Evil Diaries: Check It In

I invested successfully in Volvere (VLE) several years ago and sold out. I thought no more about it. It was and remains a very successful investment/trading company run by Jonathan and Nick Lander. It is chaired by David Buchler, a distinguished small company assessor. Last Monday, Jonathan died very suddenly aged 55. As an enquiry on Google will show there was nothing gross about Jonathan Lander.

Thus Nick is in the driving seat and one wonders what will happen now. TNAV is about £14 a share and one can buy stock (not much) at about £11.50. VLE is highly solvent and loaded with cash.

Curiously, the Lander brothers were shown as being paid just £19,000 p.a. between them. But, slightly unusually, they were also taking £650,000 p.a. into their management company, D2L. Perhaps Nick will take just £325,000 p.a. now. I do not know.

I also do not know what Nick intends to do with his time or why or where. But he might take VLE on to new heights of sensible achievement. Or he might accept an offer for the lot. If the latter, it must surely be above £11.50 a share. Here is an opportunity for patient investors.

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I made for my family a very healthy slug out of Checkit (CKT) a few years ago. But although CKT seemed cheap I could not see that the share price would hold its position let alone advance. So I sold. However, I have always trusted Keith Daley since he has made such a success of CKT for many years. Even though

Keith is no longer in the driving seat I would be surprised if he were not an active force in the background.

CKT’s problem for its share price is that it is always investing for the future as it expands rapidly. The effect is to absorb cash and produce seemingly disappointing results. However, I would not pay any attention to that and instead recommend buying for the long term. The price might easily double from the current 28p. When, as I suppose, it gets there, I’ll think again.

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Today is the fifty-fourth anniversary of my wedding my wife. Lucky girl, I don’t think.