Source: Royal Mail Roland owns shares of Royal Mail. FY17 results: 18 May 2017 My review of Royal Mail’s 2016/17 full-year results. Royal Mail is a holding in another of my portfolios. This has historically focused on income, but I’m now shifting it towards my

Disclosure: Roland owns shares of Gattaca, BHP Billiton and Hargreaves Services. Today I’m going to provide an update on recent changes and news affecting three of the stocks in my portfolio, BP plc (LON:BP), Hargreaves Services plc (LON:HSP) and new arrival Gattaca plc (LON:GATC). BP:

Disclosure: I have no financial interest in any company mentioned. ShareSoc’s northern expansion is continuing (!), and the society held another of its growth stock seminars in Leeds last week. The companies presenting were Premaitha Health (LON:NIPT), Evgen Pharma (LON:EVG) and Palace Capital (LON:PCA). As previously,

Disclosure: I have no financial interest in any company mentioned. As a North Yorkshire resident, I can’t generally justify travelling to London for investor events. So I was happy to receive an invite to the inaugural ShareSoc Growth company seminar in Leeds on Tuesday 19 July. The Leeds

Disclosure: I have no financial interest in any company mentioned. Today’s update from troubled stamp deal Stanley Gibbons (see here for my previous coverage) has triggered a further slide in the firm’s shares. As is traditional, the update started with the good news. Targeted annualised operating

Disclosure: I have no financial interest in any company mentioned. One of the biggest investing disasters of the last year — among real businesses, not obvious joke stocks — has been stamp and collectibles dealer Stanley Gibbons Group (SGI.L). The bad news came to a head on Monday when

Disclosure: I own shares of Lonmin. In Las Vegas, they say don’t bet against the house, because the house always wins. On the AIM Casino, it’s the lenders against whom you shouldn’t bet. They always win. Over the last year or so, we’

Disclosure: I have no financial interest in any company mentioned in this article. John Roberts, chief executive of online electrical retailer AO World declared today that the company is continuing to deliver on “our mission to redefine retailing”. As far as I can tell, this simply involves undercutting

Disclosure: I have no financial interest in the companies mentioned in this article. Having been bearish on Stanley Gibbons for more than a year now, I thought I should comment on the firm’s latest interim results. What a dreadful set of figures they were too. Here are a

Disclosure: I have no financial interest in the companies mentioned in this article. I’ve been quite bearish on Stanley Gibbons over the last year. In my view the firm has been exhibiting the characteristics of business riding an unsustainable bubble. In this article I’ll explain why

Disclosure: I have no financial interest in any of the companies mentioned but intend to buy shares in IndigoVision within a few days of the publication date of this article. Small cap IP video security specialist IndigoVision has a history of inconsistent performance, which appears to be due to the

Disclosure: I have no financial interest in any of the companies mentioned. The big housebuilders have proved to be a spectacular investment. Barratt Developments, for example, has risen by 500% in five years. Even if you were late to the party and only invested one year ago, you would still

Disclosure: I own shares in Shoe Zone. After disappointing investors with an early profit warning in April, less than a year after its listing, Shoe Zone PLC (LON:SHOE) appears to be back on track. At sub-200p, the shares look more attractive than they did before April’s slide,

Disclosure: I have no financial interest in companies mentioned in this article. I recently considered adding consultancy group RPS Group Plc (LON:RPS) to my value portfolio. This firm specialises in energy and infrastruture consultancy, with a particular emphasis on oil and gas. I was attracted by RPS’s

Disclosure: I have no financial interest in companies mentioned in this article. In June 2014, I bought shares in interdealer broker Tullett Prebon Plc (LON:TLPR). At the time, the firm’s stock was languishing well below 300p — I paid 282p for my shares. This put the stock

Disclosure: I own shares in Flybe Group. Results update 10/06/15: Flybe published its final results for 2014 today. There was little to add to the April trading update, really: the recovery plan appears to be proceeding to plan.  Flybe confirmed an underlying proft of £16m, putting the group

I’ve been bearish on Just Eat PLC (LON:JE) for some time now, but today’s acquisition suggests the firm’s management really have lost touch with reality, in my view. The UK-based firm is planning to pay £445m for Menulog, a similar firm operating in

John Maynard Keynes famously said that “the market can remain irrational longer than you can stay solvent“. It’s this risk — more than anything else — that makes shorting overvalued growth stocks such a hazardous occupation. For this reason, I prefer to find additional reasons to

Full disclosure: early in January 2015, I purchased shares in Lancashire Holdings Limited (LON:LRE). At the time they were trading at around 550p and seemed very cheap. Two months plus a 20% gain later, I’m not so sure. To be honest, I’m not sure my

Back in January, I highlighted AO World PLC (LON:AO) as a plausible short, based on the combination of a significant founder share sale, a ludricous post-IPO valuation, and borderline profitability. At the time, I disclosed my short position, which remains in place. The shares went on to rise above

An Ocado delivery van (source: Wikimedia / Waggers) It’s only taken 15 years for Ocado Group PLC (LON:OCDO) to turn a profit, but the online grocer managed this feat last year, according to the firm’s full-year results, which were published this morning. Although Ocado did manage

The downturns in coal, iron ore and oil have not done many favours for Fenner plc (LON:FENR), which specialises in reinforced polymer technology, and makes products such as the large, heavy duty conveyor belts used in coal mines. Fenner also makes a range of other polymer products, including hoses,

Investors tend to associate Ben Graham with value investing, but the master investor had an opinion on growth stocks too. Usefully for us, Mr Graham developed a very effective simplified alternative to discounted cash flow valuations. The Graham Formula, as it became known, provides an estimate of the intrinsic value

I have to admit that Norman Stoller isn’t a name that was familiar to me until today, when I saw that he had sold £10m worth of shares in online appliance retailer AO World PLC (LON:AO), back in December. A quick Google made things clear: millionaire businessman

Is it possible to take a balanced, non-partisan view on Quindell PLC (LON:QPP)? I think I managed this difficult feat quite well, in a new article for the Motley Fool this morning, which takes a closer look at news that a significant institutional shareholder has increased its stake in