Share Sleuth: new holding halves the cash pile
With the portfolio flush with more than £11,000 in cash, Richard Beddard was on the hunt for opportunities. He runs through the main contenders and why he’s gone for a new holding.
10th September 2026 09:18
by Richard Beddard from interactive investor
August’s trade was straightforward, because of the decisions I made in July.
Then I reduced the portfolio’s holding in Softcat (LSE:SCT), leaving it flush with £11,484 in cash. I also decided that I probably wouldn’t add to Share Sleuth’s holding in top-ranked Thorpe (F W) (LSE:TFW) again until the company publishes its annual report. It should land in October.
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I set aside Wednesday 26 August to think about trades. The portfolio’s minimum trade size (2.5% of its total value) was £5,870. There was more than enough money to add to a holding or add a new holding.
The Decision Engine was not prompting me to make any reductions. None of the holdings exceeded their ideal holding sizes by more than the minimum trade size. The ideal holding size, you may remember, is determined by their scores using a formula documented in this explainer.
Consequently, I was in an expansive frame of mind.
Additions: Cake Box v Quartix
The Decision Engine offered me familiar names. In addition to FW Thorpe, I have resisted adding shares in Judges Scientific (LSE:JDG), Autotrader Group (LSE:AUTO) and YouGov (LSE:YOU) before, but for a different reason.
The quality scores of these shares, my verdict on their capabilities, the risks they face, and the strategies they are employing to address those risks, are relatively low. I’ve been able to find alternative shares with higher quality scores to add to the portfolio.
Happily, the same was true this time:
| # | company | description | score | qual | price | ih% | ss% | ih%-% |
| 1 | FW Thorpe | Makes lighting systems for commercial, industrial and public settings | 9.9 | 9.0 | 0.9 | 9.9% | 6.7% | 3.2% |
| 8 | Cake Box | Cake shop (Cake Box) and sweet shop (Ambala) franchisor | 7.7 | 7.0 | 0.7 | 5.4% | 5.4% | |
| 10 | Judges Scientific | Acquires and grows businesses that manufacture scientific instruments | 7.5 | 6.5 | 1.0 | 5.0% | 5.0% | |
| 15 | Quartix | Supplies vehicle tracking systems to small fleets | 7.1 | 7.0 | 0.1 | 4.2% | 1.6% | 2.6% |
| 17 | Auto Trader | Online marketplace for motor vehicles | 6.9 | 6.0 | 0.9 | 3.8% | 3.8% | |
| 18 | YouGov | Surveys public opinion and conducts market research online | 6.8 | 6.0 | 0.8 | 3.7% | 3.7% |
Click on a share’s score to see a breakdown (scores may have changed due to movements in share price). Key: qual is the share’s score out of 9 for the three quality factors (capabilities, risks, and strategy), price is the price score from -3 to +1, ih% is the suggested ideal holding size as a percentage of the total value of a diversified portfolio, ss% is the actual size of Share Sleuth’s holding, and ih%-% is the difference between ideal and actual sizes.
In July, I passed over a potential new holding, Cake Box Holdings Ordinary Shares (LSE:CBOX) because it had just published its annual report and I was about to re-score it. Newly re-scored in August, it was back in the frame, ranked 8th with a score of 7.7.
Although the debt Cake Box used to acquire sweet maker Ambala concerns me and Ambala’s potential as a franchise is unproven, I think these are risks worth taking.
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Ranked 15th with a score of 7.1, Quartix Technologies (LSE:QTX) is a new name in the list of potential additions. Having recovered somewhat in 2025, the share price has slid downwards for most of 2026, which has in turn lifted the share’s price score.
Share Sleuth’s Quartix trades: b’s indicate additions to the Share Sleuth portfolio, while s’s indicate reductions.
The company published decent half-year results in July, but the picture is muddied by accounting changes and relatively modest growth in the company’s installed base. This may be connected to the introduction of inflationary price increases.
Adding Cake Box
Adding a new holding, like Cake Box is risky. Inevitably I know it less well than shares I have reviewed and scored for many years, like Quartix.
Cake Box was not completely new to me though. I have reviewed and scored its last two annual reports. It is the higher-ranked share, and it diversifies the portfolio.
I let the decision sit with me over lunch. Then, on Wednesday 26 August I added 3,041 Cake Box shares to the Share Sleuth portfolio.
