Interactive Investor

Share Sleuth Portfolio

Our Share Sleuth Richard Beddard records the statistics, research and rationale behind all his decisions.

31st July 2019 15:53

by Richard Beddard from interactive investor

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The Share Sleuth model portfolio is focused on long-term value investing. Our Share Sleuth Richard Beddard records the statistics, research and rationale behind all his decisions as they are made, to give you a real insight into every company in the portfolio and why it's there. 

Strong businesses at attractive prices

The portfolio invests in stable trustworthy firms at attractive prices that can reasonably be expected to maintain or increase profitability over the long term (at least five years).

Strong finances indicate past success, high levels of profitability suggest current strength, and strategies that promise to differentiate companies in ways customers value promise future prosperity.

The aim is to hold these shares for as long as they meet Share Sleuth's criteria of trust and stability. Preferably forever.

Sometimes Share Sleuth may add shares in companies that are more susceptible to change. Economic downturns, competitors and poor managers push such companies around.

They may perform well for years and then shock investors when conditions change. The trick to investing in susceptibles is to add them when they are undervalued, but strong enough to survive, and eject them when conditions are at their most favourable.

PortfolioCost (£)Value (£)Return (%)
Cash4,088
Shares120,156
Since 9 September 200930,000124,243314%
CompaniesSharesCost (£)Value (£)Return (%)
ALUAlumasc938999868-13
ANPAnpario9373,1683,2332
AVONAvon Rubber1922,5102,404-4
CFXColefax4349432,213135
CGSCastings1,1093,1104,63649
CHHChurchill China3413,7515,42245
CHRTCohort1,6003,7477,01687
DTGDart4562503,5611,325
DWHTDewhurst7352,2448,085260
GAWGames Workshop1985689,2861,535
GDWNGoodwin2666,6469,04436
HWDNHowden Joinery7483,2283,78817
JDGJudges Scientific2525,9898,88348
NXTNext452,1992,54616
PMPPortmeirion3493,2123,52510
QTXQuartix1,0852,7982,9847
RM.RM1,2753,0382,984-2
RSWRenishaw921,7393,487100
SOLISolid State1,5464,5237,37463
TETTreatt1,2221,7345,475216
TFWThorpe (F W)2,0002,2076,500195
TRITrifast2,2613,3574,42032
TSTLTristel7502682,239735
VCTVictrex1502,2533,09938
XPPXP Power3396,2877,08513

Notes: No new additions. Transaction costs include £10 broker fee, and 0.5% stamp duty where appropriate. £30,000 invested on 9 September 2009 would be worth £124,243 today. £30,000 invested in FTSE All-Share index tracker accumulation units would be worth £66,335 today. Objective: To beat the index tracker handsomely over five-year periods. Source: SharePad, 25 July 2019.

Long-term performance

Performance is measured scrupulously after charging £10 in lieu of broker fees for every transaction and 0.5 per cent stamp duty on additions to the portfolio.

Transaction prices are actual prices quoted by a broker including the cost of the spread. Uninvested cash earns no interest.

Over any five-year period the portfolio should earn a positive real return and beat the stock market average as represented by a FTSE All-Share tracker fund with dividends reinvested, hopefully by a considerable margin. This is how Share Sleuth did in its first five years, to 9 September 2014.

The most recent valuation, and the performance of the portfolio since inception on 9 September 2009, can be found in the table below.

Who is Share Sleuth?

A freelance writer, Richard Beddard was an editor at Interactive Investor between 1999 and 2016. He has managed the portfolio since he started it in 2009. He's a private investor and columnist at Money Observer magazine.

You can join Richard on Twitter or contact him by emailing richard@beddard.net.

As these are Richard's best investment ideas, he owns many of the shares. He doesn’t buy or sell shares on his own account within a week of writing about them and he informs Interactive Investor's editor when he profiles a company he owns, in line with the Press Complaints Commission's code of practice.

He won't profit from short-term price movements that might result from something he's written.

These articles are provided for information purposes only.  Occasionally, an opinion about whether to buy or sell a specific investment may be provided by third parties.  The content is not intended to be a personal recommendation to buy or sell any financial instrument or product, or to adopt any investment strategy as it is not provided based on an assessment of your investing knowledge and experience, your financial situation or your investment objectives. The value of your investments, and the income derived from them, may go down as well as up. You may not get back all the money that you invest. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser.

Full performance can be found on the company or index summary page on the interactive investor website. Simply click on the company's or index name highlighted in the article.

Disclosure

We use a combination of fundamental and technical analysis in forming our view as to the valuation and prospects of an investment. Where relevant we have set out those particular matters we think are important in the above article, but further detail can be found here.

Please note that our article on this investment should not be considered to be a regular publication.

Details of all recommendations issued by ii during the previous 12-month period can be found here.

ii adheres to a strict code of conduct.  Contributors may hold shares or have other interests in companies included in these portfolios, which could create a conflict of interests. Contributors intending to write about any financial instruments in which they have an interest are required to disclose such interest to ii and in the article itself. ii will at all times consider whether such interest impairs the objectivity of the recommendation.

In addition, individuals involved in the production of investment articles are subject to a personal account dealing restriction, which prevents them from placing a transaction in the specified instrument(s) for a period before and for five working days after such publication. This is to avoid personal interests conflicting with the interests of the recipients of those investment articles.

This article was originally published in our sister magazine Money Observer, which ceased publication in August 2020.

These articles are provided for information purposes only. Occasionally, an opinion about whether to buy or sell a specific investment may be provided by third parties. The content is not intended to be a personal recommendation to buy or sell any financial instrument or product, or to adopt any investment strategy as it is not provided based on an assessment of your investing knowledge and experience, your financial situation or your investment objectives. The value of your investments, and the income derived from them, may go down as well as up. You may not get back all the money that you invest. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser.

Full performance can be found on the company or index summary page on the interactive investor website. Simply click on the company's or index name highlighted in the article.

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