Small Cap Value Report (24 Dec 2015) - BOO

24th Dec '15 by Paul Scott

35 comments 21751 reads

Good morning!

If the market's open, then at some point in the morning I'll surface here, and put together a few words. I overslept this morning, and found a half-empty glass of red wine by my bedside, all my things on the floor, and a 20p piece stuck to my side - so am taking all that as a good sign that 2016 will be a lucky year!

I run various portfolios for myself, and others, and generally speaking it's been a good year. My SIPP has done badly - it's roughly flat on the year. I need to come up with a new strategy for that. At the moment, it's a repository for crappy micro caps - potential multibaggers, but not enough serious stocks.

I think the problem is that I can't access the money for at least 8 years, which is too far into the future for me to take it seriously. Reading that back to myself, it sounds absolutely crazy, so a re-think on strategy is needed there.

My long-term, value portfolio is up about 10% this year. There have been some excellent picks in there, e.g. Zytronic (LON:ZYT) and Boohoo.Com (LON:BOO) (bought at the bottom), and nice recoveries on long-term positions like Spaceandpeople (LON:SAL) and Flybe (LON:FLYB) , but overall there have been too many banana skins, which I should have avoided (e.g. Entu (UK) (LON:ENTU) ). So my scorecard there says, not bad, but could (and should) do better.

It's my spread betting accounts which have really done well this year. There's been one disaster (a ridiculously over-sized punt on Home Retail (LON:HOME) ) but I'm pretty confident that I'll get my money back there, due to the amazing balance sheet strength. Other than that, there have been lots of smallish losses (as you would expect), but some terrific profits on e,g, Avesco (LON:AVS) , Boohoo.Com (LON:BOO) , Character (LON:CCT) , accesso Technology (LON:ACSO) , Alkane Energy (takeover bid), Apple (bought on the flash crash as a…

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Brackendale

24th Dec '15

Paul,
The lunchtime arrival of your column is one of the highlights of my day, very much appreciated. Thanks and Merry Christmas to you

MichaelFBS

Hi Paul

Thank you for all the reports and the education they give.

One comment on your SIPP. I have just read Howard Marks - "The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor" which is a fantastic book. I understand that relatively short term trading may be your area of expertise but for me I like the Buffett quote he gives (either in the book or in a podcast with Brewin Dolphin with him that I listened to this morning): "If you aren't willing to own a stock for ten years, don't even think about owning it for ten minutes”.

Not being a full time PI I don't have the time to trade or study 100's of stocks but even if/when I am retired I will be much happier to sit on my thumbs in markets like we have now when everything seems so toppy and just wait for the odd fat pitch that might come along from time to time.

That said I still learn a huge amount from you and can not thank you enough for all the pearls of wisdom that you throw out for nothing on a daily basis.

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Michael

PS Thank you for the link to the companies you cover. It makes my head spin just thinking about it. How do you do it!!

rumplestiltskin

Thanks a million for your reports this year Paul, just brilliant.
It has quite cheered me up to learn that you have traded in a very similar style as myself and lost money in doing so, also like me!
I decided to give up the jam tomorrow shares except AVCT, RENE and AGL and have decided to invest in shares that are already going up and have a good solid outlook, ie TRAK, GNC and AMS and I am gradually reversing the downward trend.
Have a great Christmas and let's hope for a better 2016,

maillotàpoisrouges

Thanks for your continued commitment to the SCVR Paul. Part of my daily routine! Merry Christmas and wishing you a great 2016. The bit about the 20p made me LOL!
Cheers
Hederz

oscar247

Paul

Christmas Greetings and all good wishes for a Peaceful and Prosperous New Year for You and Family.

cafcash49

Paul, have a great Christmas break. I read you every day but haven't found your website yet. I learn something from you every day. If you ever consider doing a 'workshop' on your analysis of companies I would be a customer for it.
Keep up the good work, you are highly valued by me and many others.
All the very best and I wish you a happy and successful 2016.
Charles

JohnRMurdoch

Thanks for all your reports and your honesty Paul. You have taught me a lot this year. Hope your mum gets better and you have a good Christmas & New Year.
John

Richardc

Thanks for all your valued reports and all the best for 2016.

Beginner

Many thanks, and best wishes to you and yours.
B

Tamarix

Hi Paul

A big thank you for all your hard work during the year. I am enormously grateful to you, and I read your blog every day. It has had an excellent effect on my trading - I am getting a useful return on my capital - usually at least 15% a year. This has made an improvement to my standard of living.

Thanks again

betjeman

Paul,

as others have said your reports are a great resource and one I look forward to reading every day. Thanks for all your effort and time and Best wishes for a successful 2016 both as an investor and life in general.

Kind regards

jraitt

Hi Paul,
Sincere thanks for all your reports - look forward to reading them every day - much appreciated.
Best wishes for a great Christmas - hope your mum is better. All the best for a happy,healthy and prosperous 2016
John

fifthcolumn

Paul, Stockopedia, All of you,

Don't forget Paul, that glass of red wine is half full not half empty! Thanks too you, Stockopedia and everyone of you who shares your thoughts here on the page. Very Merry Christmas and a Peaceful and Prosperous New Year to you all.

BahrainChris

Paul,

I've been reading your stuff since the days of the dotcom boom (and subsequent bust!) and figure if I'm not sick of you yet I never will be.

What I want for Christmas 2016 is the opportunity to purchase a "Paulypilot's guide to investing" book!

As Mrs Doyle would say: Ah, go on. :-)

Tortoise investor

Thanks for all your analysis this year Paul. I have learnt a lot.

I was interested to see that you thought ENTU was a banana skin you should have avoided. I'd be interested to hear more. I don't think you could have seen it coming (until the 20 July RNS where management attempted to put a gloss on what I thought were questionable figures at which point I halved my position). Plus, I think this is now looking good value.

p.s. I see Fairpoint is not on your list anymore. I would love you to keep analysing this - partly for selfish reasons but this has also come off over 30% since recent highs and I think the reaction has been overdone given it was already trading cheaply with a cash generative business and good growth plans in place.

Rusty2

I was in Entu (UK) (LON:ENTU), as well but got out pretty quick after the annual results, went off the management very fast, it maybe good value now but I'm not tempted, next year I'm looking for more quality, having missed out on many good ones this year. Aim to sell all the less quality shares and will try to build up my portfolio. As I only joined Stockopedia this year I'm in a transitional stage, with hindsight I should have sold most of my shares and started again with a few expections, have not got exact figures but think I'm up around 10%, had some good gains with Ab Dynamics (LON:ABDP), Tristel (LON:TSTL), Castleton Technology (LON:CTP), Inland Homes (LON:INL), but a few duffers from last year and a few new ones like Fairpoint (LON:FRP) have gone a bit pear shaped but I feel that it should bounce back, tempted to buy some more.

Paul many thanks for your opinion on Vislink (LON:VLK), I got out just at the right time, just under 60p.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Properous New Year, keep up the good work, Stockopedia needs you, in fact it would be good to have a Paul balance sheet rating on the Stockranks.

sirsege

25th Dec '15

Sincere thanks to Paul and the entire stockopedia family and contributors for the daily reports, continuous flow of ideas and invaluable information and comments. I have learnt a lot from these. Wishing you a wonderful Christmas and a fulfilling new year in advance.

Michael Billingham

27th Dec '15

Thank you, Paul, for your daily Reports. I have been following them for few months now and have learnt a great deal on what to look for when analyzing potential purchases.

Have a good Christmas and a successful New Year

Small Cap Value Report (24 Dec 2015) - BOO

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Paul Scott

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