Great Titchfield Street, London -- The monthly meeting of minds that is the Motley Fool Staff Investment Club rolls on. The initial cash subscriptions have meant that we were able to make our third investment this month and this was the focus of the discussion at the last meeting.
We were also delighted by the first visit TMFLost, the Fool formerly known as angussb, to the offices of Fool HQ. He even paid for a year's contributions up front in cold hard cash. What a show off! As Treasurer this threw me into total confusion as it required some number crunching to work out how many extra units Angus would get. Thankfully it was not quite as complex as I initially suspected thanks to the guidance of the Proshare manual.
In fact Angus has now become the majority shareholder of the club with nearly 14% of the units. He was immediately questioned regarding his intentions and confirmed that he had no interest in a hostile takeover, at least not yet.
The proposals for the next victim of our club were:
Marconi was put forward yet again on the basis that it attracted strong backing in previous votes but had always just been pipped at the post. Much of the discussion revolved around the telecoms industry as a whole and who would be the long-term winners in the battle for bandwidth. In fact Rob (TMFEssex) used this as the basis for a subsequent Fool's Eye View which is well worth reading.
The outcome of the voting concurred with Rob's opinion that the so-called shovel makers were the best placed to benefit. Although Cable & Wireless put up a good fight, it was Marconi that won the day. Accordingly, we purchased £1,000 worth last week. Having more or less exhausted our cash supply, it will be another two months before the club can make its next purchase and, after three purchases on the trot, a pause for breath seems appropriate.
Although it is far too early to comment on the club's performance the initial signs are encouraging. NXT (LSE: NTX) has been the star performer with rumoured deals and a possible second listing on NASDAQ driving the share price to new highs. Tesco (LSE: TSCO) has been less inspiring. It seems to have been weighed down by continual speculation that it will make a bid for Marks & Spencer(LSE: MKS). Such a move would be a considerable departure for the supermarket giant. It is also part of a consortium bidding for one of the five UK licences for the next generation of mobile phones.
Tesco also released their Christmas trading figures on Monday showing that like for like sales in the UK were up 5.5% and that operating margins were maintained. The group also reported that sales of its online delivery business had grown tenfold since last year making it the largest such business in the world.
Marconi's price did something very unusual in the few days after we made our purchase. It actually went up. The shock was too much for some Fools and extra smelling salts were ordered. Rob and myself visited the company on Friday and met with their investor relations manager. Expect a summary of our thoughts in the near future.
Valuation as at: 17 Jan 2000
Shares Price Value
Tesco 544 163p 886.72
NXT 72 1677.5p 1207.80
Marconi 107 966p 1033.62
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3128.14
Estimated disposal costs (45.00)
Cash in the kitty 234.08
Outstanding contributions 50.00
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Total pot 3367.05
Units issued 3316.74
Unit price 101.52
Performance to date +1.52%
(After £28 for Proshare manual!)
The Motley Fool Staff Investment Club
January Y2K Crisis Meeting Minutes
Location: Fool UK HQ, meeting table in the west wing. Time: 13:00 hours Date: Wednesday 5th January 2K
In attendance:Bruce Jackson (Aussie); Chris Spink (Seccie); David Berger (Chiefy);
Ewan Wilson (Techie); George Row (Beardie); Stuart Watson (Money);
Norma Boylan (Bookie); Rob Davies (Bargee); Martin Wake (Wordy);
Winfried Rauter (Jerry); Angus Scott-Brown (Scottie); Renée Rosen-Wakeford (Catty);
Phil Southgate (Media); Adrian Gordon (Yankee); James Carlisle (Beery).
Apologies for absence
These were received on the TMF SIC board from exterior members TMFs Nigel, Keith and Jenko. Another external member, Alan Oscroft, was in the building during the meeting. He didn't realise it was taking place though! Toby Mason remained flu-ridden.
Minutes of the previous meeting
Pooper was thanked for another excellent round up. He received polite applause for his efforts.
Matter arising
This was to do with outstanding contributions, the concern being that only overseas members of the club had yet to pay up. On cue the only overseas member, Angussb, on demand handed over nine crisp £50 notes (£450), covering all of his outstanding payments and those for the coming year.
Yet again membership of Pro Share has still to be completed. Mr Chairman rounded up some offenders but he still needs signatures from remote non-attenders, Nigel, Keith and Jenko.
Treasurer's report
TMF Tiger gave an unaudited preliminary year-end report on the club's finances. If you had invested £1 in the club at the outset, this would have turned into 98p. That's after accounting for dealing charges. After a quick calculation, Tigger said the club had approximately £1,200 in the bank -- enough to purchase another share, if so desired.
Investments
Trading
Rob said that the club now owns two stocks, Tesco and NXT, both trading at close to the purchase price (in other words less than we paid for them!). He went on to say we currently have enough funds to make a third purchase. This brought us onto the next item.
Next investment
Four stocks were put forward:
Cable & Wireless by Ewan. The proposal and debate can be read on the TMF SIC board.
Affyimetrix by Dave. For more information look at the Rulebreaker pieces about Affy.
Redstone by Tigger. Proposal on the TMF SIC board.
Comino by Chris. Soon to appear on the TMF SIC board.
A wide ranging debate followed about the application of telecom technology and which types of companies would benefit from the communications revolution. This threw up old favourite Marconi, previously proposed by Essex, as an additional candidate on the ballot paper.
It was agreed that voting is to be completed, in the same manner as last time, by 6pm on Wednesday 12th January. Keeping the cash remains an option, as previously.
Any other business
Norma reported that Fools who have recently joined the company were wondering whether they could set up a 'shadow' club which would track the original TMF SIC's moves. This was thought not to be the best thing to do. In any case the investment club rules of association do not permit it. However, plans to start a new separate club which existing members of TMF SIC 'A' could join were welcomed. There was broad agreement that this sounded like a good way of going forward. Several members said they would be keen on joining TMF SIC 'B'.
No biscuits had been eaten at the meeting but Renée thought pizza might be a more appealing foodstuff to consume at lunchtime. Phil however thought it might distract members. So we will go into the next meeting hungry again.
Date, time and location of next meeting.
February's meeting will be held at the same venue (west wing of Fool HQ) on Wednesday February 2nd at 1300 hours.
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