02/12/2002
There has been much debate at Harry HQ as to who should recieve Novembers Muppet of the Month title. Potter wanted to give it to John Prescott however I said it was wrong to single out any one person in the government. I wanted to give it to Commerzbank for their sell recommendation in Vodafone at 90p having had it as a strong buy all the way from 400p.It is now 123p. Potter however correctly pointed out that it is just too easy to give the prize to Commerzbank as they probably deserve it every month.
I am instead going to give the prize to Bruce McWilliams Editor of the Red Hot Penny Shares Guide.
He kindly sent me a pamphlet through the post giving me the chance to invest in " The Greatest opportunity of Our Times." The missive informs me how some lucky milkman has made a truckload of money from buying Penny Shares and that if I use their amazing system I could " enjoy an 860% gain in under 3 years." Fortunately I don't even need loads of money and if I sign up they will also give me some free gifts worth £130; which turn out to be some other share guides.
Now when one delves into the small print things start to get interesting and so I can't be accused of exaggerration I will quote directly from the text: " All percentages shown in the brochure and our tables are calculated on the mid-price as quoted in the FT or by Thompson datastream, and do not include the bid-offer spread unless otherwise stated. The average performance of the Red Hot Penny Shares Portfolio ( open and closed positions) from 01/01/99 to 04/09/02 is 8.6%. All gains exclude dividend payments and dealing costs unless otherwise noted."
Very intersting. So their portfolio over 3.5 years, rather than make 860% made 8.6%. But this 8.6% DOES NOT include spreads and dealing costs so when one considers these costs they would most likely have lost money. I have called the company, Fleet Street Publications a number of times to ascertain if this a typo but strangely they won't answer me. Funny old world!
My lawyer informs me that I have to be careful what I say so I best not say too much. I will just cc this award to the FSA and the Treasury Select Committee in case they would like to make a few awards of their own!
Harry