Professor Glen Arnold

Caledonian Trust (LSE:CNN), a residential and office property developer, has a market capitalisation of 93p x 11.8m shares = £11m. Its official balance sheet net asset value is £18m. But this is only part of the value. (Total liabilities are £4.3m, so this has to be deducted from any asset numbers which follow). Assets are […]

The start of a new year seems an appropriate time to examine how my portfolios have been getting along. (Some of you have joined us recently so, in case you are not familiar with them, I briefly describe the criteria for my portfolios following the portfolio performance tables.) The 2013 NCAV portfolio  Company Purchase date […]

In September 2016 I observed in a Newsletter that PV Crystalox’s market capitalisation was 160m shares x 16.75p = £26.8m, but the cash on the balance sheet alone was €24.8m or £20.7m, and net current asset value €38.1m or £31.7m. If we knock off one-third of inventory and one-fifth of receivables, to be really conservative, […]

Having bought PV Crystalox’s shares for my 2015 net current asset value portfolio at 12.2p in January of that year, a few days ago I sold them for 23.7p, a 94.5% return. If there is an enormous legal settlement payment to PV Crystalox (from a customer who reneged on a contract) then it will look […]

Lamprell does not satisfy my criterion of adjusted net current asset value per share being less than share price (see Newsletter 14.12.16). I estimate the NCAV per share at 58p (after marking down BS inventories and receivables) whereas the current share price is 94.75p. The business prospects in the medium term are not too bad, […]

Instability in the boardroom is the hallmark for the last five years at Lamprell (LSE:LAM). John Kennedy, an outsider, was appointed Executive Chairman in June 2012. Following an investigation by the FSA for failing to tell shareholders promptly about problems that led to five profit warnings in seven months CEO, Nigel McCue, was ousted in […]

The Lamprell family moved to Dubai in 1976. For the first two decades they focused on small offshore energy sector projects, ranging from repair and modification of drilling rigs to accommodation modules and the overhaul of cranes, winches and other rig machinery. Jackup oil drilling rigs came onto the scene in 1989 (see last Newsletter). […]

The main part of Lamprell’s (LSE:LAM) business, accounting for 70% – 90% of revenue, is the construction of large shallow-sea vessels, which can be moved around, but which look very odd. They are triangular or square(ish). At each corner is a leg.  When the vessel is moving the legs are not, as is usual for […]

In October I mentioned that I was going to examine Lamprell (LSE:LAM) to see if its share price had fallen below its net current asset value per share and it met the other criteria for NCAV investment. Back then the share was quoted at 73p, giving a market capitalisation of £250m. A quick, rather crude, […]

Today I want to encourage investors to curb over-ambition for financial greatness by considering the downside of pushing too hard – always consider the potential loss as well as the potential gain. Only invest what you can afford to lose without that loss having any effect on your daily life in the foreseeable future. (Peter […]