John Phelps’s portfolio

WE celebrated another good week for our existing tips with the nominal purchase of shares in the fastexpanding veterinary group CVS on Wednesday morning.

The business appears immune from current economic uncertainties with customers ready to make sacrifices to ensure pets get the best treatment. But we also like the prospects for fatter profit margins from a growing portfolio of own-label medicines and the economies of scale as directors add to their chain.

We have set the usual stop-loss target, some 10 per cent below the current share price, at which we advise followers to consider selling on any price reversal.

Most of our existing tips continued to enjoy a good run with average gains stretching to around 1.7 per cent when we carried out our midweek review of progress. The best performance came from the 2017 portfolio which rose a further 2.6 per cent to a fresh peak valuation, boosted by solid investment support for the heavyweight Micro Focus ahead of its acquisition of a package of businesses from Hewlett Packard.

Loss elimination also played a part with Clydesdale Bank owner CYBG moving closer to break-even and Scotland’s Aggreko managing to trim the deficit on its recommended purchase price.

The 2016 selections followed with a 2.5 per cent increase after a good showing by Dundee-registered floor coverings group Low & Bonar in the wake of a strong “buy” recommendation from brokers at Berenberg.

But the 2015 portfolio was held back by a sharp fall in the price of Lloyds Banking after the shares began trading without the benefit of the latest dividend and recorded only a modest one per cent increase.

The 2017 list lagged behind with a 0.6 per cent gain although four of the five recommendations gained some ground. Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury was the exception and recorded a small fall ahead of next month’s annual results presentation.