Thought I’d do a half-year review. In October? Yes – I’ve decided to switch over to tax years, as it makes my accounting easier.
Biggest coup this year has been SuperGroup (LON:SGP) – up 56% since I bought. I’m really happy about that one. I still hold. The market has been in ful swing lately, so most of my shares have been going swimmingly. I’m in severe danger of confusing genius with a bull market.Value has done well, growth has done well, it’s all good.
It’s worthwhile mentioning that Dechra Pharmaceuticals (LON:DPH) – which is a nice steady compounder – is up quite nicely despite having long stretches where it goes nowhere. Just goes to show that it pays to have patience sometimes. Also, some of my high-growth shares have done very well (CRW Craneware up 42% since I bought), despite being very off-putting to value investors who must consider the PEs way too high.
JD has had a bumpy ride when I last suggested a top-up at 678p. It’s now 768p, up 13%. Not bad, although it’s still volatile. Buying on an EV/EBITDA of around 3 gives you a lot of protection, especially given the good track record of the company.
Man (LON:EMG) up sharply today on bid rumours … which brings me to:
IMI (LON:IMI) – a Footsie industrial engineering company. I bought last year at 1132p, and it now stands at 924p. Not a great idea on my part. At the time I bought it, there was heat on the company with bid rumours. If you look at sites like ADVFN, the boards are littered with bid rumours that never amounted to anything. Repeated note to self: never never NEVER buy a share that has bid rumours floating around. I half think that investment bankers peddle these rumours around in order to excite deals.
Tesco (LON:TSCO) – down from my purchase price of 327p in january to 311p today. I’m very disappointed in my selection here, as I thought it would recover a lot sooner. It’s now on an EV/EBITDA of 5.63 – which must be about the cheapest valuation I’ve seen in the current market for a strong defensive company. I’ll continue to hold. I’ve set…
