It is the beginning of the Carnival Season here in Somerset (hence the lousy weather) with the biggest, Bridgwater, getting things really rolling last Thursday night. It is Glastonbury's turn on Saturday and our own on Monday. This year we'll have a grandstand view as the start is more or less opposite the house. So, I've got the beer and sandwiches all organised for a colourful night of mayhem and good fun. These occasions seem to being the best out in everyone.
A modestly positive start to the week for main line stocks saw the FTSE100 gain 26 points on Monday, although tech stocks fared less well. As the storms battered the UK, it had little or no effect on the London markets although the FTSE100 put on a further 50 points. Investors with shares in Insurance Companies were likely feeling a bit nervous about the extent of claims to come. A poor day for Vodafone was behind the lacklustre performance of the FTSE on Wednesday and trading was generally dull. A change of direction on Thursday saw second line stocks outperforming their bigger rivals and some recovery of confidence in the technology sector. Though it was all very unconvincing. Friday was positive all round with trading quite active and, despite remaining in the blue all day, the FTSE100 slipped to a small loss in the final moments. All other main indices remained in profit.
Congratulations to Lom and Superplanty on winning the October "Stockpicker of the Month" competition for October - not the easiest month pick a winner! Their choice of Fulcrum Pharma showed a 61% gain. And it is still rising! Well done guys. I'll be watching your predictions more closely in future! :=) The full list is available on ADVFN Stockpicker of the Month...October 2000.
The Weekly BB Review
If you didn't notice the system problems experienced here on ADVFN in the first half of the week then you were either on vacation (timed nicely) or another planet. There were a host of opinions of the company and its handling of the situation from the blindly supportive to the extremely angry. I guess I was a little of both. One thing which did strike me was - where do I go when the system isn't working? I tried all of my links to other sites but no single site could give me the range of services I usually enjoy here. After a lifetime in IT - much of it in management and operations, I can imagine the sort of catastrophe which brings a whole system to its knees. My last contract (with a well-known national retailer) was to revamp their operations to cope with just such situations as their systems were unreliable and they were expanding their user-base very quickly. It wasn't easy to fix and it took quite a bit of investment - in people as well as technology - to get things back up to expectation levels. The most difficult job of all was getting back the confidence of the users. That took a prolonged period of unbroken uptime and a much improved means of communicating with them when the system was having any problems (or maintenance) of any kind. Now that ADVFN appear to have the system back to its former glory, I believe they should be (and will be) concentrating on the latter.
For those with an interest in Firth Holdings (FTHM), adonis followed up his original posting this week with a call to the company who assured him that the reverse takeover with Kinetech International was still very much on but proving more complicated than expected. A statement was promised soon with a return to the stock market under the new name in November. The relevant news item is here Reverse Takeover. For the sake of all BBers with an interest here, I hope this time the company sticks to its promise. Shareholders have been kept dangling on a string for far too long. Good luck!
With interim results due at the end of the month and a steady rise in interest in the company, it is not too late to catch up on news of Scipher. The maiden statement by Chairman, Dr. Kenneth Gray, after the first period since flotation, showed an aggressive attitude towards success and portfolio expansion. Now we will find out if that has been achieved. The way the price has risen consistently since launch suggests the City is expecting the results to be OK at least. gausie will be sure to keep us all updated, I'm sure. (Scipher - Take a looooooong drink ....) The company has a website here which includes press releases and news as it is published. Sadly nothing since the deal struck with Astra Zeneca in September, but worth checking on periodically just in case there is something there which is missed by AFX News. Pretty chart and lots of interest. A cert for inclusion in your Monitor. I only wish I had taken more notice when 3D began the thread back in April and taken advantage of the bounce in May. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Wildrover certainly seems all ready for the off!
Followers of Psion have been inconsistent this week in their approach to the company as an investment or trade. Looking at Psion long or short? leaves you with the distinct impression that nobody has a clue where the company is going - including its own management team. jhurbanek went long on the stock as Kayak went short and a colourfully frivolous niggle held on. wilo10, Dr Doolittle and sargic saw it as a long play whilst BROCKMAN was adamantly short with oldtown in agreement. Pdm made the most valid point perhaps with the observation that the company has appeared to move away from its core product - the hand-held computer - which now seems to lag the opposition quite considerably. With the share price bouncing about the way it has this week, I think I'll steer clear for a while and keep a check on things from my Palm.
Anyone waiting for a return from Applied Optical Technologies needs to be endowed with endless patience. A series of less than heartening trading statements this year have seen the share price tumble and fail to recover, despite a number of positive items of press coverage. APPLIED OPTICAL - oversold after profits warning now recovering was started by cfrsqc back in September when the shares looked to be recovering from the disastrous August fall but was a bit premature and even postings of better news from ainsoph and KDC in October brought little reaction here (or in the price). When buba let us know that Techinvest was recommending the shares as a buy for November, it sparked some revival - enough to get Acorn1 salivating over the chart picture. The latest trading statement also helped but, sadly, the profit-takers moved in quickly this week to push the price back below the 150p mark. Volumes seem to have dried up too. The technology sounds interesting and the potential market is huge but getting back confidence in the City may be a struggle. I guess this is going to be a long haul share. Not one for widows and orphans but maybe OK for the pension fund.
