thowed

This applies to a lot in life.

I agree that unelected EU bureaucrats can be a pain. However I am also pro interoperability. It just makes things easier. (This is a generalisation - I'm not into interoperability if it weakens security, creates lower quality standards etc.).

Yep, it's fun watching. New series is one of the best, I think, not quite as silly as some of the others. Already had Rebel Ridge on my list, so thanks for the extra tip.

Obviously they don't have to, but personally for extra tight corporate governance, I'd like to see a note issued explaining why he's made such a big sale. Otherwise it just creates speculation that something is wrong. Not ideal.

+1. Really great to hear from an insider. That's hilarious it was Ackman, and vintage Buffett-speak 'fins showing'.

@mananainvesting There's a massive thread here!

@Eldad Am with you on Terravest. Teqnion is in my too-hard pile, or tbh I don't believe in the management - feels like too much Buffett-esque platitude style over substance. Lumine I am also with you, though fear I may have bought at too high a price - but fingers crossed!

Largest adds this year have been FFH and TVK, though I only initiated them last year. They were both companies I felt were quality at a reasonable valuation. I've bought small bits of the highest quality companies that I love but are indefensibly expensive. From things like CSU, I've learned that a basket of companies like this should do well, despite the punchy price, but still find it hard to buy them.

Thanks. Not as cheap as it was, but if they keep on firing as they have been, hopefully buying today will work out over time.

FFH and TVK top-ups.

Bond yields going down on bad economic data? Concerns that Fed won't be cutting rates quickly enough. Think that was it.

Thanks. Separately, UMG has been very disappointing. I mean, I get that these big drops can happen, & it's a concentrated portfolio. But I still think that the concentration of UMG was insane - and felt like it was purely because he screwed up the SPAC. I feel like for portfolio management purposes he could have sold a little every quarter and signalled it was for concentration purposes. i'm sure there's a smarter way to do it, but along those lines. Apart from that no complaints - well, apart from wishing he'd shut up on Twitter.

@Gregmal Curious to know if you did buy this, would you swap your PSH for it, or have both? Just trying to get a sense of what US-based PSH holders might do. It's quite fascinating - I don't know how hard it is for US people to own PSH tax-wise, and how the combination of that + different fee structure will affect the relative discounts of the two funds.

Albini - what a guy. Used to listen to Atomizer a fair bit - things like Kerosene still hold up - intense! And he produced a few of my favourite albums. Good to find some indie people on CoBF - I suspected general tastes were more conservative. However I must confess I could never get into the Smiths.

Wow - that's crazy. It boggles the mind how much faith people are putting into AI, not thinking about the blatant errors. If you think how much nonsense there is already on the internet, and then that this is training AI, it's no wonder. God help us all...

I have just sold my last tranche of a China Mid-Cap Growth fund, so the market's probably ready to rip now!

Can't believe how cheap it is, though I'm rusty on it, so don't know how affected by all the deals they've done this is. Maybe they're better now, but I've generally steered clear as the Keswicks have generally been a family that don't seem to care about shareholders, just themselves, which I find problematic in a family holding co. But maybe new generation are taking over & improving things.

@valueventures Sorry for late reply. I don't know CRH so well - but much more Global than BLDR for starters. Thanks for pointing out - I should do more work for comparison.

Neil Young is a musical hero - the amount of stuff he's done! I like to imagine he'd have got on with Charlie Munger - both free-thinking & occasional curmudgeons! Have been recently listening again to one of my favourite grunge-era bands, The Jesus Lizard. Incredible live act in their day. One of their best songs was called Boilermaker, though it was years more before I discovered what it meant (not a thing in the UK!) cc. @boilermaker75

@schin Many thanks for this, very helpful, I will go back to reports & calls to keep working on it. I've been similarly looking at BLDR - a bit of overlap, and another one with stellar 5-year performance but has rushed down since peak at end of Q1. Given how much they've gone up, not really a surprise to see a correction. But unlike much else in the market, the correction has brought them to quite reasonable valuations again. It feels like the market is so simple & binary at the moment, and part of the issue for these sorts of companies is 'interest cuts not happening now' = bad. I don't think this should necessarily be the case if management know what they're doing. Only thing I remember is that last results were quite disappointing, but just need to be happy that that was just one of those occasional blips anybody can have, rather than a frequent occurrence (though I know sometimes these things happen in threes...). There is a 2024 Substack write-up and a VIC 2023 write-up which you've probably seen, but I can dig out links if helpful.

Yes, I am quite fascinated by this. I think @Packer16 is a fan to some degree. Long-term figures are sensational, but has corrected a fair bit in the last few months. There's a tug-of-war in sentiment - some think it's a cracker of a company with a Danaher DBS style of management. But others think they've just been overearning. I haven't chosen my side yet, but did pick up a few shares recently. Any thoughts appreciated.

Top-up nibbling on FFH and TVK. Still wondering if next 2 weeks will see pre-tax-change sell-offs in companies like these which have such good performance.

Yep. I don't understand it especially, but Roche has arguably been pretty cheap for past year, but kept getting cheaper. But possibly finally on turn in last week or so. And pretty tasty dividend in CHF.

Woah - presumably this will affect all those David Webb-style Value situations?

I don't think she's being serious! But I suppose this is the problem with the modern world, as Nigel St Hubbins wisely put it in Spinal Tap, 'There's a fine line between clever and stupid'. It's increasingly hard to tell the difference between people being sarcastic, and the idiots....