My Portfolio

01 April 2022
By Maynard Paton

Happy Friday! I trust your shares have performed better than mine so far this year.

A summary of my portfolio’s first quarter:

• Q1 return: -13.2% loss* (FTSE 100: +2.9% gain).
• Q1 trades: None.
• Q1 winners/losers: 0 winners vs 11 losers.

(*Performance calculated using quoted bid prices and includes all dealing costs, withholding taxes, broker-account fees and paid dividends)

My portfolio’s 13.2% Q1 drop is sadly my worst three-month performance since I commenced this blog at the start of 2015. My largest three-month declines prior to this year were 11% during August, September and October 2018 and 8% during January, February and March 2020.

The primary cause of my Q1 reversal was a profit warning from (by far) my largest holding, System1. Not helping matters were underwhelming results from (what was) my second-largest holding, Tristel.

The rest of my portfolio seems to have suffered from the market’s general unease towards smaller companies.

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01 January 2022
By Maynard Paton

Happy 2022! I hope you profited from last year’s strong market and you continue to find my blog useful.

A summary of my portfolio’s 2021:

• Total return of +24.5% (Q4: +4.6%)*;
• 8 holdings recorded a gain while 3 holdings recorded a loss;
• Returns ranged from up 104%, for System1, to down 20%, for Bioventix;
• Two shares were topped-up: System1 and M Winkworth, and;
• No new shares were purchased and no shares were sold.

(*Performance calculated using quoted bid prices and includes all dealing costs, withholding taxes, broker-account fees and paid dividends)

I publish a portfolio review after every quarter (Q1, Q2 and Q3), and this post recaps my October/November/December activity and my 2021 performance.

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30 September 2021
By Maynard Paton

Happy Thursday! I trust your shares are flourishing and that you still find my blog useful.

A summary of my portfolio’s third quarter:

• Q3 change: +5:1%*
• Q3 trades: none
• YTD change: 19.0%*
• YTD winners/losers: 9 winners vs 2 losers

(*Performance calculated using quoted bid prices and includes all account fees, dealing costs, withholding taxes and paid dividends)

I am pleased the portfolio gains recorded during the first half of the year were extended during Q3.

Newsflow from my shares has been generally encouraging, and I hope boardrooms will remain optimistic as the pandemic subsides.

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01 July 2021
By Maynard Paton

Happy Thursday! I trust your shares are thriving and that you still find my blog useful.

A summary of my portfolio’s progress:

• Q2 change: +7:4%*
• Q2 trades: System1 and M Winkworth
• YTD change: +13.2%*
• YTD winners/losers: 9 winners vs 2 losers

(*Performance calculated using quoted bid prices and includes all dealing costs, withholding taxes, broker-account fees and paid dividends)

I am pleased the portfolio gains recorded during Q1 were extended during Q2. Recent RNSs from my portfolio have been mostly encouraging, and I anticipate boardrooms will remain optimistic as the pandemic subsides and social restrictions ease.

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01 April 2021
By Maynard Paton

Happy Thursday! I trust your shares have enjoyed a positive start to the year.

A summary of my portfolio’s first quarter:

• Q1 gain: +5.4%* (FTSE 100**: +5.0%).
• Q1 trades: None.
• Q1 winners/losers: 6 winners vs 3 losers (and 2 non-movers).

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01 January 2021
By Maynard Paton

Happy 2021! I hope you survived last year’s volatile market and you continue to find my blog useful.

A summary of my portfolio’s 2020:

• Total return of 16.9%*;
• Eleven holdings recorded a gain while one holding recorded a loss;
• Returns ranged from Daejan, up 43.5%, to System1, down 9.6%;
• Two shares were topped-up: S&U and System1, and;
• One share was sold entirely: Daejan.

(*Performance calculated using quoted bid prices and includes all dealing costs, withholding taxes, broker-account fees and paid dividends)

I publish a portfolio review after every quarter (Q1, Q2 and Q3), and this post recaps my October/November/December activity and my 2020 performance.

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01 October 2020
By Maynard Paton

I trust your shares have performed well during the last three months.

A quick summary of my portfolio’s third-quarter and year-to-date progress:

• Q3 gain: +4.4%*
• Q3 trades: None.
• YTD gain: +3.4%* (FTSE 100: -20.2%**)
• YTD winners/losers: 4 winners vs 8 losers 

(*Performance calculated using quoted bid prices and includes all dealing costs, withholding taxes, broker-account fees and paid dividends. **Includes reinvested dividends.)

The news from my shares during Q3 was generally satisfactory in the circumstances. 

Among my holdings releasing results during the quarter, two reported lockdown-lowered profits that were complemented with promising director recovery talk. One holding meanwhile lifted its dividend 11% and another announced a very unexpected special payout.

After making no trades during the second quarter, I did not buy or sell during this latest quarter either. Never before since starting this blog during 2015 have I refrained from adjusting my portfolio for six months.

How companies will fare as the pandemic continues is still impossible to predict. I remain 25% in cash and hope a few obvious bargains may one day appear. 

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31 March 2020
By Maynard Paton

I always like to start my quarterly portfolio reviews with a happy welcome. But not this time.

The country faces a national emergency. Lives are at risk, supermarkets have empty shelves, jobs are being lost…and the finer points of individual shares no longer seem that important.

I have nonetheless decided to maintain this blog through these difficult times — although future posts may be sporadic.

I hope you will find my updates useful. One day I will look back at what I have published to remember how I coped (or not!) with the crisis. I may even emerge from these events a much wiser investor.

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02 January 2020
By Maynard Paton

Happy 2020! I hope you enjoyed last year’s positive market and that you continue to find my blog useful.

A quick summary of my portfolio’s 2019:

• Overall gain: 13.1%*;
• Nine shares went up and six shares went down;
• Performances ranged from Tristel, up 61%, to Tasty, down 74%;
• Three shares were topped-up: Daejan, Mountview Estates and S&U, and;
• Three shares were sold entirely: Castings, Getech and Oleeo.

(*Performance calculated using quoted bid prices and includes all dealing costs, withholding taxes, broker-account fees and paid dividends)

Before I review my 2019 performance, let me first outline what happened during the final quarter of the year.

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01 October 2019
By Maynard Paton

Happy Tuesday! I hope you continue to find my Blog useful… and that your shares are coping well in the current market.

My portfolio continues to lag the FTSE 100. Since the start of the year, I am up a measly 3.6% while the index with dividends reinvested is up 14.3%.

I remain on the wrong side of what has become a two-tier market. While global ‘quality’ large-caps continue to charge higher, my portfolio is still full of smaller UK companies…

…many of which are undergoing potential recoveries (e.g. Getech, Tasty), experiencing standstill earnings (e.g. FW Thorpe, M Winkworth) or operating in an unloved sector (e.g. Daejan, Mountview Estates).

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28 June 2019
By Maynard Paton

Happy Friday! I hope you continue to find my Blog useful… and that your shares are performing well in the current market.

I am pleased my portfolio remains in positive territory this year — although I am still trailing the FTSE 100. So far during 2019, I am up 7.7% while the index is up 13.1%.

My underperformance is due in part to owning companies that are:

• undergoing potential recoveries (Getech, Oleeo, System1 and Tasty);

• experiencing flat earnings (Mincon and M Winkworth), or;

• operating in an unloved sector (Daejan and Mountview Estates).

Those eight shares represent approximately 40% of my portfolio. Add in cash of 7.5% as well, and almost half of my portfolio is marooned far away from the high-flying ‘quality’ growth shares that (seemingly) keep leading the market higher.

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