Steve Markus

Cohort #CHRT.L contract wins, subssidiary Marlborough Communications worth a total of £17.9M, brings order book to a level where it fully underpins 2026 forecast consensus revenue.

Stelrad #SRAD.L FY TU, seem to be holding their own despite vollumes and revenues being down a little YoY, margins increased and mean that adj operating profit expected at £32.5M, up 3% YoY and in line with expectations.Debt down a bit, outlook - markets still subdued but a level of confidence.

All good to hear, thanks Mark. #RNWH.L has served me extremely well, was buying at 45p in the Brian May days and still one of my largest holdings despite considerable top-slicing.

It is in Begbies interests to be purveyors of doom...

Will be interested to hear your opinions Mark.

Renew Holdings #RNWH.L AGM TU, Q1 trading continues to give Board confidence in meeting FY expectations. Continuing to look at acquisitions, the most recent Emerald Power trading in line and integrating well. Record Group order book as at Dec 2025 of £924M. All seems good.

Tribal #TRB.L FY TU reads well, now has positive net cash of £11.4M and will finish 2025 slightly ahead of upward revised expectations. Outlook for 2026 also good, now expect 'an adjusted EBITDA and cash performance in FY26 ahead of current market expectations'. Recent troubles seem to be resolved.

I'm still watching #CTA.L !

Tracsis #TRCS.L seems to have done a little jump today after some months of not much at all, will be interesting to see if there is news coming soon.

Yes, me too, and don't forget the poultry!

They have a helpful calculator where you can enter values held in ISAs and other accounts to derive your expected monthly and annual fees. And yes, I have contacted them, but not to review anything, more to express my displeasure!

Cranswick #CWK.L Q3 TU, strong trading means full yr adj PBT to be at upper end of expectations. Capital investment for the yr to be lower than previous guidance owing to timing of spend on projects. Tasty.

SThree #STEM.L finals, historic results not great but as expected, outlook is suggesting some very tentative signs of improvement. However they confirm that 2026 adj operating profit still expected to be~£10M which is well down on 2025, so not an exciting proposition.

Eleco #ELCO.L y/e TU reads quite well, revenue up 20% at £38.8M, ARR up 29% to £34.3M, net cash £16.3M and 'revenue, cash and anticipated adjusted profit are ahead of market forecasts'. Outlook structural drivers in our markets remain compelling', confident in ability to deliver sustainable growth.

Wording is not clear but Isa fees are going up from £3-something to £12.50 a month for me, on two ISAs, plus newly introduced fees on a share trading a/c. Probably about £400 extra per yr for family p/f and there are other options.

I've used AJ Bell for quite a few years with my SIPP and they've been fine, never had any problems. Perhaps you were just unlucky, think they've invested quite heavily in their website, better than it used to be.

Yes, I've got my SIPP with AJ Bell, was thinking of moving the ISAs and the share a/c (only holds RNWH!) over there. Thanks all for the suggestions, always useful to have a bit of personal feedback.

I see Hargreaves Lansdown are introducing a custody fee for ISAs of 0.35% for holding shares, capped at £150 per year. I think I might look at alternatives - any recommendations?

Read your substack on this, interesting and agreed with views I've seen elsewhere, thanks.

Babcock #BAB.L Q3 TU, margin target of 8% achieved, confident of full yr in line. Potential to exceed if Indonesian Arrowhead are delivered in the current yr. CEO David Lockwood retiring at end of calendar yr, he's done a great job here, had an indebted and messy organisation to turn round.

Judges Scientific #JDG.L FY TU, still finding life difficult mainly due to US weakness, orders down 23%. Guiding FY25 earnings 6% below expectations at 275p and 2026 also pushed lower at 200-250p (was 292p). Cash conversion to be in line with their normal performance.

Zotefoams #ZTF.L FY TU reads well, revenue slightly ahead of expectations at £158.5M, adj PBT also ahead at £21.1M up 37.9%, a record for the company. Regions seem to be doing well, Asia expected to grow in importance once Vietnam factory up and running. Leverage ~0.8x, not much of a 2026 outlook.

Interesting observation James, perhaps two distinct phases there, with the first being a recovery from the basket case that was the original #VLX.L and the second the growth phase that has made it into the current and more attractive proposition. Maybe two different types of investor as well.

Elementis #ELM.L FY TU, revenue in line and adjusted operating profit marginally ahead of consensus with adjusted operating margins up YoY. Cost savings, simplification and acquisition of UK based Alchemy Ingredients supporting improvements.

Volex #VLX.L Q3 TU, data centres supporting particularly strong COmplex Industrial Technology and 'we now expect to exceed current market expectation'. 2026 outlook also improved but not clear by how much.

Obviously I can't be sure but I'd be very surprised if Trump was allowed to go that far. I could be wrong, in which case yes, I'll regret not doing something, but I really don't want more cash doing not much in the portfolio.

And I'd have to add, RNWH is one of the companies that should not be affected at all by any of the goings on currently. UK based specialist infrastructure and engineering.

Same here, not much US stuff and we've already had a run at this in April, plenty of companies who do business in the US seem to be holding their own. I have a lot of cash to spend following t/o of RNO and SXS and now seems as good a time as any to spend *some* of it. Better to buy when cheaper, no?

I don't know much about #MGNS.L but I think it is more of a specialist contractor, so maybe margins are a bit better there. In general contractor businesses are less attractive to me, because of low margins and propensity for things to go wrong. The exception is #RNWH.L which I do hold in size.

Concurrent Technologies #CNC.L FY TU, revenue and PBT in line, net cash £14.4M. Business has changed significantly after change of CEO, going for growth. Preparing for 'a new phase of operational capacity'. New year started with good momentum and growing pipeline.