OUR share tips reached another landmark last week when this year’s 2017 selections notched up a profit of more than 20 per cent for the first time.
It has taken us less than five months to reach the figure and most of the credit is down to just one recommendation.
The star performer has been fragrances and flavourings group Treatt which has contributed no less than £915 of the notional profits of £1,260 recorded since we launched the portfolio with £6,000 on January 8.
But property group SEGRO, water treatment concern Pennon and high-tech giant Micro-Focus also helped out with good gains last week to help the selections add another 2.1 per cent.
The majority of our other tips also gained ground as General Election campaigning reached its final stages.
No fewer than eight recommendations hit record valuations during the week as investors decided there is still more money to be made from SEGRO, Pennon, veterinary chain CVS, leisure group Pennon and aggregates supplier Breedon as well as heavyweights, Sainsbury, BAE and Unilever.
We are taking our usual cautious stance by raising our stop loss targets in all cases and are ready to sell at these new levels if the shares suffer a stock market setback.
Anglo-Dutch waste treatment group Renewi –the old Shanks group-- fell foul of this system last week and we disposed of our notional holding for a healthy profit after the share price fell 10 per cent from a previous peak.
None of our other shares appears in imminent danger of the same treatment although we are keeping a close eye on Glasgow-based Smart Metering Systems which has been a weak market since long-term investor Schroders sold most of its holding early last month.
The drop in Renewi and Smart Metering shares resulted in an overall 1.8 per cent fall in the value of the 2015 portfolio when we carried out our usual review of progress on Wednesday morning.
The 2016 and 2014 selections fared better with gains of 0.9 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively.
Shares with significant overseas earnings did well following a slippage in the value of the pound as foreign exchange traders factored in uncertainties over the election result while hopes of a barbecue summer gave a boost to sausage skins supplier Devro and theme parks owner Merlin.
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