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Some Stocks I Have Bought

Discuss Stock buying Shares, tips and ideas for stock market dealing
WickedLester
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Some Stocks I Have Bought

#321849

Postby WickedLester » June 26th, 2020, 3:06 pm

I've been slowly reinvesting some of the money I have raised, sometimes in stocks I already hold and sometimes in new investments, although I am still more than 20% in cash. These are mostly investments I don't expect to recover their highs in the short term due to the lockdown but all of them I feel have potential in the medium term.

Anyway here's some of the things I have bought, comment and criticism welcome.

Brand Architekts (BAR)

I already owned some of these but bought a few more at 128.75p. At the current price they are trading at a significant discount to net current assets and most of the market cap is backed up by net cash. The pension fund deficit is a bit large for the size of the company but hopefully if they use that cash wisely the company will look cheap at the current price.

Cenkos (CNKS)

I also already owned some of these but bought a few more at 46.8p. I am hoping that there will be a real pick up in fundraisings in the near future as the full economic impact of the lockdown is felt on balance sheets. At the current price they are trading at a fairly small premium to net current assets including a substantial net cash balance. They still pay a dividend too.

Headlam (HEAD)

I paid 301.35p for these recently but they have since fallen a bit further. The most recent update was poor as is to be expected but the company appears to have sufficient liquidity to ride out the rough patch and generally has a very strong balance sheet with substantial freehold property. Trading at a smallish premium to tangible net assets. If they can return to historic levels of profitability they will look cheap also.

Inland ZDP Pref Shares (INLZ) (144.39p)

These are yielding about 8% pa to maturity in four years time. Inland itself has quite a lot of debt but also quite a lot of net assets. I prefer these to the ords as a lot of commentators are predicting a fall in the housing market as unemployment rises.

LMS Capital (LMS)

Once again I already had a small investment here but bought some more at 32.99p. At that price they are trading at about the level of net cash with all of the investments thrown in for free. The new management's strategy is unproven but there is a large margin of safety with estimated NAV of 55p per share.

STM Group (STM)

I suggested these a while ago when they were sub 20p but finally bought some for 29.74p the other day. They should only be marginally affected by the pandemic and are currently still paying a dividend yielding around 5%. They have substantial cash and net current assets.

Walker Greenbank (WGB)

I have had a small investment in these for ages but made another pruchase at 40.75p. At that price they are trading at about the level of net current assets. Clearly times are going to be hard for them for a while but there is real value in their design archive and in more normal times they seem to make a profit of about £10m per annum which leaves the current market cap of about £30m look pretty mean if they can return to that sort of performance in the medium term.

Wynnstay Group (WYNN)

I traded these successfully once up from about 230p to 300p but bought back in at 259.5p. At that price they are trading at around the level of net current assets and a substantial discount to net tangible assets value. It's a very low margin business but seems to make a profit every year and should remain largely unaffected by the pandemic. The results were out the other day and they are still paying a dividend.

Zytronic (ZYT)

I also already had some of these but bought some more at 104.85p. At that price they are trading at a discount to net tangible assets and a small premium to net current assets with a substantial net cash buffer. Trading is unsurprisingly tough at the moment but once again they have been generally reliably profitable in the past.

Lester

WickedLester
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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#323661

Postby WickedLester » July 4th, 2020, 9:18 am

I have bought some more shares and am now only around 15% in cash but am struggling to find much else I want to invest in at the moment.

I also sold my GATC as they were already struggling before the lockdown and I expect recruitment companies are having a very tough time of it at the moment if my own experience of looking for work is anything to go by.

Anyway here are the new additions.

Bloomsbury Publishing (BMY)

I bought a few of these at 198p. They're not obviously cheap but have a very strong balance sheet, further boosted by a recent fundraising. The most recent results show that sales have declined by just 3% overall and I am hoping that all that free time for people on furlough is going to encourage more reading in the medium term. Before the lockdwon they seemd to be growing modestly and don't look bad value to me overall. They're paying a bonus issue dividend in lieu of cash which seems like a waste of time to me. It's probably related to management bonuses for dividend growth or something.

Carr's Group (CARR)

These are a very similar business to Wynnstay but margins seem a bit better so I bought some at 109.2p. The balance sheet is very strong and they should remain profitable for the full year albeit they have warned. They're not currently paying a dividend but I am hopeful they will do a Robinson and reinstate the dividend once it becomes apparant that COVID is not really affecting their business.

Flowtech Fluidpower (FLO)

I have owned these before but recently bought back in at 74.8p. I believe they're operating at about breakeven currently but have made good profits in more normal times and are going through a substantial restructuring to integrate all of their acquisitions. Hopefully this will release further working capital to pay down debt which is a touch higher than I would like but looks manageable. The balance sheet overall is not too bad and I am hopeful of a decent recovery here.

