Evil Diaries: Three Ideas For 2024

There is a degree of political turmoil in Bangladesh at the moment but I expect it will settle down. However, the government is trying to bolster foreign exchange reserves by applying exchange controls which, as we know from past experience in the UK, never work. I do not know why politicians persist with a scheme to impose failure and law-breaking but they do. So it may take some time before Bangladesh grows up.

Here I have in mind Beximco Pharma (BXP on AIM) which is clearly very cheap. For instance the price in London is currently 41p as against a Dhaka price of 150 Taka or 107p. This gap would not exist if Bangladesh’s Securities and Exchange Commission were to allow BXP’s management to keep picking up lines of stock in London at the bargain price it represents. Roughly speaking there are 446m shares in issue, which capitalises BXP as an entire company at £185m. This must be way below a sensible valuation but for exchange control. Nonetheless the AGM statement which came out last Thursday is very positive and a dividend of 3.5 Take or 2.5p will be paid out on 25th January 2024. Given that EPS are of the order of 11p and rising BXP is a steal. The underlying trading position is very healthy and bound to get healthier.

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Generally speaking, investment trusts listed in London are very cheap. I do not know why. Perhaps people just like buying residential property instead, poor fools. But, that noted, it is not easy to select investment trusts since comparison as regards portfolios and managers is nearly impossible. For instance how are unquoted investments really behaving – it is quite impossible to tell. I am sure that Nick Sudbury has something to say (come in, Nick).

The vehicle that my family has gone for is New Star Investment Trust (NSI). When New Star collapsed into the arms of Henderson a few years ago the management of NSI remained with John Duffield whose Brompton Asset Management does the managing of NSI. John owns circa 70% of NSI and his death (he must be at least 87) will trigger a reorganisation as matters stand. Net asset value is around 180p and the stock is of the order of 120p to buy. For really patient and intelligent people, this is the business..

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I have tried to work out a scheme for monetising my interest in investment trust selection for Master Investor. So far I have failed. All good wheezes gratefully received. I fear that those twerps at the FCA have a built-in death throttle on this sector.

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Finally, at least as regards money, I see that the Mail on Sunday have alighted upon IDS for 2024. I reckon they are right. Their new sorting office, near Daventry, is the size of 30 football pitches. That rather puts Amazon in their place. Buy at 280p.