SIPP PROGRESS

Current Value (As at 16th December 2024) = £266,230including cash

Highest Value (as at 8th November 2021) = £307,654
Target for 8th November 2024 = £275,000
Target for 8th November 2025 = £310,000
Value of SIPP at commencement of this blog on 1st August 2012 = £51,684.02.

Wednesday, 25 March 2015

Update on OPAY - a happy dilemma

After taking some advice from a mate in the City, I'm re-jigging this posting and just confirming the numbers.
Now that the dust has settled, and OPAY has been resumed trading on the markets, the share price has settled down to approx 565 per share. That means my OPAY shares are worth £22,600.
My overall SIPP value stands at £89,170 including cash of £3,943.30

Where I go from here with OPAY, I'm not too sure.
To take up the rights issue - 5 new shares for each of my 3 existing shares - I will have to find another £11,332 plus dealing costs (if any). I'm entitled to 6,666 new shares at £1.67 each.
What I may do is sell off part of my options to the rights issue to finance exercising part of it.

Should I exercise the option, I'd have 10,666 shares worth approx (£22,600 plus £11,332) £33,932
This implies a share price on Day-1 (post rights issue) of £3.18 approx.
This takes no account of any "market approval" of the rights issue, but there may (or may not) be an uplift on Day-1.

If I do not exercise the option, but decide to sell it, then I should be able to sell the option to the rights issue at £1.51 per (new) share - this is £3.18 less the option price of £1.67.  That will give me approx, £10,000 in cash, and I will retain my 4000 shareholding which will be worth (at £3.18 a share) approx £12,720.  Note: £10,000 + £12,720 is approximately equal to the current value of the shares which is £22,600.

I have a couple of weeks to ponder this over, and decide whether to take:-
1) the £10,000 in cash (this seems to be the simplest option);
2) finance the rights-issue either in part;
3) finance the rights-issue in full;
4) Post rights-issue: whether to hold-on for a few weeks or sell-off a major portion and rebalance my portfolio.


Monday, 23 March 2015

OPAY seeking reverse takeover entry into FTSE250

Tremendous news this morning regarding the largest shareholding in the SIPP, as OPAY announce record annual figures for the year ending 31st December 2014, and the intention to purchase financial services company Skrill.
This is very exciting news as the combined company could have a share value of 660+ (close on Friday 20th March was 418) and cost savings plus the enhancement brought about by an entry into the FTSE250 for the enlarged group has seen forecasts this morning of a potential share value of 900+. Considering my initial purchase back in March 2012 was at 165, and I've been adding to that with my latest purchase at 307, my current holding of 4000 units is looking good.

Must admit, I thought the company was ripe for a takeover bid, but never thought the company would try and grow exponentially with a reverse takeover and move from AIM into the FTSE250.

Overall, my SIPP has been looking very positive since the turn of the year.
I've been reviewing it more recently, with some additions to the Investment Trusts.
Despite my success with some of my AIM purchases (see OPAY above), some of my stock-picking has been a bit haphazard, and so I've decided to gradually phase out those companies who have a market value of under £300 million from my SIPP. To replace them, I've decided to invest in an IT that specialises in companies of that value: namely BlackRock Smaller Companies Trust (BRSC). I've started off with a purchase equivalent to 2% of the SIPP value and acquired 202 shares, and intend to increase this shareholding by the equivalent of 1% of the SIPP value  per-month during the remainder of 2015, until it reaches an initial maximum of 10% of the SIPP value.

I recently decided to reverse my decision to invest in the smaller companies of the US and I've sold-off my entire holding of 500 shares in the Jupiter US Smaller Companies IT (JUS) and transfer that into my holding of Fidelity Asian Values (FAS), making the total holding 1,990 shares. I feel more positive about growth in the Asian markets than I do about the North American markets. And I also feel the same about Emerging Markets, and my holding in the JPMorgan Emerging Markets IT (JMG) has done well in recent months, so I've topped-up my holding there to 860 shares.


I've doubled my holding in GVC Holdings plc (GVC) to 500 shares as I think this company which operates in internet gambling, has potential to grow significantly. For the same reason, I have also more than doubled my shareholding in Hill & Smith Holdings (HILS) to 375 shares.


Lancashire Holdings (LRE) is a specialist insurance company, and is a tremendous cash generator. Although declared annual dividends are at about 1.80% pa, the company has a history of exceptional special dividends. As such, to take advantage of this I have increased my shareholding to 1000 shares (from 200). 


I have also recently doubled my holding in Premier Foods (PFD) on the premise that they could be due a significant re-rating as they traded at 80+ for much of 2013 (current share price is 44). The transition in supermarkets from large out-of-town shopping centres to smaller local units means that shops have to focus on a limited number of products (due to lack of shelf space and storage) and should (in theory) favour the larger brands, and that will be good for Premier Foods in the long-run. 


Finally, I have trimmed my holding in Telit Communications from 1250 shares to 400 shares as I felt this company was too specialist for my portfolio. I feel similarly about the shareholding in XChanging but, as I'm currently sitting on a large paper loss, I'm waiting for an upturn to sell into.