Spire by St Brides

Powerflute (POWR) – A Little Known Winner

Last September, Powerflute’s shares stood at 38p., since when they have made a steady advance to their present  79.5p. Powerflute is a Finnish paper and packaging group with a  nose for acquiring similar businesses with strong fundamentals whose performance can be improved by focused management and investment. Their last acquisition was a reverse takeover in […]

Is Nickel Really a Screaming Buy ?

Nickel has, according to some, the strongest market fundamentals of all industrial metals, yet prices remain near  multi year lows, despite the fact that a year ago, major producer Indonesia, which provided the world with a fifth of its nickel, imposed a ban on exports. The argument for a rebound is that after many years of growing […]

Mayhem Amongs The Miners (2)

Question – does it make sense for the worlds giant mining companies to be ramping up production when metal prices are in freefall. The answer must surely be – of course not – so why are they doing it ? In iron ore Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton have increased production so much that they have […]

One Liners For The After Dinner Speaker

In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a government. John Adams If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed. Mark Twain Suppose you were an […]

Troika Abolishes Democracy in Greece

The publication of the requirements which the Troika is imposing on Greece, contains frightening restrictions for any who believed there was hope of a free, united and democratic Europe. 1. The Greek administration will de politicised under the supervision of the European Commission and replaced by a government of technocrats controlled by the EC. So the present […]

German Economy Soars on the Back of Greek Austerity

Over the past 5 years the German economy has soared as the Euro has become weaker and weaker on the international currency stage. Not all that many years ago the the DAX was at about the same level as Londons FTSE, which has  remained stuck at under 7,000 whist the DAX has gone ahead in […]

Has Primark Gone ex Growth ?

Associated British Foods, ABF, owners of Primark have been reduced to claiming that Primark has been impacted by currency rates.  Amazing how when things start to go wrong currency rates is the directors first choice as to where to lay the blame. The fact that in the previous years of heady growth, currency rates never […]