Category: Business

Scottish Mortgage

Two years ago I started buying Monks Investment Trust and told you why at the time: A Pug Called Sherbet. It has gone up by around 70%. On the same day two years ago I added to my holding in Scottish Mortgage. Both investment trusts, as it happens, are managed by Baillie Gifford.

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Playing Footsie

I don’t have a big appetite but it’s time that I had a big helping of humble pie. At the beginning of this year I was confident there would be a collapse in the value of equities. FTSE went below 7,000 for a nano-second and I expected a rout. Since then it has been stuck… Continue reading Playing Footsie

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British Empire Trust

I find it reassuring when a company sticks to its original name, no matter how inappropriate it may have become. Carphone Warehouse is an example and British Empire Trust, founded in 1889, another. It was pointed out to me by a friend who took me to lunch at Mon Plaisir in Seven Dials this week.

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Frontier Market

I started to invest in Vietnam at the beginning of June and now hold three funds that are showing a loss of 2.5%. It is a volatile market in which to invest for the long term so I’m not worried. Indeed one of my funds, VinaCapital, advises investors to take a five year view.

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Smart Money

I cannot remember if I had an Irish Post Office savings account; I imagine I did. For sure my mother opened a British PO savings account for me on Eton High Street in 1967.

Empty Flats

Who is buying all the new flats being built all over London? The story was that they were being sold at around 10% below the offer price.

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I Told You So

Two years ago I told you so. Read Yellow Menace, one of my favourite posts from July 2016. A bit of Barmeath, a bit of Barons Court and a great number filmed on the Thames at the end.

Look at Glaxo

There are two ways of looking at GSK (Glaxo Smith Kline) shares. If you are a glass-half-empty type you lament that the price has been going sideways between £12 and £16 for the last ten years. On the other hand …

The English Philanthropist

At lunch last month with three readers, one mentioned Christopher Ondaatje. I had heard that rich Christopher has not got over his not-so-rich brother winning the Booker prize. But I was told that Christopher has another skill besides making a shedload of money as a stockbroker and publisher.

Retired

A few days ago I filled in my occupation as “retired”. On Monday morning my spirits lifted as I walked up the Thames to Richmond, musing that I am not retired.

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