Share Sleuth: a one-of-a-kind new holding for the portfolio

As June progressed, the month’s trade was shaping up to be a head-to-head competition between Keystone Law Group  Ordinary Shares (LSE:KEYS) and Judges Scientific (LSE:JDG) to join Share Sleuth.

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To add shares, I needed to reduce or remove a holding. The portfolio only held £4,350 in cash on 17 June, the day I set aside for trading decisions. The Minimum Trade Size, set at 2.5% of the portfolio’s total value, was £5,541.

Reductions: Games Workshop vs Bloomsbury Publishing

I didn’t wish to remove any shares from Share Sleuth completely. It wasn’t necessary because the Decision Engine offered me two reductions: Games Workshop Group (LSE:GAW) and Bloomsbury Publishing (LSE:BMY).

I had resisted selling Bloomsbury shares in recent months because I topped up the portfolio’s holding only last November. The subsequent announcement that the publisher will be releasing two books by blockbuster author Sarah J. Maas in December and January, though, has inflated expectations of profit in the year to February 2027. This has inflated the share price.

In the back of my mind is the fact that Maas’ blockbuster romantasy novels, like JK Rowling’s Harry Potter novels before them, have a big but episodic impact on profitability at Bloomsbury.

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Because traders follow the earnings, Sarah J. Maas years have a big impact on the share price. People tend to get a bit carried away when there’s a new book out.

I’m not a market timer, but these thoughts prey on my mind when I think about trading Bloomsbury!

Bloomsbury chart (1 Jan 2019 to 16 June 2026). Share Sleuth has held Bloomsbury continuously since 2019. The ‘b’s’ indicate additions to the portfolio and the ‘s’s’ indicate reductions to the holding.

It would be incorrect to say I’ve often regretted selling Games Workshop shares. I have a system and it doesn’t furnish me with perfect foresight. But the portfolio would have been much better off had I not been quick to reduce the holding five times in the nearly 17 years it has held shares in the company.

Games Workshop is truly the gift that keeps on giving.

Games Workshop chart (1 Jan 2009 to 16 June 2026). Share Sleuth has held Games Workshop continuously since 2009.  The ‘b’s’ indicate additions to the portfolio and the ‘s’s’ indicate reductions to the holding.

I last reduced the holding in February 2025, nearly a year and a half ago, which made the notion of trading Games Workshop slightly more palatable than trading Bloomsbury.

I put that thought aside, though. The Bloomsbury holding was riskier, I thought. Bloomsbury’s score was slightly lower. And it was slightly more over-represented in the portfolio. The holding was worth 2.9% of the portfolio’s total value, more than its ideal holding size (2.5%). Games Workshop was over-represented by 2.6% of the portfolio’s total value.

It was Bloomsbury that made way for a new share.

Additions: Keystone Law vs Judges Scientific

The anticipated dust-up between Keystone Law and Judges Scientific was complicated by the emergence of two more highly ranked contenders: top-ranked Thorpe (F W) (LSE:TFW) and Porvair (LSE:PRV), ranked sixth.

I excluded lower-ranked Autotrader Group (LSE:AUTO), Cake Box Holdings  Ordinary Shares (LSE:CBOX), and YouGov (LSE:YOU) from contention this month, although they also qualified for investment. The four high-scoring shares gave me more than enough to think about, and I passed on the three lower-ranked shares last month. Nothing much had changed.

I haven’t reappraised FW Thorpe or Porvair recently, because they have given me no reason to. They entered the frame because the portfolio has risen in value over the last two months, and they have not, or they haven’t risen as much.

High prices result in lower scores, so relatively speaking traders’ lack of interest in FW Thorpe and Porvair has increased their appeal to me.

A share’s rank is not the only thing I consider when thinking about trades. I bought more shares in FW Thorpe last November, and I prefer not to trade the same share without re-scoring it (in case I have overlooked something).

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Additionally, because Keystone Law and Judges Scientific were not portfolio constituents, they were more underrepresented in the portfolio. The difference between their ideal holding sizes and their actual sizes (0% of the portfolio’s total value) was nearly 5% of the portfolio’s total value.

For that reason, I decided to add shares in Keystone Law. On paper, the shares were equally attractive, the difference in score is immaterial (to see how I scored them, click on their scores in the tables).

In practice, Keystone Law is one of a kind, the only platform law firm listed in London. I think it will diversify the portfolio more.

Trade

The same day, I reduced Share Sleuth’s Bloomsbury holding by 875 shares to 1,007 shares.

The actual price, quoted by a broker, was just over 634p, which raised £5,538 after deducting £10 in lieu of fees.

I reinvested the proceeds in 1,024 Keystone Law shares.

The price, quoted by a broker, was 541p, which cost Share Sleuth £5,550 after deducting £10 in lieu of fees.

Share Sleuth performance

At the close on Wednesday 8 July, Share Sleuth was worth £226,364, 655% 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 115,296, an increase of 284%.

Past performance is not a guide to future performance.

After dividends paid during the month from Advanced Medical Solutions Group (LSE:AMS), Bunzl (LSE:BNZL), Churchill China (LSE:CHH), Macfarlane Group (LSE:MACF), Porvair, and Renew Holdings (LSE:RNWH), Share Sleuth’s cash pile is £4,694.

The minimum trade size, 2.5% of the portfolio’s value, is £5,659.

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 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