At the beginning of the month Pam S. and Chris (that's me) represented the China Dolls at the Mello Events virtual meeting hosted by the founder, David Stredder. The Mello event provides premium investor content that you will not find anywhere else. It is a mix of interviews, presentations, educational sessions and the legendary BASH panel to stimulate, educate, facilitate, and amuse in equal measure.
The China Dolls began to follow Mello in 2019 having been asked to present a couple of awards at one of their events in London. We have now signed up, and have appointed a dedicated member of our club, Hazel, who follows the events and reports on anything which may be of interest to us.
Over the years we have invested in a number of shares recommended which we would not have otherwise known about. The two most successful are Halma and Reach - both showing a good profit.
THANK YOU MELLO
We tried to keep our spirits up during our February meeting, but even us "Dollies" are finding the current market a little depressing. Over the past few years any investor has had to deal with Brexit followed by Covid and now the prospect of an uncertain future in Europe. This recent turn of events has had a devastating effect on the stock market. As a small club, we just have to hang on in there and hope for a better future.
Now to be positive.
DIAGEO: This share is showing us a healthy profit and, looking at our portfolio this morning, it is on an upward path. Annual sales are up by 20% and profit up 22.5% compared to last year. They are speeding up their share buyback scheme which is good news for the dividend.
A definite hold for us.
FEVERTREE: We were fortunate to be in at the start of this share - (some may say fortunate, but we clearly like our mixers and picked up that Fevertree were about to launch on the AIM market). Margins have been hit by higher than expected costs and logistic issues. It has fallen from its dizzy height of almost 4000 but still sits at around 2000 - however a few forecasters have increased their target price. We are holding.
DECHRA: This is another share that has fallen over the past few months. We purchased more at our January meeting and the share has fallen slightly since then. Our original investment was priced at 2400 - Dechra is currently sitting at 3904, so although our additional investments into this share are showing a slight loss, overall we are in good profit and it is a solid company. A hold.
OCADO: We bought this share on the basis of its world leading technology, not just its food delivery. But we may be in for a long haul. Our original investment was at 1192 per share, this is now sitting at 1338 however it had a healthy rise this morning. We are hanging on in there for the time being.
SEGRO: Our original investment was at 771 - it's now sitting at 1236, so a good profit overall. However we did add to our holding when the price was at 1258. Another hold - warehouse storage is always going to be in demand.
UNITE GROUP: We have held this share for years, originally purchasing when the share price was 568. It is now sitting at 1049 - although we invested more at 1135 we are still showing an overall healthy profit. The company has recently invested £34 million to develop a 270 room facility in Nottingham city centre, close to the University, which it anticipates will be ready in 2024.
DISCUSSIONS: We are sitting tight for the moment - no selling or buying was carried out this month.
However we are still watching Medicare which was down 10% since the last meeting.
Other shares we are following:
Unilever
Tandem - deals in bikes, baby and childrens equipment, golf equipment
Belvoir - a franchise company dealing in property sales, management, lettings and financial services.
So that's it for now. See you in March.
DISCLAIMER
The China Dolls is a group of private individuals who meet regularly to discuss investment strategy and make investments based on the collective opinion of the the group.
The China Dolls is not in the business of offering any form of advice on investing or other financial matters.
The content of this blog is not to be considered an inducement to trade as we trade and is offered for illustrative purposes only.
Any use you may make said content is entirely your responsibility and The China Dolls will not be held liable for any losses you may incur as a result of using this blog to help you trade.