Swan Investment Club

Swan Investment Club Independent club, established in 2002. We have 16 members residing in West Kent and surrounds. We DO NOT offer financial or investment advice.

At our meeting on Tuesday, 2 July nine members were present and we had a lively discussion. Our unit value was up 0.4% i...
07/07/2024

At our meeting on Tuesday, 2 July nine members were present and we had a lively discussion. Our unit value was up 0.4% in the month, beating all of our benchmark indexes, which were all down. Best performers were Goodwin +32% and Polar Capital Tech Trust +10%, whilst the biggest losers in the month were FW Thorpe -10% and Treatt -13%. Last month's purchase, Next was down 4.7%.

Spirent Communications +55% and Yu Group plc +40% are currently the best performers in the Chairman's competition (a free-to-enter competition in which each member chooses one share they think/hope will outperform in the year, with a prize for the winner in January). Bottom placed is YouGov, down 66% and it was noted the club dodged a bullet with this one as it fell heavily due to a profit warning just after the club sold its holding in May.

We voted to sell Treatt this month and make no purchases this time. Luceco was reviewed as a possible buy but there were too many negatives to recommend it for us. We agreed to review building contractors, house builders and materials suppliers next month.

The picture shows the graph for one of our best current holdings, BAE Systems. We review our holdings each month using proprietary software projected on screen for all members to see.

At our monthly meeting last Tuesday, 11 members were present, meaning 6 absent this time. We were delighted to welcome a...
10/09/2023

At our monthly meeting last Tuesday, 11 members were present, meaning 6 absent this time. We were delighted to welcome a guest, who found us through the website www.swaninvestmentclub.co.uk. We hope he is a prospective new member. We had another look at one or two ETFs as ideas for individual investments (the club usually sticks to buying individual shares but we discuss all sorts of other options for our personal portfolios). The graph shows one we looked at. It was noted that ETFs seem to show less volatility than investment trusts. Ashtead was one of the companies discussed this time, shortly following good results and a write-up in Investors Chronicle and has been a club favourite over the years but not currently held. We voted to buy some along with a top-up to our holding in BAE Systems. To fund those, we agreed to sell Liontrust and Spirax Sarco, which had both underperformed since our purchases.

08/07/2023

On Tuesday (4th) we had our July meeting with eight members present (holiday time of year and one or two not well). We have 15 members plus one former member who still attends as a guest when he can. The unit value of our funds was down a bit in line with the markets. In the chairman's competition Microsoft leads followed by Intel, BAE Systems then Strix.
One member has been following a model portfolio of ETFs and Investment Trusts so he gave a short presentation on performance to date. L&G Battery Value Chain ETF is the outstanding performer so far but it's early days.
We voted to cut our losses by selling Synthomer this month and using the proceeds to top up our holding in AstraZeneca, which has slipped a bit recently but we believe it will continue to be a strong performer over the medium to long term.
We’re approaching our 250th meeting so there was agreement that we should seek suggestions of how to mark the occasion with a small celebration (and hopefully a bit higher attendance on the day).

Later in the evening and feeling replete after a lovely meal and copious wine and beer.
27/05/2023

Later in the evening and feeling replete after a lovely meal and copious wine and beer.

The club is not just about investment and money. We also meet about twice a year for an evening dinner to which our part...
27/05/2023

The club is not just about investment and money. We also meet about twice a year for an evening dinner to which our partners are invited. These evenings obviously lapsed during the pandemic but last night they resumed. We met at the Mount Edgcumbe in Tunbridge Wells for an excellent and very convivial meal and drinks. Here we are enjoying pre-prandial drinks.

Another couple of photos from last night's meeting. We voted to sell shares in Ferguson this month. One of our better pe...
05/04/2023

Another couple of photos from last night's meeting. We voted to sell shares in Ferguson this month. One of our better performing shares is shown on screen, Zoo Digital. We usually have a laugh over our holding in ITM Power - the share price keeps dropping and we've doubled down a few times. One joke is we'll end up having to make a takeover bid at this rate 🤣.

The club we meet at is a welcoming place, where we have the use of a private room. There's a well-stocked bar with a range of beers (1 real ale), ciders, wines, spirits, soft drinks and bar snacks. We pay a small annual fee into the club for the room hire and a free drink at each meeting plus any other small expenses (usually small and one-off).

11 members were present at last night's meeting, the first since this page was created. The meeting was a littl...
05/04/2023

11 members were present at last night's meeting, the first since this page was created. The meeting was a little longer than usual due to 3 short presentations. First, the member who set up the FB page gave a brief presentation of how it was created and how it works. We use a projector and screen so that every member could clearly see the page projected from a laptop and read the first post with a few comments added. We want all of our members to like the page to encourage more hits, as we'd like to increase our membership by about 4 people.

Secondly, another member gave an interesting comparison of investment trusts (ITs) and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) as investment products using half a dozen parameters including discount to net asset value, performance over 1,3,5 & 10 years, charges, etc. This prompted a lively discussion comparing the two types of funds. Our members generally prefer these products over Open-ended Funds (OEICs or Unit Trusts) for various reasons and few of us invest in the latter.

Then a third member gave a very interesting overview of the semi-conductor sector as an investment universe. This proved to be a real eye-opener for most of us as many of the biggest companies are not exactly household names and it's startling that only one company in the world can supply the equipment required to produce the high-end chips we're all used to using. Also the global manufacturing distribution of chips is surprisingly skewed.

Other items on the agenda included the treasurer's statement, chairman's competition (we each choose one share each year), members' own share sales and purchases and a brief review of each porfolio holding. We then look at any shares proposed for purchasing and vote on buys and sells.

11/03/2023

Welcome to the Swan Investment Club page. We are a small independent club, established in 2002 with 16 active members residing in West Kent and surrounding areas. Members are mostly self-taught amateurs and find that participation in club meetings is a valuable way to learn more about investment whilst having fun.

The club has its own funds with about twenty shares in the portfolio with a total value in the region of £200k. We trade actively as this leads to more interesting discussions and throws up new ideas. Our portfolio is held by broker, Hargreaves Lansdown; members make a monthly contribution by standing order which is used to purchase units in the fund and build up their investment.

A detailed knowledge of investment is not necessary but most members have their own individual portfolios. We often discuss strategy, the performance of individual holdings, but not their value. Members find it interesting and valuable to meet up and discuss informally matters of common interest. We try (Covid permitting!) to meet up at least annually for an evening dinner to which partners are invited.

If you are interested in joining us or would simply like to come along to a meeting to see what we do, please contact us by email.

Address

Avenue Du Puy
Tonbridge
TN91QH

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