Meeting:

Monthly Meeting - September 2003

 

Held at:

The Brocklebank, Crewe

Date:

19th September 2003

 

 

Time:

17:30 – 18:45

Prepared by

Dave G

 

Chairperson:

Adrian T

 

Present:

Adrian T

 

 

Richard W

 

 

Simon B

 

 

Dave G

 

 

Kit P

 

 

Chris B

 

 

 

 

Apologies:

none

 

 

 

Chairman’s Acceptance of Minutes

 


_____________________________________________


____ / _____ / ____

Signature

Date

 

 

 

1          NEXT MEETING

Wednesday 22nd October 2003.

Venue: The Brocklebank 17:15 – 18:45.

2          Minutes of previous meeting

References to “Ashteads” should read “Ashtead”.

CSY high since purchase should have been set to 320.

Otherwise accepted.

3          ACTIONS FROM PREVIOUS MEETING

3.1      Actions Closed Since Last Meeting

Ref.

Description & Progress

Status

CB/0716/02

Ensure that accounts are submitted for audit

0820: Accounts are ready for audit – RW to collect from CB

COMPLETED

RW/0820/01

Purchase £750 of Ashtead (AHT)

COMPLETED

DG/0820/02

Put Strategy Review onto agenda for September meeting

COMPLETED

3.2      Actions Carried forward to Next Meeting                  

See end of these minutes.

4          Treasurer’s Report

4.1      Monthly Report Summary

See separate report for detail. 

Highlights/Lowlights  Unit value up from 375.059 to 387.356.  We have £4,340.85 of non-mechanical cash. 

Charles Schwab now taken over by Barclays Stockbroker but no change in terms and conditions yet so no need to consider moving broker.

4.2      Matters Arising From Report

None.

5          PORTFOlio Management

5.1      Monthly Money Management Checks

Too low in Fundamental portfolio (18% v 25%)

Too high in cash (26% v 25%).

All other checks OK.

5.2      Mechanical Portfolio

No mechanical trade due this month.  Current run through the filters is providing no new companies for selection.  Will need to see what happens next month.

Current holdings …

Mowlem (John)

HOLD until October 2003

WH Smith

HOLD until December 2003

British Vita

HOLD until February 2004

Crest Nicholson

HOLD until April 2004

TDG

HOLD until June 2004

European Motor Holdings

HOLD until August 2004

 

5.3      Monthly Reports For Each Company in Fundamental Portfolio

CodaSciSys

HOLD – not met sell conditions. Issued results which showed profits down but outlook quite positive

Mothercare

HOLD – not breached trailing stop loss (see table in 5.5)

 

5.4      Speculative Portfolio

Parity

HOLD – not worth selling

Atlantic Caspian

HOLD (especially as it’s delisted !!)

Templeton Emerging

HOLD – not worth selling.

We should look to sell the Templeton Emerging Warrants if a good opportunity arises as there is only 1 year to go on them.

London Clubs International

HOLD – revised stop loss upwards to lock in some profit (see table in 5.5)

Cape

HOLD – not breached trailing stop loss

5.5      Stop Loss / Sell Criteria (as of date of treasurer’s report)

The following is the summary of sell criteria for each stock held within the Speculative or Fundamental portfolios (the Mechanical holdings are dealt with as part of section 5.2 above).  The stop loss is invoked against the “end of day” price, but the sell decision may wait for the opening price to avoid rogue trades at the end of day.

Stock

Reportee

“High” Price

Stop Loss (based on the “high”)

Exit Criteria

CSY

Richard

320

160p

Hold until at least Nov 03 and then review;

In addition, review following any trading or results statement that expects / reports a fall in either revenues or profits over the previous reporting period;

Trailing stop loss of 50% to start from purchase price (based on mid-price due to large spread).

