John Phelps’s portfolio

OUR share tips struggled to make further progress last week with the total value of our four investment portfolios recording only a marginal 0.25 per cent increase when we carried out our usual review on Wednesday morning.

The majority of recommendations did manage further gains in quiet trading conditions but much of the effect was cancelled out by the poor performance of one or two shares.

Lloyds Banking, in particular, saw its share price hit by a stockbroking downgrade from influential analysts at Deutsche Bank.

Drugs group Shire was another casualty on continuing concerns over a tougher regulatory climate in the US although followers at JP Morgan Cazenove and Liberum are among those who think the gloom has been overdone and say the price could now bounce by 20 per cent or more.

On the credit side, Smiths Group, RELX, Low & Bonar and RPC were among those to gain from reports of a boost to manufacturing activity in recent weeks.

Edinburgh-based medical software group Craneware, which earns its cash from US hospitals, also perked up after recent weakness following an encouraging trading bulletin.

The overall effect of the share movements left the 2016 portfolio showing a small profit and the 2015 and 2013 selections substantially unchanged over the week. Meanwhile, the 2014 list, down to just four recommendations, did rather better with a full one per cent improvement with Reckitt Benckiser, National Grid, Dairy Crest and Smiths Group all managing improvements.

Its showing encouraged us to make a further notional investment on Wednesday morning when we added shares of water treatment and waste recycling group Pennon to the portfolio.

The main attraction is its hefty dividend, worth £4.20 for every £100 invested at the current share price, which directors have promised to increase by above the rate of inflation for at least another four years.