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April 4th 2001 Meeting.
The Vice Chairman David Harris, in the absence of Peter J who is away on holiday, welcomed two new members to the Club - Jackie Hawker and John Troke. He commented on the volatility of the market, and the effect this has had on our portfolio.
The treasurer's report made dire reading. Every share we own is showing a loss; the current value of a unit has now dropped below £1 for the first time.
At the previous meeting, it was decided to buy SFI if it dropped to 220p. As it hadn't, it was agreed to keep this decision in place for a further month. Both shares purchased last month, BAA and John Laing had each dropped in value by just over £100. Among the shares considered for purchase this month were Bank of Scotland, Cable & Wireless, Youngs and Bellhaven. We also voted on whether or not we should stay in cash. However, it was decided by a large majority to take the opportunity to invest £1100 in Railtrack which had plunged to 448p.
The winner of our Fantasy Share Competition for the month was Francis, with Graeme to buy her a bottle of wine. This was the first time ever that nobody managed to make a profit over the month. It was also the end of the current competition; David Welsh was the overall winner, with the least successful member managing to lose 63% over the six month period, another record. Full results here.

Earlier News
During the latter half of 1999 the decision was taken to sell much of our portfolio in order to allow all members to withdraw some of the profits made. Most members took £1000 each. Our portfolio hasn't been performing particularly well; at the January meeting, there were insufficient funds to buy new shares without selling some existing stock. Proposals to sell National Power and Old English Inns were defeated. The following shares were suggested for tracking: Tepnel Life Sciences (75p); Phytopharm (409p); Reflec (21.5p) and Abbey National (945p) (in the hope they'll be taken over by Lloyds TSB). We watched 'Show Me The Money" with great interest, as we were one of the three share clubs that took part in Princess Productions pitch to sell the programme to Channel 4. After someone from the company came down to Whiteparish to vet and film us in the pub we went to their 'studio' in Notting Hill. Our contact at Princess Productions was supposed to call us when they'd sold the format to Channel 4 to invite us back for a full scale rehearsal - but she left the Company, and by the time we found out, the teams had been selected.

Shares Magazine featured our group on the 'Club Culture' page in their 27th Jan issue. Download it here, but be warned it's a big file - 300k+ - in order to maintain sufficient resolution to read the text.

Does anyone have any suggestions what the four 'men at work' graphics on the index page could be replaced with? Ideas here, please!

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