Uncle Doug
10 Oct 2017
Costa to grow in China Excellent news from China. Always said this is where the growth potential lies. Good move. Get them aspirant Chinese drinking more coffee. Good long term buy, especially at these prices."Whitbread said its Costa coffee chain had acquired the outstanding 49% of a joint venture in southern China from Yueda for RMB 310m (£35m).Costa already owned 51% of the venture, which operates 252 stores in the south of China, including 93 in Shanghai.Its separate joint venture in northern China, with BHG, is unaffected by the transaction."One of our three key strategic priorities is to focus on our strengths to grow internationally and today's announcement marks a significant and exciting step in our ambitious growth plans for China," chief executive Alison Brittain said."This acquisition gives us full strategic and funding flexibility to unlock Costa's potential in China, providing a strong platform to facilitate future growth, enhance the customer experience and make Costa the coffee shop of choice in this fast-growing market."
Hardboy
08 Oct 2017
Re: share perk I'm just off to get £5 off my Costa purchase this afternoon!
Kool Keith
08 Oct 2017
Re: share perk Stag, sorry just noticed didn't post the link for other share perks available![link]
tomox
07 Oct 2017
Re: share perk [link]
Kool Keith
07 Oct 2017
Re: share perk providing your shareholding isn't in a sipp just contact your account holder, guessing iii and they'll provide the info.Annoyingly I got it last year, but this year they didn't send stating perks not allowed if held in a sipp!!!! Can only guess it's a tax free perk which can be looked at as some form of payment from a tax shelter that can't be touched until 55 etc.Still Annoyed, as it would mean me selling and buying again but as the perk doesn't cover my trading costs (as I don't stay away/eat out often) it's not worth the hassle for a free coffee.Hope you qualify and get the card though Oh I'm sure you will have but need to hold a minimum of 64 sharesHere's a list and thanks for making me find it as just noticed M&S have a perk and I've not made contact 
Stag
06 Oct 2017
Re: share perk What is this magical card to which you refer and how do I get one? Thanks
Hardboy
05 Oct 2017
Re: Top 10 Stocks for 2017 - Q3 Update Slightly off topicIn the early days of the cinema Louis b Meyer (an already successful businessman) came in, took the helms at MGM & made it the most successful studio in history. What attracted him to the industry was that it was the first time he had ever come across a business where you made one product and then were able to sell it time and time again. It is the same thing which is brilliant about Bioventix. They sell their products to the like of Siemens (many time having received funding from their client for the development of the product) and having sold it they still receive a royalty every time the product is used in a test. (Apart from a book keeper keeping tabs on things and raising the odd invoice & tax return) their whole staff could go on holiday for a full year on full pay & they would still be making healthy profits. That's what I call a great business model. Shame there aren't more around.
B.V
05 Oct 2017
Re: Top 10 Stocks for 2017 - Q3 Update Hello Hardboy,Thanks for introducing me to Bioventix. The best performer in my portfolio over the years has been Hargreaves Lansdown, but fear that it may be particularly vulnerable in a market correction.Another multibagger for me is D S Smith (SMDS) and that company has grown steadily, is well-run and has a progressive dividend policy. It will probably enter the FTSE 100 in the not too distant future. The only concern I have with the company is that it has recently spread its wings to the good old USA, but other than that I would definitely recommend it.Regards,BV
LK Hyman
05 Oct 2017
Re: store growth slows Lotcan,"Maybe there is a market for someone that can do for tea what all these barista berks have been doing for coffee"I hold ULVR at least partly in the hope that they will do just that.LKH on the flybridge
lotcangorong
04 Oct 2017
Re: store growth slows Quite agree BV. Maybe there is a market for someone that can do for tea what all these barista berks have been doing for coffee. Order a teapot full of xyz tea leaves and sti there sipping it with your new teapot mates. What do I know? At least my WTB shares are now worth marginally more than I paid for them.
Bill1703
04 Oct 2017
Re: Top 10 Stocks for 2017 - Q3 Update "On my monthly review I was pleasantly surprised to see I'm up nearly 13% YTD, and beating all benchmarks I use, except the Buffetology fund ... up nearly 15%. My portfolio contains too many holdings and I am trying to lower the number gradually. "Very good work, Hardboy! My own overall portfolio is up 9.0% YTD at end Q3, in SP terms (adjusted for capital transactions).. and up 11.3% in total return. I am perfectly happy with this, well above the UK benchmarks (FTSE100 up 4.3%, All-Share up 6.1%), albeit lagging the overall World market (MSCI Global, up 14.2% YTD)... fair enough, given the heavy UK bias within my portfolio (though I do have a few US, Euro and Global stocks and funds).You can deduce from this, given my "2017 Top 10" is 90% made up of my own stocks (albeit not necessarily by original design), that my performance has come largely from unexpected quarters. It was ever thus, perhaps... a good argument for diversification of one's own thought processes, as much as of stocks or sectors! Most of my top performers remain at the smaller-cap end of things - quite a few of them being fairly large holdings for me (thankfully). "... It's a difficult environment at the moment with geopolitical risks... I still very much favour international shares - I'm avoiding the UK high street, though I still have Lloyds & Whitbread..." I don't disagree on the big themes - the more difficult question being, of course, is this all not already in the price? That was my thinking at the start of 2017, and the outset of our ongoing exercise - and as can be seen, it's been shown to be only partly right. And it'll be the same big questions as we repeat the exercise for 2018, as I fully intend to do... maybe it will prove more right next year? If we do get an early election and then a Corbyn-led administration, I know the answer to that one already... sadly... A secondary question... do I include Stagecoach again in the Top 10 Stocks for 2018?! Partly depends on how much it recovers over Q4... I am nothing if not optimistic. I get at least most of the reasons why it is so unloved... but there are clear residual qualities there, it'll still be generating plenty of cash in at least some parts of the business, and the valuation is now leaving nothing to chance. Something to ponder further over the dark early-winter months...
