Great Titchfield Street, London -- Somewhat later than usual, here are the latest monthly shenanigans from The Motley Fool Staff Investment Club (TMF SIC). Very late in fact because the next meeting takes place tomorrow!
It was a quieter month for the club. Having splurged on the initial trio of investments, this was a month for reflection before the cash balances grew above £1,000 again and we made our next purchase. But in terms of performance it has been somewhat of a rollercoaster ride. Of our three investments to date, NXT (LSE: NTX) has been the star performer. Tesco (LSE: TSCO) and Marconi (LSE: MNI) have not performed as well. But all three of the stocks have fallen in the last few weeks. Whereas we were up more than 20% not that long ago, our gains are now firmly back in single-digit territory, as the valuation section further down this article illustrates.
Fools are always thinking ahead. Once the March subscriptions have hit the club bank account there will be enough for a fourth investment. Current proposals include Nokia, which has since become a member of the Rule Shaker portfolio, and Tomkins (LSE: TOMK). Ideas carried forward from previous meetings include Autonomy and Cable & Wireless(LSE: CW.).
We are also interested in the flotation of Lastminute.com. After a little homework and with the help of Fools on the boards we established that this should be a relatively easy process. One club member, not applying for the flotation for themselves, could apply on our behalf and would hold the shares for the club. However, given the interest in Lastminute the chance of getting anywhere near the £1,000 we have invested in other companies to date, seems somewhat remote. No doubt this will be discussed at the March meeting.
The possibility of a rival club is increasing by the day, given the growth in staff numbers at the Motley Fool, and the fact that the current club already has the normal maximum of 20 members. Expect to see TMF SIC II -- This Time it's Personal Finance at a website near you in the near future.
The other main topic of debate was the location for meetings. Many clubs meet in a local pub but the one meeting our club had in such surroundings proved to be less than successful. One coherent discussion amongst twenty people in a pub is not easy. Come to think of it, many us find any sort of coherent discussion in a pub difficult, whatever the number of people.
Valuation as at 29 Feb 2000
Shares Date bought Price Value Gain/Loss
Tesco 544 24 Nov 99 171 930.24 -6.4%
NXT 72 10 Dec 99 2000 1440.00 +46.5%
Marconi 107 13 Jan 00 788 843.16 -14.3%
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3213.40
Estimated disposal costs (36.00)
Cash in the kitty 509.88
Outstanding contributions 250.00
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Total pot 3937.28
Units issued 3779.06
Unit price 104.19p
Performance to date +4.2%
Note: prices used are estimated disposal prices (i.e. bid prices).
Minutes of the February Meeting
Location: Fool office, meeting table in the west wing.
Time: 13:00 hours
Date: Wednesday February 2 2K
In Attendance: Bruce Jackson (TMF Googly); Chris Spink (TMFEagle); George Row (TMF Grow); Stuart Watson (TMFTiger); Norma Boylan (TMFSymphony); Rob Davies (TMFEssex); Martin Wake (TMFSorted); Renée Rosen-Wakeford (TMFPurr); Keith Milner (TMFKeith); Phil Southgate (TMFPopper); Adrian Gordon (TMFSiD); James Carlisle (TMFJimmyC); Alan Oscroft (TMF Alan).
1. Apologies for absence
These were received from David Berger (TMFFoolUK); Ewan Wilson (TheBoyEwan); Winfried Rauter (TMFBerlin); Angus Scott-Brown (TMFLost); Nick Jenkins (TMFJenko). Toby Mason (TMFToby) and Nigel Roberts (TMFNigel) failed, most unusually, to deliver any spam.
2. Minutes of the previous meeting
These were approved. After much pleading, Keith kindly agreed to take the minutes at the March meeting since Chris is away. Jimmy C said he would fill in at the April meeting.
3. Matter arising
a) Yet again the chairman Mr Davies said he still required a couple of signatures in order to complete the ProShare membership form. The two outstanding names were remote absentees Nigel and Jenko.
4. Treasurer's report
Stuart gave a full and detailed report on the progress of the club's investments to date. As at the end of January the unit price had risen from 100p to 102.7p, turning Fools' £150 of contributions into £155.
5. Investments
a) Trading
The club purchased 107 shares in Marconi at 920p on January 13. As a result the club now owns three stocks, Tesco, NXT and Marconi, all trading at close to the purchase price. The original proposers updated members on their specific stocks. Rob said little had changed at Marconi recently. Phil urged members to take a look at David's interview with NXT chairman Farad Azima on the site. There was a discussion about Tesco's Internet shopping and home delivery service Tesco Direct. Renée had used the service and was less than impressed. She found the Iceland one much better. Rob urged her to try Somerfield's one as well.
b) Next investment
At present the club only has £750 cash & outstanding contributions, so no investment can be made. Some members, led by Jimmy C, wondered whether they could contribute a whole year's sub up front to facilitate further purchases. Instead a brief discussion followed about possible future investments. Angus has put a proposal to purchase Nokia on the TMF SIC message board. He will nominate someone physically to propose this Rule Shaker investment at the next meeting. The possibility of gaining access to the Lastminute.com IPO was also discussed. James is still keen on Autonomy and Chris and Keith want to test Chorion's Tiger Tiger bar. Martin thinks FI is still interesting in the wake of the Druid deal. There was no conclusion drawn about he number of shares the club should have in its portfolio. 10 was suggested as a rough guide.
6. Any other business
a) Bruce suggested a fun competition to get all 20 members involved in the joys of portfolio watching. He said each member should pick one stock for the year. The best performing one after 12 months will get £25 from the club and the second best performer will get £10. This was received with enthusiasm from most quarters.
b) Norma gave an update on the possibilities of a TMF SIC II. Both Mandy and Maria had been keen to follow this up.
7. Date, time and location of next meeting
Some people thought meeting in a separate room of a pub in the evening might encourage more members to turn up. TMF Beery, aka JimmyC, was going to investigate. However since then the officers of the club have decided to stick, for this month, to the same 1pm time on the first Wednesday of the month: 1st March this time. The meeting may be in the West wing of the office, but the table has since gone upstairs to floor 7. Perhaps then that would be a better spot?
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