MTC

Dave

201

170.85p

Invoke vote on a sell proposal immediately following a bid announcement.  Otherwise,  sell on 15% trailing stop loss

CAPE

N/A (speculative)

66

52.8p

20% trailing stop loss

PTY

N/A (speculative)

88

22p

Start price 44p. Invoke 15% trailing stop loss once price has doubled, or sell if price falls 50% from purchase (unless not worth selling)

ACA

N/A (speculative)

20.4

5p

Start price 10.2p. Invoke 15% trailing stop loss once price has doubled, or sell if price falls 50% from purchase (unless not worth selling)

TEMA

N/A (speculative)

57

14.25p

Start price 28.5p. Invoke 15% trailing stop loss once price has doubled, or sell if price falls 50% from purchase (unless not worth selling)

LCI

N/A (speculative)

74.2

Vote at 45p

Start price 37.1p. Invoke 15% trailing stop loss once price has doubled, or sell if price falls 50% from purchase (unless not worth selling)

AHT

N/A (speculative)

29

7.25

Start price 14.5p. Invoke 15% trailing stop loss once price has doubled, or sell if price falls 50% from purchase (unless not worth selling)

 

5.6      New Buy Proposals

Richard W submitted a buy proposal for Interior Services Group (ISG).

Agreed to purchase ISG for Fundamental Portfolio.  Purchase amount permitted by strategy for this portfolio is between 5% and 15% of net asset value (which equates to between approx £800 - £2400 at current valuation).  Agreed to purchase £1200 rather than the usual £1000 in recognition of the increase in club valuation in recent months and the desire to avoid having too many holdings.

6          Lucky Llama competition

This proved to be one of the closest run-ins in the competition's history with Dave, Kit and Richard all in with a shout right up to the close. In the end though we have a clear winner - congrats to Dave!

Dave

£159,869.83

Kit

£156,502.67

Richard

£153,191.03

Chris

£134,334.17

Simon

£131,841.03

Adrian

£105,950.85

 

Our average gain over the 6 months was a very handsome 40.3% compared to the All Share rising by 13.7%. There were some pretty good calls along the way, the most notable being Corus (+282%), Pace Micro (+105%), Anite (+100%) and British Energy (+72% in just a month). Out of the 29 companies selected there were only 2 losses. A very good performance all round!

 

New portfolios submitted by Simon, Richard and Dave.  Adrian selected BT as one of his.  Others to submit theirs by the end of the weekend.

7.                         Competitions

Our entry for September’s FTSE Flyer is Sainsbury’s.

8.                         Strategy Review

It was agreed to explicitly change the definitions in section 5 (Money Management) to say that the % composition of the Speculative portfolio should calculated using value or cost whichever is the higher.   Also agreed to put additional statement into the Mechanical Portfolio Money Management section (12.5) regarding holding cash if a bid forces the sale of a holding and to have a vote should a holding be the subject of a share offer.   Dave to revise strategy as above.

Still need to consider initiating a second mechanical portfolio to make use of our cash pile using a different set of criteria.

 


Actions carried forward to next meeting

Ref.

Description & Progress

Target Date

SB/0716/01

Issue chairman’s annual statement via email

0820: No progress

0919: No progress

22/10/03

ALL/0716/04

Consider different mechanical selection criteria for a new mechanical portfolio

0820: Deferred to September meeting

0919: All still to consider

22/10/03

DG/0716/06

Contact Adrian B about the tape of the Radio Stoke appearance

0820: No progress

0919: DG has just sent mail to Adrian

22/10/03

CB/0919/01

Provide an explanation of how the subs are represented in the monthly treasurer’s report (forward payments, etc.)

22/10/03

RW/0919/02

Purchase £1200 of ISG shares

22/09/03

DG/0919/03

Amend Club Strategy to clarify % composition calculation in section 5 and to add statement about a bid forcing a sell of a mechanical selection (in 12.5)

22/10/03


 
 
Proposed agenda for NEXT meeting.
 
RSIC Monthly Meeting – 22 October 2003 between 17:15 and 18:45

Venue: The Brocklebank

1.     Date of Next Meeting (2 mins)
[Agree a date for the next meeting]

2.     Agenda Changes? (2 mins)
[Any items for AOB or any suggested reordering of agenda?]

3.     Minutes of last meeting (1 min)
[Any comments on minutes from previous meeting

4.     Actions from last meeting (10 mins)
[Progress on actions]

5.     Treasurer's Report (15 mins)

6.     Portfolio Management (30 mins)

6.1. Monthly “Money Management” threshold checks

6.2. Mechanical Portfolio

6.3. Monthly Report for each Company in Fundamental Portfolio

6.4. Speculative Portfolio

6.5. Latest sell conditions for each share held

6.6. New Buy Proposals

7.     Lucky Llama Competition (10 mins)
[Latest positions and any new buy/sell decisions]

8.     Competitions (2 mins)

9.     AOB