The question Where Is Baltimore Going? introduced by hugh711 at the end of October is still as valid as the day it was created. robwt, crocodile and Blueflame were amongst those long on the stock and Dil had given up trying to second guess the market and was heading long too. TechNet posted a warning that their US counterparts looked better value. BRAVE was amongst the (apparent) minority bullish on prospects. With the price bobbing about about just over the 500p mark (way short of the good ol' days) there is no sign yet of any sustained improvement although this week's close was promising with a modest rise on Friday. Maybe there is some more good news in the pipeline - this time to have the right effect. I thought their announced deal with Motorola would do that! For those interested, Baltimore Technologies have a comprehensive website here which includes an "investor relations" section.
After Dil announced High-Point Rendel Look Interesting, the share price dropped a bit, which is almost customary following the announcement of results - the good news is usually in the price by then. Although with both Shares and Investor's Chronicle magazines taking an interest, the price of High-Point Rendel Group appears to be bouncing back nicely. cossie was good enough to post the text of the IC piece. jackrussel seems to see potential here too. Another rise on Friday saw the bid price at 77p and the chart looking about back on track.
I always maintained that any thread with the word Free in its title would be a hit. PW's Free phone calls to the US therefore immediately attracted my attention. He is referring to a new addition just launched to the established Yahoo Messanger service . I have been using the Messager service for quite some time and find it an excellent free offering - voice reproduction is sometimes less than perfect but investing in a decent microphone/headset cures much of that. DocProc has been kind enough to reproduce the Yahoo introductory screen. Downloading Messanger can also have other benefits such as allowing you to set up a "friends" list which will indicate when your mates are online - provided they use it too! Add free phone calls to that and it is a very useful toolset.
Meanwhile, in the Land of the Free.......
Dorsey called it well with InterX looks to be a 'runner' early in October although only petefirks showed any interest initially. Red ted was understandably cautious, mostly about timing, and paisa was equally concerned about targets. the hound suggested there was to be a big presentation to the City next week which might spur things on further. Meanwhile, the share price of InterX was showing rapid movement North. By Friday this week the share price stood at 1110p bid and showed no indication of running out of steam. Good call.
sexyshaz introduced Bakery Services (BKE) as a good recovery play last week and received immediate support from Thomas10. This week, the company announced that a successful agreement had been reached with the Receiver to purchase the franchise division of Fresh Connection. gjp reminded us of their Polish enterprises, announced in August and September for which they have high hopes. Maybe coffee shops ain't sexy in today's market but BKE seem to have a successful formula and it would be remiss to disregard their potential. On my Monitor list for sure.
Knowledge Management Software continued to be discussed this week in KMS at £5?, kicked off by GUERNICA on this occasion. The previous attempt to stimulate interest was from osashiburi last month in KMS pushing ahead as expected ... which, sadly, received no response at all. Most of the ADVFN chatter on this company has taken place on the Premium BB so far. osashiburi continues to be a fan, as does Tinker who is similarly disappointed at the lack of interest. At least orvis, the fish and keyman showed their appreciation for the efforts of the few. The chart looks positive and the company is a good player in a niche field. I'm sure they can go far, however, I think it may be some time before that £5 target is reached :=). Very good thread which I hope will continue to develop.
DarrenS stuck his head over the parapet again to start Introduction to SCi Entertainment Group (SEG) last week, which gives a comprehensive overview of the company and its direction. The timing was just about perfect. Chef and braders were quick to endorse the thoughts although orvis was a little concerned that poor press for the likes of Electronics Boutique might hurt the games market in general. The Real Deal is hoping that history will repeat itself with SEG taking the place of Eidos as it was in its heighday. slateman looked to be trying to take advantage of the surprise this share has sprung on the MMs. With Thunderbirds looking to be the wow of Chistmas 2000 and SEG having product ready just in time to catch that market, it could turn out to be quite a ride. With the share price up over 10% on Friday and the recent chart beginning to look like the trajectory path of Thunderbird1, I hope you are all strapped in for the ride. Good luck! Good thread!
My Poster of the Week this week is Wickhams Fancy, who underlined the importance of setting sensible stop losses in The Value of the Stop Loss. His bit of detective work uncovers the interesting fact that the old pre-ADVFN "Dream Portfolio" put together at the beginning of the year shows a 15% loss at the moment which could actually be a 76% gain if simple stop loss rules were applied. A lesson to be learned. I know we all purport to apply stop losses but how often do we let them slip? The figures quoted here underline graphically what a tremendous difference in fortunes they can manufacture if applied rigorously. Congratulations Wickhams Fancy! If you will e-mail me a delivery address, I will see that your prize finds it way to you very soon. (I've reviewed my stop losses this week as a precaution! :=) )
Still more entries are needed for the ADVFN Who's Who! Apologies that there was a delay in posting last week's new and amended entries - circumstances conspired against me! Let your fellow BBers know a little about who you are. If you aren't yet on the list, drop me a few lines about yourself - (a full editing service is provided!) Take a look at the list so far if you want some ideas for how to put a brief bio together. (ADVFN Who's Who) No e-mail addresses are published unless specifically requested by you. Click here for my mail address - 
Good Hunting!