LPA Group (LPA)

This is a real tiddler at just £8m market cap but typically trades at around 120p so I bought some at 73p. The price has fallen a long way and not recovered but the business was profitable at the half way stage and has a strong balance sheet with substantial freehold property and net current assets. The also have a near record order book and have been quite profitable in the recent past. I am hopeful of a fairly quick recovery in their fortunes.

Lester

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#323673

Postby Dod101 » July 4th, 2020, 10:31 am

I can only comment on Carr's. I held it for some years and they are a very conservative little company, run like a family business. I just tired of waiting for them to take off and eventually sold them. I do not see that their businesses should be much affected by the Covid 19 but neither do I see them taking off in a big way. I always though a takeover might be on the cards but the mixture between their agricultural side and the engineering business makes them a strange beast so maybe not.

Dod

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#323677

Postby WickedLester » July 4th, 2020, 10:50 am

I can't see CARR going crazy either but they look to be modestly valued to me in a poor year and hopefully will reinstate the dividend fairly rapidly. I can see a good 50% upside in them over the next couple of years.

I am mostly looking for shares which haven't recovered from the March sell off and which have strong enough balance sheets to survive a downturn without much risk of going broke or needing a huge fundraise. Hopefully I have mostly achieved that. I am fortunate in that I am in profit at the moment and have been able to rebalance the portfolio away from stocks I think have the highest risk of being seriously affected by the downturn into strong companies. I have also bought stocks I think have good recovery potential once the economy returns to some sense of normality.

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#323700

Postby simoan » July 4th, 2020, 12:37 pm

Hi Lester,

It's good to read about some proper old-school value investing, so thanks for posting. It makes sense to look for laggards amongst small caps at times like this, particularly those in unexciting industries where margins are not the greatest but cashflow is good. As long as the balance sheet is strong and the company is nicely cash generative in normal times, you can make easy money over the longer term from a portfolio of such companies by waiting for reversion to the mean to kick in. It seems that's what you're aiming for.

I hold a few of the companies you've mentioned for similar reasons - Wynnstay, Headlam and Flowtech. Wynnstay is my most recent purchase bought first thing on release of the recent results which has seen a nice 17% return. Headlam I bought some more this week although still under water with an average cost of 336p.

I held Bloomsbury until last year but sold because I felt it was becoming overpriced as it headed up to 300p. I just couldn't make the valuation stack up but at 200p perhaps it's worth revisiting now they have strengthened the balance sheet with the placing to secure finance for investing in future titles. And of course, you get a chance to buy in at a significant discount to the recent institution only placing! I was surprised about the placing to be honest, I always felt the business was strong enough to survive without, so I need to revisit my research. I always liked the fact the dividend was twice covered by free cashflow so I can easily see it returning to give a circa 4% yield at current price.

All the best, Si

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#324560

Postby simoan » July 8th, 2020, 11:43 am

WickedLester wrote:I have bought some more shares and am now only around 15% in cash but am struggling to find much else I want to invest in at the moment.

Lester

Hi Lester,

In keeping with the value oriented, slightly contrarian nature of the thread, here's one I bought this week for you to look at. If you use a filter to find likely candidates then I presume you have maybe already seen it and discounted it.

Severfield (SFR)

These have been a small undersized holding in my SIPP for a while now. I bought some more this week at 60p as a contrarian play with possible upside of HS2 going ahead and the government spending on infrastructure to stimulate the economy. Like the companies you have bought it has not recovered from the recent March-April lows and 3 month RS = -14%. The balance sheet is solid with net cash as at FY20 in March: PBV = 1.04, PTBV = 1.78. Order book was down. Decision on dividend payment for FY20 has been deferred but I would assume cancelled for now.

All the best, Si

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#324570

Postby WickedLester » July 8th, 2020, 12:24 pm

Hi Si

I will take another look at SFR, I used to be a shareholder there but sold some time ago for a small profit, I can't remember why.

I should have added in my previous post that I also bought some Robinson the day before the AGM for about 83p. They then announced that they would be reinstating the dividend this month and it looks like income investors have driven the price up by about 40% since then. A nice stroke of luck but it's only a small holding. I like them because they should be relatively unaffected by the pandemic as they sell packaging for household consumables and they have a large surplus property to sell, hopefully next year, which I believe should raise enough to clear the outstanding debt and possibly leave some over.

Lester

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#324576

Postby simoan » July 8th, 2020, 12:47 pm

WickedLester wrote:Hi Si

I will take another look at SFR, I used to be a shareholder there but sold some time ago for a small profit, I can't remember why.

