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Summer shutdown

In practice:
We’re all going…
I’m taking an extended break this summer and although I don’t usually make predictions, I confidently predict the next blog will be on Wednesday 26 August, one month from now.
In the meantime, and in time honoured tradition, here’s some summer reading.
I’m taking two books away:
Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s Fooled by Randomness. [...]

Becoming a Cropper

In practice:
Moors and mills, and long-distance love
The share price of James Cropper (CRPR), a Lake District paper manufacturer, is in long-term decline, interrupted by brief spouts of enthusiasm. It’s a heady mixture, a declining share price in a relic of our great industrial past.
The company has not been a good long-term investment in recent [...]

Minsky, mortgages and you

In practice:
Minksy’s protracted moment
If you follow this blog, you’ll recognise these names: Jeremy Grantham, Nouriel Roubini, Robert Shiller, and James Montier. I’ve quoted them many times, and they anticipated the financial crisis.
They have something else in common, they’re all followers of economist Hyman Minsky. Grantham describes himself as a Minsky maven. Roubini  feared we were [...]

Seduced by Celsis

In practice:
What’s not to like?
Barring a small surge to 240p in 2007, and subsequent backwash to 140p last year, it’s difficult to detect much life in Celsis’ share price. Investors’ enthusiasm for the company seems to be flagging as it grows and in the second half of this century it’s mostly traded sideways.
Could a [...]

Not quite 30 glorious years

In history:
30 28 25 23 glorious years
The last 30 years were momentous for investors but what did they mean to you? I’m writing the story of the stockmarket in the words of the private investors who bought and sold shares since the Thatcher years. The article will appear in Money Observer later this year, [...]

Printing itself out of trouble

In practice:
Buying when there’s ink in the streets
You only have to look at the BPIF’s Quarterly Outlook [PDF] to see how bad things are in the printing industry. Its survey reveals the sixth successive quarter of negative sentiment and reports staff cuts and frozen wages. Even though costs have fallen recently, prices have fallen further.
So [...]

Thrifty 30 progress report

In practice:
Good companies at cheap prices
Occasionally on Twitter investors, as opposed to people hawking porn sites, show interest in my tweets. So, when henrio83 asked ‘What’s happened to your thrifty thirty?’ I thought I should explain.
First, a quick recap.
Thrifty 30 is the name I gave a method of discovering good companies at cheap prices. [...]