STANELCO Plc>>THE LATEST INFORMATION.

games - that was a reasonable post. But I suspect that the majority of buying after the rights issue was done by existing holders who also took up their 50p allocation and are well in profit anyway.

You said IMO retail will never beat the city in situations like this. Which, as you said, is really the same question as "Is it more sensible to sell now at 66p and lock in some profits", because thats what the institutions will do.

Well if you trade and are not interested in fundamentals then I agree. I also agree that most companies trying to raise more money will see their prices shafted. But the very fact that has not happened in this case should tell you something.

And of course most institutions don't do that much research (on small caps), are very risk averse, have the disadvantage of trading in size, and their trading philosophy revolves around Christmas bonuses and not being sacked.

Not suprising then that as a group they have consistently underperformed the market over the cycle in all trading conditions even before they take their ludicrous fees.


Of course that is not true for all (courtesy of Ample board)



“Giles Hargreave is in ebullient mood going into 2004 after a storming performance during 2003 saw him regain his Citywire AAA rating.
Hargreave runs the Marlborough Special Situations Marlborough Special Situations unit trust and MFM HH UK Growth MFM HH UK Growth unit trust. Based on the performance Hargreave has generated at the helm of both funds over the last five years he has turned every £1,000 entrusted to him into a staggering £4,128.
Over the last year Hargreave's Special Situations fund is up 75.8% while his HH UK Growth fund has managed a 22.8% rise.
In the much-fancied biotech sector Hargreave likes Bioprogress (BPRG), which Citywire highlighted as attracting shrewd interest soon after its float when the shares were 26p compared with the current price of 64p. “


Well 300%+ over five years is not too shabby at all but many of those poor ignorant retail investors who post on the BPRG board have done considerably better than that over five year cycles (including myself). And not just by getting lucky on one or two shares.
Of course nothing is certain but I think I would prefer to trust their collective judgement and I’ve certainly made my bet that in this particular instance – the retail investor will piss all over the city.