A disastrous performance by mental health specialist Cambian took the edge off another solid showing by the majority of our share tips last week.
Shares in the group nose-dived as directors warned that increased investment costs meant that they would not be able to deliver the expected rise in profits this year.
The warning came out of the blue first thing on Monday morning and saw the share price slump 30 per cent in a matter of seconds.
The speed of the fall meant it was impossible to follow our usual stop loss practice where we sell any share which has fallen 10 per cent from previous peaks and the eventual disposal of our notional holding resulted in a hefty £297 loss for our 2012 portfolio.
Fresh support for safety equipment specialist Halma helped limit the damage although the valuation of the portfolio still showed an overall loss of £164 over the week.
Not surprisingly, we plumped for a safety-first replacement for the Cambian shares when we made a notional purchase of shares in Edinburgh-based Standard Life on Wednesday morning.
We recognise that the shares have been a disappointment for much of the past year but believe that they could enjoy a run over the coming months as investors begin to appreciate the company's financial strengths in the run up to the introduction of new European regulations from the start of 2016.
There is the added safety net of SL's generous dividend policy which means investors can expect a pay-out of around £44 for every £1,000 worth of shares over the coming year.
Most of of our existing tips made steady progress last week with both the 2014 and 2015 portfolios recording small gains when we carried out our review of progress on Wednesday with recent recommendations Essentra and IMI making encouraging débuts and cash-and-carry specialist Booker attracting fresh buying support after its recent trading bulletin.
But the 2015 selections showed a fractional overall slippage after Lloyds Banking went into reverse following its latest trading statement and cancelled out gains elsewhere.
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