Meeting:

Monthly Meeting - March 15th 1999

 

Held at:

“The Wine Bar”

Date:

15 March 1999

 

 

Time:

17:30 - 18:45

Prepared by:

Dave G

 

Chairperson:

Dave G

 

Present:

Chris B

 

 

Dave G

 

 

Geoff O’F

 

 

Kit P

 

 

Richard W

 

 

Apologies :

Adrian B

 

 

 

 

 

Distribution:

Those above

 

 

Chairman’s Acceptance of Minutes

 


_____________________________________________


____ / _____ / ____

Signature

Date

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.                           Minutes of previous meeting

The minutes from the monthly meeting of 11 February 99 were agreed.

2.                           Next Meeting

The next meeting will be the March monthly meeting of the club and will take place at 17:00 on Thursday 15th April in Clancy’s (or The Bank depending on opening times).

3.                           Actions from previous meeting

3.1                       Actions Closed since last meeting

Ref.

Description & Progress

Target Date

KP/1020/03

Find out what other items could fall into the Market Analysis section of the Buy Criteria

1118: No progress

1209: No known progress

0113: No known progress

0211: No progress but agreed it was worth keeping the action open

0315: Agreed to drop the action and review the Investment Strategy at the next meeting

DROPPED

 

CB/0211/04

Document the procedure that needs to be followed when transferring club funds to our Charles Schwab account and progressing a buy/sell transaction.

0315: See Item 4 in minutes below.

CLOSED

CB/0211/05

Notify Charles Schwab of the fact that CB and RW are our two nominated dealers

CLOSED

DG/0211/06

Send out details of the next Mirror competition, expected in the Mirror of 16th February

CLOSED

           

3.2                       Actions Carried forward to Next Meeting

See end of these minutes

4.                           Treasurer’s Report

CB supplied his report.

The report showed net total assets of £2615.78 (profit of £665.78 (or 62.66% APR)), unit value of 140.108p and units held as 311.161 per member (which equates to £414.16 per member if realised; a profit of £89.16 (or 50.35% APR)).

The current net value if realised on the Science Systems shares was calculated as £1040 (a profit of £298.86 (or 102.21% APR) so far on the deal).

The current net value if realised on the ARM Holdings shares was calculated as £884.25 (a profit of £374.76 (or 506.56% APR) so far on the deal).

CB’s report contained details of the buy/sell procedure (see action CB/0211/04 above).  

It was noted that various issues of The Analyst were in circulation around the membership but that this circulation had been very slow.  All were asked to track down the ‘missing’ copies currently in circulation and to ensure that the circulation picks up momentum again.

5.                           Lucky Llama competition

RW supplied an updated copy of the portfolio spreadsheet showing the latest positions in the Lucky Llama competition. 

Summary of positions :-

Who

Change last 5 weeks

Total

Change overall

RW

19.05% (£1098.55)

£6864.31

37.29%

GOF

10.76% (£600.24)

£6180.41

23.61%

CB

9.6% (£362.95)

£4142.37

-17.15%

KP

4.71% (£228.82)

£5087.89

1.76%

DG

2.02% (£119.11)

£6009.60

20.19%

AB

-10.06% (-£496.86)

£4439.82

-11.20%

Average

6.21% (£318.80)

£5454.07

9.08%

FTSE 100

7.29%

 

19.68%

FTSE All Share

7.70%

 

19.15%

RSIC Portfolio

12.58%

 

52.98%

 

The pot llama was awarded to RW (though CB will need to physically hand it over outside the meeting as it had not been brought to the formal presentation).

RW had incorporated a “Where are they now” section into his spreadsheet which showed the current price of the stocks that people had sold out of in their Lucky Llama portfolios.  The star sell of this set of figures was CB’s decision to get out of Orange on 2nd Oct 98 to realise a 35% loss only for the share price to subsequently double by 15th March!

Nobody had any strong buy/sell decisions to present at the meeting.

All have till end of Friday 19th March to send in buy/sell requests to be processed at the weekend.

6.                           PROSHARE RENEWAL

KP had received a renewal notice for the ProShare membership which needed to be actioned by 28th March 1999.  Renewal would entitle us to the usual bumph (e.g. Dividend), 2 sample investment newsletters, a profile on one company of our choosing, entry into ProShare related competitions.  Options for renewal were £25 for 1 year and £45 for 2 years.

It was agreed that as the benefits where not absolutely overwhelming, we should only renew for 1 year at this stage.  CB to arrange renewal.

7.                           Portfolio Management

7.1                       Stop Loss Triggers

Science Systems had risen further since the last meeting and was standing at a new high since purchase of 212.5p.  No stop-loss has therefore been triggered.  With a 20% stop-loss, a price drop to 170p would trigger a sell proposal.