The actual price, quoted by a broker, was 193p, which cost £5,879.13 including £10 in lieu of fees.
Share Sleuth performance
At the close on 8 September, Share Sleuth was worth £228,881, 662% more than the £30,000 of pretend money we started with in September 2009.
The same amount invested in accumulation units of a FTSE All-Share index tracking fund would be worth £119,854, an increase of 300%.
Past performance is not a guide to future performance.
After dividends paid during the month from Bloomsbury Publishing (LSE:BMY), Latham (James) (LSE:LTHM), Porvair (LSE:PRV), and Oxford Instruments (LSE:OXIG), Share Sleuth’s cash pile is £5,604.
The minimum trade size, 2.5% of the portfolio’s value, is £5,712.
| Share Sleuth, 08 Sep 2026 | Cost (£) | Value (£) | Return (%) | ||
| Cash (2% of portfolio) | 5,604 | ||||
| Current holdings (27 shares) | 222,881 | ||||
| Total, and performance since 9 September 2009 | 30,000 | 228,485 | 662 | ||
| Benchmark: FTSE All-Share index tracker (acc) | 30,000 | 119,854 | 300 | ||
| Companies | Shares | Cost (£) | Value (£) | Return (%) | |
| AMS | Advanced Medical Solutions | 1,965 | 4,503 | 5,522 | 23 |
| ANP | Anpario | 1,124 | 4,057 | 6,126 | 51 |
| BMY | Bloomsbury | 1,007 | 5,002 | 6,223 | 24 |
| BNZL | Bunzl | 417 | 9,798 | 11,084 | 13 |
| BOWL | Hollywood Bowl | 4,002 | 10,348 | 9,985 | -4 |
| CBOX | Cake Box | 3,041 | 5,879 | 5,778 | -2 |
| CHH | Churchill China | 1,495 | 17,228 | 5,494 | -68 |
| CHRT | Cohort | 836 | 6,315 | 9,514 | 51 |
| FAN | Volution | 830 | 5,151 | 5,461 | 6 |
| FOUR | 4Imprint | 116 | 2,251 | 5,088 | 126 |
| GAW | Games Workshop | 66 | 4,116 | 11,880 | 189 |
| GDWN | Goodwin | 36 | 871 | 5,558 | 538 |
| HWDN | Howden Joinery | 1,476 | 10,371 | 11,188 | 8 |
| JET2 | Jet2 | 822 | 5,211 | 12,363 | 137 |
| KEYS | Keystone Law | 1,024 | 5,550 | 6,031 | 9 |
| LTHM | James Latham | 1,150 | 14,437 | 12,190 | -16 |
| MACF | Macfarlane | 7,689 | 10,011 | 6,128 | -39 |
| OXIG | Oxford Instruments | 505 | 10,044 | 13,938 | 39 |
| PRV | Porvair | 906 | 4,999 | 7,647 | 53 |
| QTX | Quartix | 1,618 | 3,988 | 3,560 | -11 |
| RNWH | Renew Holdings | 1,310 | 9,804 | 11,856 | 21 |
| RSW | Renishaw | 117 | 3,698 | 5,961 | 61 |
| SCT | Softcat | 382 | 5,508 | 7,132 | 29 |
| SOLI | Solid State | 5,009 | 6,033 | 9,667 | 60 |
| TFW | Thorpe (F W) | 6,153 | 14,861 | 16,182 | 9 |
| TSTL | Tristel | 1,432 | 5,509 | 5,871 | 7 |
| TUNE | Focusrite | 2,020 | 14,128 | 5,454 | -61 |
Notes
Costs include £10 broker fee, and 0.5% stamp duty where appropriate
Cash earns no interest
Dividends and sale proceeds are credited to the cash balance
Objective: To beat the index tracking fund handsomely over five year periods
Source: ShareScope.
Richard Beddard is a freelance contributor and not a direct employee of interactive investor.
Richard owns all of the shares in the Share Sleuth portfolio.
For more on the Decision Engine and Share Sleuth, please see Richard’s explainer.
Contact Richard Beddard by email: richard@beddard.net or on Twitter: @RichardBeddard
AIM stocks tend to be volatile high-risk/high-reward investments and are intended for people with an appropriate degree of equity trading knowledge and experience.
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