The “Bombed Out but Bouncing Back” column will be taking a break next week, as I will be holidaying somewhere that offers strong & stable government.
(Relatively speaking).
It is also a country that knows how it feels about membership of the European Union.
Yes, I am off to Greece, happy that I bought my euros before the General Election result and even happier that I can get away from the endless post-election analysis.
Portfolio reshuffle after disastrous result
A bit like Theresa May’s government, the Bombed Out portfolio has not had the result it would have wanted in the last week.
All four existing members of the virtual portfolio have lost their seats, but at least we didn’t lose our deposits.
Out goes e-Therapeutics (LON:ETZ), which was bought at a cost of £1,893 and sold for receipts of £1,812.
That’s a loss of £81, including £30 dealing costs, so it is not a disaster.
Losses on HSS Hire PLC (LON:HSS) were a bit more painful.
The tool hire firm joined the portfolio at the end of May at a cost of £1,253 and was sold for £1,148.
Momentum on the stock started to flag on Tuesday after the shares had been on a good run – up 17% over the last month.
Another stock that lasted more than a week, Primorus Investments PLC, also bade farewell.
Bought on 22 May at 0.13p a share, at one point the stock rose to 0.169p, which would have yielded a decent profit on the wee Primorus beastie but the stock screen’s 50-day moving average indicated that the force was still strong in this one; the stock screen was wrong.
So, instead of trousering a profit on the backer of a Horse Hill Gatwick Gusher lookie-likie, the virtual portfolio swallows a loss of £207.
Finally, Ultimate Sports Group PLC, like a follow-up hit to a million selling number one record from an artist forever destined to be labelled a one-hit wonder, spent just one week on the charts before sinking from view.
The interactive sports skills monitoring programme developer barely had time to work up a sweat, but at least the loss was small at £66 as we sold off the shares, raising £1,822.
It would, to say the least, have been handy to have had some companies in the portfolio last week that earn the bulk of their earnings overseas, given sterling’s Greg Louganis impersonation, but it was not to be.
New money, new danger
Having liquidated the entire portfolio, the cash total is £6,892.
We started out with £10,000 but we’ve retained more money than we’ve lost, so I suppose I could take a leaf out of the Labour Party’s book and somehow claim this as a victory, or adopt the Theresa May approach and not make any reference at all to some staggering losses.
What the electorate – I mean the readership – wants to know now is where that £6,892 is going to be invested.
Using our self-imposed restriction of no share transaction of less than £1,000, it gives us enough money to invest around £1,149 each in six shares.
Time to fire up the old stock screen and see what it spits out.
City of London Group plc, CMC Markets Plc, Conroy Gold and Natural Resources PLC, Intercede Group PLC, Kimberly Enterprises NV, Papua Mining PLC, South African Property Opportunities Plc
There are some familiar names in that list.
I don’t know; sometimes you think you have acted to get rid of something, and it turns up again [That’s enough General Election references – Ed.].
So, with seven candidates and only enough money for six, which fails to make the cut?
Get your coat, Kimberly Enterprises, the Netherlands-based property company.
The shares are up 25% today, which shows how volatile the shares can be, but with an offer price of 0.55p and a bid price of 0.3p, we’d need a near 60% rise just to break even.
I can’t say I am wild about welcoming City of London Group to the portfolio either, with its bid/offer spread of 4.5p/5.5p, and the spread on South African Property ain’t great either at 3.5p/4p, but at least it has some non-sterling revenues to commend it.
Here, then, is how the new reconstituted portfolio looks.
Scores on the doors
Company
No. of shares
Total cost
Average price paid
Current bid price
Current value
Profit/ loss £
Profit/ loss %
City of London Group
20,500
£1,143
5.57p
4.5p
£923
-£220
-19%
CMC Markets
800
£1,145
143.13p
141p
£1,128
-£17
-1.48%
Conroy Gold
7,100
£1,151
16.21p
15p
£1,065
-£86
-7.5%
Intercede
1,740
£1,146
65.86p
61p
£1,128
-£85
-7.4%
Papua Mining
66,800
£1,151
1.722p
1.55
£1,035
-£115
-10%
South African Property
28,500
£1,155
4.05p
3.5p
£998
-£157
-14%
- Cash: £2
- Total value of original £10k portfolio: £6,211
- Profit/loss on closed trades: -£3,108
- Unrealised profit on current holdings: -£680
- Total profit/loss: -£3,788