTD compared with IMI's -15%.
If I was a very large fund manager, needing high liquidity, I would view this fall in IMI as a possible buying opportunity.
If I was a trader I might take the same view, but would not hold it for long.
apad😎

[mattjos] 03/3/2018 00:14

better for decent lawyers to sneak under the radar as partnerships or LLC's surely.
I do not understand the sense in layering the complexities of a PLC onto what has always proven a hugely lucrative format for professionals.

Personally I believe the business model will specifically not attract the cream, in terms of talent but, will attract the administrators and those willing simply to turn up and crank the wheel.
Does nothing for me as a business model to invest in .. I believe the very concept specifically lowers the drawbridge over the moat. Best of luck to those that invest

[mattjos] 03/3/2018 00:09

would you not give it a go?


free stock charts from uk.advfn.com

[hydrus] 02/3/2018 22:36

I think the main grown driver is simply recruiting more solicitors. The solicitors only get wages if they generate their own work (although there are incentives to cross reference work to others). Central costs are low and largely fixed so any new solicitors drive revenue and a lot of this drops to the bottom line.There is no moat as far as I can tell although they are moving quickly so could be a case of first mover advantage. IR35 as Mod detailed very clearly (and helpfully) does appear to be a concern. The sceptic in me wonders about the timing of the IPO and the potential risk of changes to IR35. Thanks chaps for helpful comments - good to think things through with others input.

[attrader] 02/3/2018 22:27

How do they win new clients? They only mention getting clients through recruiting new solicitors, and through cross reference from others in the network. Would a bigger firm benefit from network effect? May be.. There are 20 other competitors trying to replicate them..

I can see the scalability of KEYS business model, they can grow a lot bigger than where they are now. £26m in revenue is just a fraction of what bigger firms make so plenty of room to grow in a growing legal sector.

I would imagine they work on one-off project by project basis which makes it harder to grow quickly.

[hydrus] 02/3/2018 22:21

Hi Mod yes I touched on that briefly on the KEYS thread and agree it is a risk. One to keep an eye on as it would trash their business model for sure.Attrader - not sure, but as KEYS lawyers keep something like 70% of all fees billed they are potentially just having to do less work to earn similar wages than those working for larger firms.

[attrader] 02/3/2018 21:48

I also note average 100k billing per solicitor which compares with 347k for other firms.. Trying to work out why they make less per solicitor...

[attrader] 02/3/2018 21:47

Well spotted mod.

" If Keystone’s consultant
lawyers were deemed to be employees, then the tax treatment would be different and the Group would be
liable for PAYE and national insurance contributions for such people deemed to be employees and this
would be likely to have a material adverse effect on the Group’s financial performance and position"

[redartbmud] 02/3/2018 20:32

tlatsatt

Not really, I was just flagging it up.
Access via the company website. Register using email address and Company = PI.

I have previous because I have attended 2/3 AGM's - not sure of number. I can assess progress so far.
The company was badly in need of a revamp.
Selway is no nonsense, hard talking. I bet that he pushes the management team very hard.

If I had to be critical, I think that they are spread across 3 divisions, each needing a lot of change; to modernise and also develop employees, update equipment and systems etc etc.
You can't do too much too soon across such a spectrum and expect it to happen in 5 minutes!!

Just my ramblings, but learning is important.

red