I find the same problem as I get older :-) I have always kept notes on reasoning for trades. It's really helped me over the years to revisit successes and failures in equal measure and to improve my investment process going forwards. It can be quite painful but it's a necessary exercise for me. BTW whilst you're looking at SFR it may also be worth taking a look at Billington (BILN) which is a much smaller company in the same sector. It looks possibly even better value but is ruled out for me by having a market cap < £50m but that may not be an issue for others. With SFR I quite like the spice provided by the potential of the Indian JV.

WickedLester wrote:I should have added in my previous post that I also bought some Robinson the day before the AGM for about 83p. They then announced that they would be reinstating the dividend this month and it looks like income investors have driven the price up by about 40% since then. A nice stroke of luck but it's only a small holding. I like them because they should be relatively unaffected by the pandemic as they sell packaging for household consumables and they have a large surplus property to sell, hopefully next year, which I believe should raise enough to clear the outstanding debt and possibly leave some over.

Lester

Good spot and timing with Robinson (RBN). It doesn't always pay to buy before an AGM! It's always nice when price shoots up on positive news after you buy in,as long as you take it for what it is - a bit of luck rather than skill! Would have been even better to buy at end of March :-). I'm not sure the debt looks a big issue unless I've read it wrong. What is it, a quick fag packet calc shows ~1.5x EBITDA as of FY Dec19? Good luck with it. As above, it doesn't meet my minimum market cap requirement even now...

All the best, Si

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#324824

Postby WickedLester » July 9th, 2020, 12:13 pm

I had a better look at SFR and decided to buy a few after all. The order book is lower than last year's record but it doesn't look too bad and as you say HS2 may give them a boost. They don't look bad value anyway based on previous year's earnings and usually pay a dividend.

I also bought some Titon (TON) which would be too small for you at £8m market cap. They fell to a loss at the halfway stage but it was fairly modest and now that South Korea is back up and running (as far as I know!) things should look a bit better for them going forward.

The balance sheet is rock solid with nearly 50% of the market cap in cash and net current assets of nearly £9m plus freehold property and a valuable investment in another business. TNAV is around twice the market capital.

All in all I fancy them to return to previous level of profitability at some point in the future.

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#324884

Postby simoan » July 9th, 2020, 4:50 pm

WickedLester wrote:I had a better look at SFR and decided to buy a few after all. The order book is lower than last year's record but it doesn't look too bad and as you say HS2 may give them a boost. They don't look bad value anyway based on previous year's earnings and usually pay a dividend.

Yes, the reduced order book is a worry and it's difficult to see many shiny new stadiums or London skyscrapers getting commissioned anytime soon. It's easy to see why sentiment is negative on all such construction related shares. However, HS2 is going to need a lot of steelwork and there is the ongoing build out of data centres to keep them busy. However, the strong balance sheet will mean no lost sleep if things get worse before they get better...

WickedLester wrote:I also bought some Titon (TON) which would be too small for you at £8m market cap. They fell to a loss at the halfway stage but it was fairly modest and now that South Korea is back up and running (as far as I know!) things should look a bit better for them going forward.

The balance sheet is rock solid with nearly 50% of the market cap in cash and net current assets of nearly £9m plus freehold property and a valuable investment in another business. TNAV is around twice the market capital.

All in all I fancy them to return to previous level of profitability at some point in the future.

I am familiar with Titon and have looked at it in the past. It looks a true value share on any metric you care to mention. However, the market cap is well below my minimum limit, and the horrendous spread and illiquidity means it's not for me. I take my hat off to proper deep value investors, which I'm not. I bought into a share on a current year PER of 31 with PTBV of 17 today!

All the best, Si

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#326281

Postby WickedLester » July 15th, 2020, 10:55 am

There has been a trading update out of CARR this morning and fortunately they are also relatively unaffected by the pandemic. They are also reinstating the dividend as I hoped.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/carr--39- ... 00070101T/

The Board considers it appropriate for the deferred interim dividend in respect of the 26 weeks ended 29 February 2020 to be paid in conjunction with what would ordinarily be the second interim dividend in October 2020. Therefore, a single interim dividend of 2.25 pence per share (2019: 2.25 pence per share1) will be paid on 2 October 2020 to shareholders on the register at close of business on 28 August 2020. The ex-dividend date will be 27 August 2020.

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#327288

Postby simoan » July 19th, 2020, 3:25 pm

I had a funny turn on Tuesday morning and decided to buy a lump of Vertu Motors (VTU) at 22.9p following the trading update. I'm sure I should seek help for being too contrarian.