ARM had risen further since the last meeting and was standing at a new high since purchase of 2572.5p.  With a 20% stop-loss, a price drop to 2058p would trigger a sell proposal.

7.2                       New Buy Proposals

The current balance in our MarketMaster and Current accounts (£697, with this month’s subscriptions yet to be added this week) suggests that we are in a position to make another purchase.  Whilst no formal buy proposal was nominated, the following suggested shortlist was drawn up :-

            MARKS & SPENCER
            BRITISH AEROSPACE
            WORKPLACE TECHNOLOGIES
            RENTOKIL
            ARRIVA
            ATLANTIC TELECOM
            ATLANTIC TELECOM WARRANTS
and      BUCKLAND INVESTMENT (as a completely random selection)

CB stated that we were currently unable to trade in warrants as we had not yet completed a form that stated that we understood the higher risks associated with trading in warrants.  CB agreed to complete the necessary form on the basis that completing the form did not commit us to trading in warrants but is necessary if we should decide to trade in them.

It was suggested that libraries may keep copies of Hemmington Scot’s REFS manual which would enable us to copy certain pages in order to help us find out more about certain companies.  DG was actioned to establish whether Nottingham Library had copies.

7.3                       Sell Proposals

No proposal was made to sell out of either of our two holdings.


8.                           Competitions

DG reported that we had got 5 out of 10 predictions correct in the February Mirror Competition.  The end values were as follows :-

Stock

Start Value

Prediction

End Value

 

Abbey National

1252

Higher

1243

X

BAA

713

Higher

700.5

X

British Telecom

1072

Lower

1074

X

Cadbury

958

Higher

961.5

Ö

ICI

543

Lower

521

Ö

Ladbroke

265

Higher

289.25

Ö

Prudential

868

Lower

827

Ö

Tesco

177

Higher

165

X

Unilever

582

Lower

609

X

Whitbread

884

Higher

937.5

Ö

 

The next entry form is expected in the Mirror on Wed 17th March.  DG to look out for it.

Once again, we all missed the Mail on Sunday competition entry for March.  As CB is on leave in the week the next entry is expected (in the 28th March issue) DG undertook to look out for the next entry form to allow us to submit an entry for April.  RW suggested that Atlantic Telecom may be a good stock to select as our entry as it was a wireless telecom company in Scotland, its major competitor (Ionica) had gone, and it had recently been granted licence to extend to 6 northern English cities.  It is also possible that this stock (currently in the Media sector) could be re-rated as Telecoms.

9.                           AOB

KP raised the question of whether we should consider increasing our £25 monthly subscription to the club.  Given that not everyone may wish to increase their subscription at present, the introduction of a ‘band’ may be a good compromise.  This idea would mean that members could pay any monthly amount within a range of (say) £25 to £50.  Clearly this would make calculation of member’s holdings more complicated but may be a good flexible option.  The principle of equal voting rights regardless of subscription levels was agreed.  Changing the subscription level would involve a change to the Club Rules so would require agreement from 75% of the club membership.  It was agreed that subscription levels should be discussed in more detail at the next meeting.  All were asked to consider this point before the next meeting.


Actions carried forward to next meeting

Ref.

Description & Progress

Target Date

ALL/1118/04

Send a list of which annual reports you own to DG

1209: No progress

0113: No progress

0211: No progress

15/4/99

DG/1118/05

Create a consolidated index of annual reports that we collectively own (based on completion of ALL/1118/04 above)

1209: DG has listed the reports he owns but the completion of this action is dependent on everyone else completing ALL/1118/04

22/4/99

DG/0211/01

Obtain the next free copy of The Analyst (which is available by contacting 0181 2897966).   Wait till mid March before ordering as ordering too soon may mean we get another September issue

18/3/99

KP/0211/03

Sign the revised issue of the club Rules (Issue 3)

15/4/99

DG/0315/01

Ensure that a review of the Investment Strategy gets put onto the next agenda

15/4/99

ALL/0315/02

Track down the ‘missing’ copies of The Analyst and ensure that their circulation regains momentum

15/4/99

DG/0315/03

Check to see whether Nottingham Library holds copies of Hemmington Scot’s REFS manual so that we can copy appropriate pages of it

15/4/99

CB/0315/04

Arrange for 1 year renewal of our ProShare membership

28/3/99

CB/0315/05

Complete the Charles Schwab form to allow us to trade in Warrants should we desire to

15/4/99

DG/0315/06

Purchase a copy of The Mirror on Wednesday 17th March to allow us to enter the competition for March.

17/3/99

DG/0315/07

Purchase a copy of The Mail on Sunday on 28th March to allow us to enter the competition by start of April

28/3/99

ALL/0315/08

Consider whether the subscription should be increased from the current £25 per month

15/4/99