The June meeting of The Motley Fool's staff investment club was an entirely different affair to the normal sober, reasoned seething acrimony of twenty people trying to eat their lunch, for three main reasons:
- It was in a pub
- It was in the evening
- Only nine people turned up
Lots of business got done; notably, a new strategic direction (a what?) proposed by Chair and new broom wielder Nick Jenkins (TMFJenko), which involved researching stocks properly and getting guest speakers in.
Proposals for investments -- we haven't spent any money since April -- were strictly from the technology sector, and included the suggestion of a top-up of one of our existing holdings. Perhaps "an average-down" would be more accurate; at the date of the meeting, only one of our holdings was showing a profit. The Treasurer drily pointed out that members would not need to worry about working out their tax liabilities.
The valuation of our portfolio, and the minutes of the meeting, are below.
Valuation as at 9 June 2000
Shares Date Bid Disposal Gain/
held bought price value (loss)
Tesco 544 24 Nov 99 213 1158.72 +16.0%
NXT 72 10 Dec 99 1160 835.20 -15.4%
Marconi 107 13 Jan 00 909 972.63 -2.9%
ARM 125 7 Apr 00 705 881.25 -12.2%
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3847.80
Estimated commission (48.00)
Cash in the kitty 1383.10
Outstanding contributions 275.00
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Total pot 5457.90
Units issued 5756.12
Unit price 94.82p
Performance to date -5.2%
Related Links
• TMF Staff Investment Club discussion board
• Investment Clubs discussion board
• The Fool's Guide to Investment Clubs
• Fool Books -- The Fool's Guide to Investment Clubs
The Motley Fool Staff Investment Club
June "New Beginning" meeting minutes
Location: Prince of Wales Feathers, Warren Street.
Time: 19:00 hours
Date: Tuesday 6th June 2K
In attendance: On time: Bruce Jackson (TMFGoogly); Stuart Watson (TMFTiger); Norma Boylan (TMFSymphony); Adrian Gordon (TMFSiD); Keith Milner (TMFKeith) (Sec of the month). Late: Nick Jenkins (TMFJenko) (7.15pm); James Carlisle (TMFJimmyC) (7.20ish); Jane Mack (TMFJane) (7.20ish); Ewan Wilson (TMFTheDogs) (8.15pm)
(Who are these Fools?)
1. Apologies for absence
Apologies from Martin Wake, Mandy Boylan, Alan Oscroft, Renée Rosen-Wakeford, Angus Scott-Brown and Chris Spink. AWOL: George Row, Nigel Roberts, Winfried Rauter, Phil Southgate and David Berger.
2. Secretary of the Month and Minutes of the previous meeting
The minutes were agreed and seconded. Whoever wrote them was thanked. Keith agreed to write the minutes of this meeting and Ewan the next meeting.
3. Matters arising
The Chairman thanked our mysterious benefactor, Norma Bowlynne, for reserving the tables. We would have liked to do this in person but she never showed up. Ms Bowlynne also reserved tables for the Fool's Social on Wednesday but again failed to show.
For one last time the departure of the previous Chairman was referred to with sadness. The new Chairman encouraged the club by saying Rob would have expected us to use foresight, and especially hindsight, in looking to the future. So we wiped the tears from our eyes, and ordered another round of drinks.
4. Treasurer's report
Stuart reported on the club's finances. The value of a £1 unit at the end of May was 85.1p. NXT wins the turnip prize. At one point this stock was up 75%. It is now down 40%. Once we have the June subs we will have cash reserves of £1,400. Plus there are outstanding contributions of £200.
Fortified by alcohol the members present decided that a tough line should be taken with these miscreants. They should "pay up or get out", said several anonymous members. We have the cash to buy them out if necessary or their shares could be offered to new members, or bought out by existing members. TMF "Bruiser" Jenko was pushed to the front to resolve this using his experience from the LMC board.
Stuart reported that the club had earned about £3 of interest on its cash, which split between 20 members meant that there was no tax to pay. However, there was some bureaucracy to go through which he would pursue.
At this stage Bruce proposed buying a round of drinks out of club funds for those stalwarts and keen members who had showed up. This would also encourage attendance at future meetings. For one euphoric moment this proposal looked like it might have been passed until the calming tones of Norma said it was unfair and unFoolish. Shamefacedly we agreed.
5. Chairman's Strategic Review
To a hushed audience the Chairman gave his strategic appraisal and set a new direction for the club. There would be no more scattergun approach where members could turn up and propose shares without adequate prior notice or information. Discipline was essential. Very strict discipline... (uproar, and fade to black)
When the meeting resumed the club agreed that three members would be appointed by the Chairman each month to research a share and post their results on the board a week before the next meeting. This research could be for a buy or a sell, and would be discussed by other members on the board. We agreed we ought to use the board more. Volunteers were welcome but the intention was that everybody would eventually have a go at researching a share on an informal rota basis.
It was also agreed that we would have an educational item on the agenda, possibly with a guest speaker, speaking for five minutes on a topic, followed by five minutes of questions. The topic for the next month was to be dividends with Rob Davies in the hot seat.
5. Investments
There had been no trading since early April. There were funds for a new investment.
Three stocks were put forward:
Sage (LSE: SGE) by Jane. Sage produced accounting software primarily aimed at small businesses, and there were a lot of small businesses. Sage had been the best-performing share in the 1990s. Jane would post her thoughts on the TMF SIC discussion board.
ARM Holdings (LSE: ARM) by James. "The bluest of Blue Chips" he said, quoting someone from the boards. The P/E of 350 to 400 was irrelevant because the growth blows it into insignificance. ARM was very, very safe and diversification was not needed. Another write-up for the TMFSIC board.
Forbidden Technologies (LSE: FBT) by Ewan. This newly-floated company was in the video compression business and competing with GEO Interactive Media (LSE: GIM), among others. Adrian asked whether we understood the "Lego Rhythms" used in this software -- we all had to admit we didn't and therefore labelled it a very risky buy. Ewan to post on the TMF SIC board.
We agreed that voting would be in the same manner as last time -- by 6pm on Friday 16 June. Keeping the cash remains an option, as ever.
6. Any other business
We agreed that meeting in the pub had been productive and had engendered a higher quality of debate than any previous meeting. This was mostly due to only nine members being present but the alcohol and absence of time pressures undoubtedly also helped. A larger group would have been impracticable in this bar environment. Proposals for next meeting were either a picnic in Regents Park or a meeting in the Office with drinks from the off-licence. Alternating bar and office environments was another option.
7. Date, time and location of next meeting
Tuesday 4 July at 7pm. Venue to be decided.
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