Currently you get net tangible assets of £168m, including £212m of freehold and long leasehold property, on a market cap of £83.8m. So that's a P/TBV of 0.5. That's what I call a margin of safety, and I couldn't help myself doctor. Please help as I fear I may end up buying more.

All the best, Si

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#327317

Postby scrumpyjack » July 19th, 2020, 5:06 pm

Hmm, personally I wouldn't touch Cenkos with a barge pole. They sponsored Quindell which was arguably just a fraud!

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#327334

Postby WickedLester » July 19th, 2020, 6:19 pm

I had a funny turn on Tuesday morning and decided to buy a lump of Vertu Motors (VTU) at 22.9p following the trading update. I'm sure I should seek help for being too contrarian.


I don't think you're wrong at all, if I didn't already hold Caffyns for the same reason I might consider Vertu. I have toyed with the idea of buying a few more CFYN but the spread is ridiculous. Andrew Perloff has been building a stake there but he's going to be powerless to force change due to the family control.

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#327335

Postby WickedLester » July 19th, 2020, 6:25 pm

Hmm, personally I wouldn't touch Cenkos with a barge pole. They sponsored Quindell which was arguably just a fraud!


That's quite old news and Cenkos have already paid a fine over their involvement. As I have said before the entire finance industry is crooked IMO and makes a living screwing people out of money in the most dubious of ways. Cenkos are no better or worse than any of the big banks or brokers.

If the Quindell connection puts you off investing in them you should avoid the whole sector.

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#327337

Postby johnhemming » July 19th, 2020, 6:32 pm

WickedLester wrote:As I have said before the entire finance industry is crooked IMO and makes a living screwing people out of money in the most dubious of ways.

I make no comment either way about the specific companies here. However, I think is a big mistake to take this view. There clearly is a range of behaviour both in the finance sector and outside the finance sector. There are companies to avoid with a barge pole, but there are also companies that do a good job in an ethical manner.

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#327367

Postby simoan » July 19th, 2020, 10:20 pm

WickedLester wrote:
I had a funny turn on Tuesday morning and decided to buy a lump of Vertu Motors (VTU) at 22.9p following the trading update. I'm sure I should seek help for being too contrarian.


I don't think you're wrong at all, if I didn't already hold Caffyns for the same reason I might consider Vertu. I have toyed with the idea of buying a few more CFYN but the spread is ridiculous. Andrew Perloff has been building a stake there but he's going to be powerless to force change due to the family control.

Yes, CFYN looks very cheap on P/TBV but with a sub £10m market cap, awful liquidity and the very wide spread you mention, alas it's' not in my investible universe. I have owned VTU before and read through the results at beginning of June so I'm familiar with the company, so buying on the TU wasn't done on impulse. I thought the update was pretty positive, all things considered, and it matched what a neighbour who works for a local dealership had told me about them being very busy since they re-opened.

All the best, Si

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#327458

Postby jackdaww » July 20th, 2020, 11:04 am

simoan wrote:I had a funny turn on Tuesday morning and decided to buy a lump of Vertu Motors (VTU) at 22.9p following the trading update. I'm sure I should seek help for being too contrarian.

Currently you get net tangible assets of £168m, including £212m of freehold and long leasehold property, on a market cap of £83.8m. So that's a P/TBV of 0.5. That's what I call a margin of safety, and I couldn't help myself doctor. Please help as I fear I may end up buying more.

All the best, Si


===============================

i have followed suit , having held them in the past .

SP down a bit today at 22p

:)

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#327466

Postby simoan » July 20th, 2020, 11:29 am

jackdaww wrote:SP down a bit today at 22p

:)

There's been someone offloading in large chunks for a while. This is where the opportunity arises. I love it when some fund manager decides to sell small caps off like this because they're probably selling near the bottom and not doing it for any fundamental reason... maybe they are needing to cover drawdowns from their fund? Who cares! The market in small caps is very inefficient and those that are patient can profit from it. All that matters is that the last reported NTAV was 46.5p and the assets are mostly freehold property.

All the best, Si

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#327467

Postby dealtn » July 20th, 2020, 11:33 am

simoan wrote:
jackdaww wrote:SP down a bit today at 22p

:)

There's been someone offloading in large chunks for a while. This is where the opportunity arises. I love it when some fund manager decides to sell small caps off like this because they're probably selling near the bottom and not doing it for any fundamental reason... maybe they are needing to cover drawdowns from their fund? Who cares! The market in small caps is very inefficient and those that are patient can profit from it. All that matters is that the last reported NTAV was 46.5p and the assets are mostly freehold property.

All the best, Si


One I own too, and for similar reasons. (Not in at this level unfortunately, but earlier, although at a discount to NAV)


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