Hardboy
04 Oct 2017
Re: Top 10 Stocks for 2017 - Q3 Update Hi Bill, Thanks for sharing. At least Stagecoach seems to have bottomed out recently. I did think it was the most unloved share in the FTSE100, but WPP seems to be taking that mantle. I'm sure Labour's nationalisation plans are not doing it any favours. (When will unions wake up to the fact that Corbyn will be stealing from their pension funds?) Tobacco shares have been spooked too; but I expect IMPS (& BAT) to recover without much problem. What ever legislation fears come and go, profits keep rising. On my monthly review I was pleasantly surprised to see I'm up nearly 13% YTD, and beating all benchmarks I use, except the Buffetology fund (which is my largest holding so accounts for some of the gain anyway.) That is up nearly 15%. My portfolio contains too many holdings and I am trying to lower the number gradually. My other bigger risers include Aveva - up 26% in the quarter on a merger agreement, Fenner up 17%, Marshalls up 17% (which I have beaten since I sold, took some profit and bought more shares for a lower price during the period too) RPC up 31%, Tracsis up 16%, Bioventix (the best business in the world) up 43%, Anpario up 22%. (These are all quarterly gain figures - too much hassle to check YTD) I also took profits from Shell. So no real large caps there, and the Buffetology fund doesn't hold many either. It's a difficult environment at the moment with geopolitical risks; and uncertainty of some major country leaders. (Have to say I admire Merkel - running a democratic country must be as stressful a job as you can have - and she is running a continent too - so to take that on for 4 terms is amazing. Whatever one thinks of her policies, one has to admire her fortitude.) I still very much favour international shares - I'm avoiding the UK high street, though I still have Lloyds & Whitbread - trying to find the odd opportunity like Aggreko which I bought when the hurricanes were building up to devastating size; and I'm just going to have another close look at the world of Fuel Cells. Ceres Power (which, if I invest in, I will be breaking a golden rule of never investing in a loss making business) have come out with very upbeat finals today. If someone can develop stable, reliable, fuel cells, well I can not think of a larger potential market - almost every house and business site in the world could have one, and it would take away the big disadvantage of electric cars - the recharging time. I may break my golden rule & have a small punt. Good luck for the rest of the year and beyond, Bill.
Triggers broom
04 Oct 2017
Re: store growth slows If the USA ever cotton on to the concept of using as close to boiling point water for making tea then they'd start to appreciate the taste quality of tea more. The problem isn't the teabags but the way they serve it using merely 'hot' water.
Bill1703
03 Oct 2017
Re: Top 10 Stocks for 2017 - Q3 Update Having now reached the end of Q3, it is again time to "own up" on YTD performance for my previously published 2017 Top Ten... Having just edged ahead of the market by end Q1, and outperforming decently over Q2, I am disappointed and (moderately) shame-faced to report that Q3 has been a struggle, pretty much throughout. The portfolio is still just about above water in absolute terms YTD (+0.3%), but with the markets holding onto modest gains over the quarter, it means I am now underperforming the FTSE 100 by nearly 3% YTD (and around 4% vs FTSE All-Share).Star performer is now Card Factory, and not for the first time - despite recent wobbles, up 22% YTD. But after that, success stories are thinner on the ground than they were - it's perhaps relevant that the original 'speculative' plays, Braemar and Bonmarche, come next (up 13% and 9% respectively), and then decent returns are sustained by both Capita (up c.6%, albeit well down on where it was at Q2) and Vodafone (up around 5%). So half the portfolio is at least showing gains... and I probably also get a "pass" with Whitbread, which is breaking even, near as dammit (-0.3%). But after that, the tale of woes unfolds in chunky increments... Sainsbury down nearly 5%, Imperial Brands a full 10%, ITV losing 15% (at least, better than it was) and Stagecoach still lagging the lot, now just over 20% down. For full disclosure, I continue to own 9 of the 10 stocks (to varying degrees of 'happiness'), and while Capita remains on the "watch and wait" list, I have yet to bite... maybe in Q4? Maybe not...Needless to say, I remain optimistic for Q4 - well aware that I am now in the 'last chance saloon' when it comes to salvaging my performance (and my pride), for the 2017 'competition' at least. I will not deny outright ropey stock selection, at least in one or two cases, but I think there is a wider theme at play... 'Value' still out of favour and just getting cheaper as the market hides in reassuring (and "reassuringly expensive"
'Quality'. As such, it's a broader tide that I think will turn - and indeed it could at any time, and with it (I am sure) my portfolio... but whether it'll be by the end of Q4 or later, we can only now hope and wait. But a big juicy takeover bid wouldn't do any harm... surely all of ITV, IMB and VOD cannot end yet another year without the long-rumoured (and long-overdue) tap-on-the-shoulder!? Until such time, it will likely remain the familiar story of (distinctly) average fund managing - just about managing to avoid losing your money, but failing to beat an index...
B.V
03 Oct 2017
Re: store growth slows Hello shieldbug," Coffee has proved a great product for adding value "And long may it continue.Regards,BV
