II Editor
18 Jul 2016
NEW ARTICLE: Mourning the loss of ARM Holdings "There was something almost inevitable about the takeover this weekend of chip designer ARM Holdings. It's by far our largest technology company and has regularly been subject of bid speculation. The only surprise perhaps is that it's the Japanese ..."[link]
Bertie Biddle
18 Jul 2016
Re: decided to sell half... johnymccarth and eadwig""Congratulations to all who stayed with ARM over the years. I was frightened off a long time ago by the high P/E ratio. I was wrong".Could it be that you are also wrong about something else?"If you look at most of Eariwigs posts you will see that he has a poor opinion of British ability to succeed in anything and has been wrong in most of his predictions especially his posts regarding Brexit.He is a doom and gloom scaremonger of the first water when it comes to Brexit and is still unable to accept that we are actually going to leave the EU and that we might be better off as a result.Already we have several countries champing at the bit for an FTA with the 5th biggest economy without the delay and hassle of 27 other countries watering down the deal. According to Eariwig, FTA's with non-EU countries will take several years yet Australia wants to conclude one on an urgent basis.This AIM deal is just one example of many more to come that inward investment has not been wrecked by Brexit as Eariwig would have us believe. It is good for UK jobs and a good deal for the Japanese, taking advantage of the current advantageous exchange rate.The Japanese are investing in our innovation and brainpower which is staying put. I do not accept the notion that just because a British company is owned by a foreigner it is necessarily a bad thing and in this case it has certainly improved my FTSE portfolio profitability which was already at a high post the Brexit vote, another dire prediction of Eariwigs he got wrong.For every inward investment there is usually an outward one and it is this outward investment that is paying off at the moment.There will be more start-ups with more clever engineers and some will grow like AIM did. We have one of the biggest start-up per capita in the world. The trick for us investors is to find them before they get to big and expensiv
Vigi
18 Jul 2016
Re: where's Rhodey The internet of things is the future.This company has a great future following this trend, so I'm sorry to sell out. Think the Japan has got this deal at great price. I' m holding for any counter bids........?Vigi
Hydrogen Economy
18 Jul 2016
Re: where's Rhodey Eadwig"Perhaps I'm being cynical, but, considering there is no production, and the above report also mentioned almost 4000 workforce total, and the smartphone market isn't exactly exponential any longer, it seems a highly unlikely target to me - unless there is a very specific new market they are intending to exploit? Which isn't impossible, but hardly guaranteed successful either."It would be nice to see some joined up thinking on education and training, especially science and engineering to provide the people needed from the UK. ARM is a fantastic example of the benefits of the spin-offs from high quality research linked to education. Probably too much to hope for but in the post Brexit world the country needs to work out how to do this stuff and not just blame others for failures. The universities are all deeply concerned about research fund, much of which was from EU programmes and which UK was very successful in winning. Its up to the UK Government now. If ARM was in any almost any Country in Asia, there would be no problem finding the people, the thirst for education, especially science/engineering is very impressive, In terms of new markets, the wider application of devices in the Internat of Things is thought likely to dwarf the smartphone market within a few years and ARM is aiming to be a leader there so I would not rule it out. That's part of the regret I have about selling out now.H2
johnymccarthy
18 Jul 2016
Re: decided to sell half... Eadwig:-"Congratulations to all who stayed with ARM over the years. I was frightened off a long time ago by the high P/E ratio. I was wrong".Could it be that you are also wrong about something else?
Eadwig
18 Jul 2016
Re: where's Rhodey H2, " At least softbank pledge to increase UK workforce significantly."In passing by a radio today (I'm holed up in bed with a virus) I heard they have promised to "double the workforce over 5 years", according to the BBCIf 'Brexit means Brexit' it seems highly unlikely that the required skills will be allowed in (along with their families). That would be a large proportion of any immigration control cap. With the best will in the world, you're not going to fill these sorts of jobs from within the UK alone.Perhaps I'm being cynical, but, considering there is no production, and the above report also mentioned almost 4000 workforce total, and the smartphone market isn't exactly exponential any longer, it seems a highly unlikely target to me - unless there is a very specific new market they are intending to exploit? Which isn't impossible, but hardly guaranteed successful either.5 years is a long. long cooling off period in which to fulfill any such promise - especially within the technology sector.
