Venture Life Share Discussion Threads

[apad] 13/1/2019 11:13

attrader,
The DIS board is a gentle place and folks comment on stocks in their local supermarkets. Possibly more important than Amazon.
Their most notable brand is Red Leg rum which seems to have a high profile. Gin brands are now legion.
The CEO is experienced in the industry and (I believe) has said that his aim is to sell the rum brand at some point.
I haven't tasted any of their brands and have given up gin as I can't afford the tonic anymore.
apad 😇

[attrader] 13/1/2019 10:19

Looking at Tarsus now. They organise exhibitions and trade shows. Does anyone know if there are barriers to entry in this business?

[attrader] 13/1/2019 09:38

APAD, had a quick look at DIS brands on Amazon - not a lot of reviews there so i reckon it does not sell well. I am not that much into Vodka/Gin stuff so unable to judge their product .. Have you tried their stuff?

[apad] 13/1/2019 08:36

Last year DIS had an update in the coming week.
Fun little penny company, that doesn't look at all risky, in a savagely competitive market.
My smallest holding!
apad😊

[apad] 13/1/2019 07:46

Put Softcat on my watchlist. A bit chary of software only companies but this bad baby looks attractive on the face of it.

BOO update and brexit vote both scheduled for next tuesday. Ooo err Missus!

red.
I have been calculating capital gains on an average buying price basis. Moving to doing some top-slicing it seems to me that a last in first out basis is more realistic.
Are both systems accepted?

apad

[apad] 12/1/2019 20:44

35 job vacancies at Softcat.
apad

[valhamos] 12/1/2019 20:25

attrader I thought a while back that Computacentre would respond and limit their growth but it hasn't happened so far. Not really aware of other competitors that have the product/vendor width of Softcat.

[apad] 12/1/2019 19:22

edwards - do you know what happened to holdings above the £50k?
apad

[redartbmud] 12/1/2019 18:42

edwards

Thanks for the information update.
I know how complex and time consuming it is to check and verify shareholdings so that they can be transferred to another broker, and things change all the time as dividends are collected.
The several months does not surprise me at all. Good to know that tou did not suffer direct financial loss.

red

[attrader] 12/1/2019 18:23

Well done Valhamos. They have been taking share from competitors by cross selling products. Growth of 20+% in revenue is massive in a sector growing at only 5% ish. Softcat says its customer service is so good it can cross sell other products from comprehensive portfolio. Do you think their competitors will respond with price war?

[valhamos] 12/1/2019 18:00

attrader - I've held Softcat since early 2016 not long after it floated. It always seems to have had a good corporate culture with enthusiastic, motivated sales team and high customer satisfaction ratings. Consistent growth in profits over the years and regularly outperforms forecasts.

[attrader] 12/1/2019 15:52

Reading about Softcat.. What an impressive Sales operation driving revenue growth in good old reselling sector. I would imagine once you have a client, and you provide great customer service and charge them competitive pricing, there is no incentive for your customer to switch to anyone else. Scaling sales operation is hard, and i dont think OEMs and software vendors can do it effectively so Resellers will always be part of supply chain. Great business in my opinion. Will read more and most likely add it to my watchlist.

[edwards9] 12/1/2019 15:46

Red, I had Beaufort ISA in due course my account was transferred to the Sharecentre. Full share holding and a few pennies in cash so I did not incur any losses although I was in limbo for several months. I believe only a handful of customers sustained hits luckily for me my holding were under the 50k limit and any losses were absorbed seemlessly by the gurantee scheme.

[janeann] 11/1/2019 19:01

felix - surprised to hear you found that with youinvest - was that a while back? I find them good on online dealing and quote sizes - although I suspect that depends a little on the stock and what is available at the time. But there limit order option also works well, Also I can trade at 8.00.01 if my finger is quick enough which can be helpful on occasion. as said they did have teething troubles a while back but I am broadly content and they do respond reasonably well to questions etc

[attrader] 11/1/2019 19:00

Does any one know good broker to deal in international markets, specifically South Africa?

[redartbmud] 11/1/2019 17:01

APAD

I would be happy to do that, if I switch.
I have a £10k ISA allowance free, as I have set up a £10k cash ISA for the current year.
Because I have been unhappy about some of the dealing prices with H-L, I held off the switch of cash from Vantage to ISA.
The meter is now running on this tax year, and I don't want to put more into a cash ISA, neither do I want to lose the tax wrapper. Once opened, I could switch my existing ISA, should I choose to do so.
I suppose I have held off through a mixture of loyalty and inertia.

Over the weekend, I will look at their website again.

red

[apad] 11/1/2019 16:45

I use X-O for daughters accounts - pretty problem free and Jarvis looks sound.
apad

[apad] 11/1/2019 16:43

I am happy with IG, red.

Because of the size of the account I get a person allocated - even though I only buy and sell shares in a conventional way. This chap and other chaps on the phone have been really good. £8 a trade and £5 if you have had 10 trades the previous month.

If you decide to go for them let me recommend you as I get a bonus!

apad😊

[felix99] 11/1/2019 16:40

I also hold lots of accounts for that reason Red but also to be able to buy Smallcaps in a few smaller parcels across different folios which are more easily bought or sold than via one broker housing one big holding. - if one needs to get out quick or buy quicker !

[melton john] 11/1/2019 16:40

X-O from Jarvis Securities RED, £5.95 dealing charge for UK shares, ISA's no custody charge. Good price quotes, good dealing platform and service. Founding family still holders. I hold JIM shares.

[redartbmud] 11/1/2019 16:08

I was also thinking about maintaining market access.
If I have a couple of 'brokers' I should be able to maintain continuity.
If we get another Beaufort Securities issue, I can continue to deal. Yes, one account would be frozen, but it is unlikely that two would go belly up at the same time.

Have Beaufort customers recovered their shares and cash, and what percentage was deducted for liquidators fees? Anyone know?

red

[felix99] 11/1/2019 15:59

Youinvest the only platform I moved to and then away - it was awful for quote sizes and dealing on line.

III , IG , HL , Equiniti all pretty good and have Charles Stanley Direct as well which is ok ( I don't like they don't have a fill and kill facility something I think You invest didn't have either at time)

All much of a muchness but generally all a decent service and helps you spread it around a bit for any failures

[janeann] 11/1/2019 15:21

pure luck red.

I use youinvest which is basic but so far functional (now the teething problems have reduced. and is reasonable on dealing charge with over 10 trades a month.

[homebrewruss] 11/1/2019 15:19

A placing at ALT today for an acquisition and working capital.

I like the acquisition.
They are acquiring their channel partner (AIM) the membership organisation that provides all their clients. This gives them new subscription revenues and also gives them the percentage of revenues from product sales that AIM were taking.

Finncap have an updated broker note with 2020 estimated eps of 16.2 which would give a p/e of 5.

A big year ahead for them - all about execution.

[redartbmud] 11/1/2019 15:19

attrader

Thanks.
H-L is now a mature juggernaut. The service that you get is the service that you get,
line by line from the crib sheet. Please don't deviate from the script.

red