Following my posting on Laird (LON:LRD) and the reduction of my holding to 3% of the JIC portfolio last Thursday I received the following communication from a subscriber, (well, my eldest son actually).
“If you’re not convinced why do you hold it? 3% is still a reasonable percentage. Be confident or get out. Only excuse for holding something if you’re not 100% happy with it is if it’s a bit of a punt or if you are hoping for some good news. I think you should provide a reason as to why the whole lot hasn’t gone! Just a thought.”
My initial reaction was to think “yes, you’re right. I should have sold it all. I will.” Then I thought back to why I reduced the holding rather than selling it all. Things are rarely ever black or white and in this case I was concerned as to how the market would react to results which were a little disappointing but where the outlook statement was pretty confident. The chart also looks in reasonable shape with the share price recovering. So yes, I hedged my bets by reducing slightly, which freed up cash so I could increase my holding in Third Point. I then decided to let the market do the talking. Had the share price behaved badly over the following days and dropped through the 170p level, where it gained support in June, I would have called it a day, sold the remainder and moved on. However, it looks like the market is backing the Company for a second half recovery, so I am glad I have held on to 3%, which as William points out is still a reasonable holding.
