Keeping in touch

by DAVID PROSSER

Originally published in Money Observer February 2001
and reproduced with kind permission from David Prosser

Not all investment clubs find it necessary to meet up every month to compare notes and discuss strategy. The Bradford Graduates Share Club is a case in point. Its founding members met at Bradford University several years ago but have since found themselves scattered around the UK. And since the club was launched at the beginning of 1999, its ranks have been swelled by several new members, many of whom hadn't even met each other until a get-together last summer.

In place of regular face-to-face contact, the members run their affairs electronically. Chairman James Richardson says: "We're based all over the shop, from York to the south east, so we've had to run the club over the web and by email." In addition to a comprehensive public access site (www.bradfordgrads.co.uk) members communicate via a private chatroom on the popular Yahoo! site. They have even experienced with telephone conferencing.

BLUE CHIPS AND A RACY RELISH
Each member of the club contributes £30 a month to the kitty and the current portfolio consists of four blue chips - British Telecom, Boots, Vodafone and Cable & Wireless - and two racier share - Digital Animations Group and Easynet.

These holdings have out the club into the red, but the Bradford Graduates are very consciously pursuing a long-term investment strategy. They could have chosen, for example, to sell their Digital Animation shares, which rose sharply in the days following acquisition, but the club bought the holding on a long-term view and didn't want to simply cash in.

Richardson also says he is confident performance will improve in time, particularly now that the club has imposed a more disciplined approach to stock selection. In the past, investments were made a little randomly and on the basis of insufficient research, he fells. But with all members now actively engaged in research - via the money pages and, predictably, the internet - this process has been refined. The fact that the club can now vote electronically on possible buys is helping too.

The Bradford Graduates are also picking up new skills as they go along and Richardson recognises they face a steep learning curve. Indeed, one reason for founding the club was "to pool experience as well as finances". To this end, several members have attended investment seminars run by Proshare, the body that promotes wider share ownership and offers a number of services to clubs.

The downside to the Bradford Graduates' high-tech approach to investment is, of course, the lack of opportunities to relax once the quest for profits has been planned. But the members are trying to rectify this. After a successful jaunt to Devon last summer, the club now tries to meet up ever couple of months or so. "We always have a good night our before or after the meeting", says Richardson.