Another dismal performance by Tennent's and Magners drinks group C & C took the shine off a good week for the majority of our share tips when we carried out our review of progress on Wednesday morning.
Further selling in the wake of a recent disappointing trading update saw shares of the Irish-based group nursing an overall loss of nearly 10% and pushed the total valuation of our fledgling 2015 portfolio into the red for the first time.
Followers claim the price fall has been overdone and point out that shareholders can now receive dividends worth more than £30 for every
£1000 invested while they await news of a pick-up in business as a result of recent heavy spending on production and marketing.
While better trading news could be some time ahead, we believe the shares could enjoy an early boost as directors use increased borrowing powers and good cash flow to support a major share buy-back programme.
The more established portfolios enjoyed a better week on hopes of moves to boost flagging Euroland economies with the total valuations of all three up by around 1.5% ahead of a key meeting of the European Central Bank.
Some of the biggest rises were seen in companies which earn most of their money overseas and advertising giant WPP, publishing heavyweight Reed Elsevier and safety equipment specialist Halma all tested peak valuations..
Mining colossus Rio Tinto also recovered some recent loss ground despite news of disappointing growth from major customers in China.
Belhaven brewery group Greene King was another strong performer and our notional investment finally broke into profit after the company disclosed news of solid trading in contrast to the rival C & C group.
There were one or two further disappointments, however, and we ejected grain and agricultural supplier Carr's Milling from our 2014 portfolio after the share price fell back to our published stop loss figure.
The sale means that the portfolio is now sitting on a notional cash pile of some £5,500 and we will consider re-investing some of the money next week.
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