Hydrogen Economy
18 Jul 2016
Re: where's Rhodey "Well I suppose he was (sort of) correct today"Rhodey was to be seen on this BB posting negative stories on the mobile market and chip suppliers and although I didn't see him mark ARM a sell I would say he most likely bottled it and after years of hype got cold feet just before the payoff. Seems approriate.Sorry to see ARM taken aout and although a very nice profit overall after many years in and out of ARM I feel if it stayed intdependant the earnings would continue to rise strongly and be work a lot more than 17B but that's now history. At least softbank pledge to increase UK workforce significantly. (Hopefully to be honoured unlike than the Cadbury debacle).Moving on it leaves me with the problem of where to move the funds to next. RSW seems like a candidate, they seem to have got past their hiccup last year. Any other suggestions?H2, nursing a good profit with a tinge of regret.
oohthatscheep
18 Jul 2016
Re: Sad day for UK industry Could be cadburys all over again
Heorot
18 Jul 2016
Re: where's Rhoney??? Rhigos, my first Arm purchase was in September 1999 at 954 and sold 3 months later in January 2000 for 3436. My best ever return on any share apart from RR. which I bought at the same time and am still holding with an averaged cost of 249.
Heorot
18 Jul 2016
Re: where's Rhoney??? I just sold enough shares to get my almost all my outlay back. I had just 200 shares and am left with just 62 for a net outlay af 2.99. I have held these share on and off since 1999 and made a lot of money for my outlay. Looks like game over.
Rhigos
18 Jul 2016
Re: decided to sell half... Hub,"I bought ARM in 2002. 30,000 shares at 66p.". That must have been shortly after profit warning when I go stung, though far less than 30,000 shares involved. I expect you sold at more that ten times what you bought at so ARM shares were kind to you. I would be surprised if you did not take profits over the years so may not have made £200K profit.
Hub
18 Jul 2016
Re: decided to sell half... I bought ARM in 2002. 30,000 shares at 66p.I'm not going to tell you what price I sold at but suffice to say it wasn't £17.Well done to long term holders.Enjoy retirement.HUB
Rhigos
18 Jul 2016
Re: decided to sell half... Eadwig,I take your point about selling at least some and not a PI's place to make symbolic gestures. I think there is a 99% chance deal will go ahead at offer price of 1700p so little risk holding out for a while. I do not think it a good deal for shareholders and so will vote against it. I'm no billionaire but if deal should fail it will make no difference to my lifestyle. I think it undervalues future growth. There is an outside chance that a better offer may come along. If deal goes unconditional I will, with regret, accept.I first bought ARM in a PEP in Dec 1999 at 600p, sold them Jul 2005 at 118.4p so not a good trade.Traded them in normal account between Apr 2001 and Sep 2002 when they had profit warning and SP halved. Sold out Feb 2006 for a small loss at 136.5. Got back in again Feb 12 at 575p. They rapidly doubled in value so about a year later sold half. Since then built up holding.
DaveHughes
18 Jul 2016
Re: decided to sell half... " I was frightened off a long time ago by the high P/E ratio. I was wrong."Ah yes.... a P/E of 165 and counting! Happy days
Apostrophe
18 Jul 2016
where's Rhoney??? Can't remember his nickname exactly - always used to post on here saying ARM will double tomorrow (every day).Well I suppose he was (sort of) correct today Eadwig - thanks for your thoughts - they mirror my own. I just wanted to check I hadn't missed something that everyone else on this board knew and that I had missed.I've bought and sold ARM shares over the past decade or more, so you could all say that it has been my dogged investment that has allowed the company to grow to what it is today 
