In brief we have had a trading update from Rank Group (RNK) which features in the CIS Portfolio. This was of the in line variety so therefore should be reassuring. The market seems to agree and has marked them up in a better market today. While I note that Edison are suggesting a small earnings upgrade on the back of this. So it seems fine, despite the re-rating it has enjoyed and with a CIS of 87 looks like it will remain in the portfolio for now.

Finally a stock that was previously held A.G.Barr (BAG) before they suffered on a weather related profits setback in the summer has reported a better end to the year. So seems like this quality business may be back on track. It does however still look quite expensive on 17 to 18x and has a CIS of 68 which is OK but not outstanding.

Any way that's all for now as off to finish preparing for the podcast I mentioned yesterday. Will try and put something up about it if I get time later today, otherwise have a great weekend and look out for the month end updates.

...as we have had a couple more updates from holdings in the portfolio. First up today we have had an Interim management statement for the 15 weeks to 11 October 2015 from Rank Group (RNK)  which looks very good on the face of it. They have reported an 8% increase in like-for-like revenues for the period with total revenues increasing by 7%.

This seems to have been driven by 12% growth in total and LFL in the Grosvenor Casinos division. Mecca Bingo was ahead too but only by 1% total and 3% LFL. They say the growth in the Casinos division was driven by on line and London Casinos which augurs well for the roll out of their enhanced digital offering in Q1 2016. The growth in Mecca Bingo was apparently more balanced between venues and digital.

Steady as she goes here then as the full year revenue growth is forecast to be 8% and they seem broadly in line with that so far. Indeed on the outlook the Company said that the the Group's businesses continue to make progress in line with management's expectations and it remains confident in the Group's prospects for the year. Seems like a strong hold on a fullish looking 17x with a 2.4% yield and a CIS of 97 & a Stockopedia Rank of 96 - Bingo.

So it seems we are becoming a nation of gamblers as well as a nation of shop keepers, although personally I've never been in a Casino, apart from the Stock Market! Any way talking of shop keepers that brings me onto the other stock which reported today - the retailer W.H Smiths (SMWH). They reported full year results for the year to 31st August 2015. These  are a bit of a conundrum because if you were starting out in business today you probably would not create it and it has been one of the most heavily shorted stocks in the UK market, although this is now at about 7% of the shares outstanding. Despite this as you can see from the chart at the end the shares continue to progress steadily.

As for the results these seem to be in line with forecasts with another 12 to 13% growth in the eps and dividends. This has again been driven by the travel business which saw 9% total revenue growth and 4% LFL. This helped to offset the on going decline in the high street stores which saw revenues decline by 4% in total and 3% LFL. They do however remain highly cash generative with £109m of free cash flow which has helped to fund the 13% increase in the dividend and another £50m share buy back programme. The high street stores also edge profits up on the back of more cost cutting.

So overall it seems like more of the same with shrinking high street stores delivering profits and cash flow on the back of on going cost cutting which helps to fund expansion in the travel business which benefits more from its captive audiences.
One has to wonder how much longer the cost cutting can go on and with recent publicity about retailers keeping VAT at airports and over charging at hospitals whether there could be regulatory intervention at some point on the travel side? Aside from that they shares also look fullish value on around 16.6x with a 2.8% yield for the year to August 2016. Despite this they still score well with a CIS of 98 and a Stockopedia Rank of 91, so on that basis they are likely to remain in the portfolio.

Finally in the portfolio I note that Maintel (MAI) has achieved the 800p level that I hoped they might achieve (where they now look over bought) when I reviewed their results.

 Indices
With September having come and gone I'm sure investors will be glad to see the back of it as nearly all UK indices fell on the month. FTSE 100 again led the way down with its heavy weightings in commodity related stocks and produced a -2.86% total return while the All Share produce -2.73%. This reflected modest outperformance by mid and small cap names, but most of those also produced negative returns, with only the FTSE Fledgling index producing a positive return on the month with a total return of +0.12%.

For the Quarter it was a similar pattern with FTSE leading the way down with a -6.13% total return down to the Fledgling Index being the best performer again but that was still a -1.65% total return.

Market Timing Indicators
When I last looked at these at the end of August there were mixed signals from these moving average based indicators, with large cap indices indicating sell / cash, while mid and small cap indices were still above their 10 month moving averages and therefore in buy / invested territory.

After September's fall across the board all the indicators have now turned negative to suggest sell / cash although the small cap and Mid cap indices are only 1.1% and 1.6% below their moving averages. So a rally in October could turn those positive again whereas another fall would obviously leave them more in bearish territory. In contrast the large cap indices seem to be firmly into a bear trend as they are 6.3% to 7.4% below their moving averages, so it will take a big rally in October to turn these around in the short term.

So these trend following indicators are now suggesting a cautious approach may be best for now as the trend in the market may have turned negative now. I say may as these have given a number of negative signals which have then been rapidly reversed as the market traded sideways, but the recent sell off has been more decisive and may therefore mark a turn. However as we have passed St Ledgers day and we are approaching a seasonally stronger period I guess time will tell.

Mechanical Compound Income Scores Portfolio
Regular readers will know that this is a portfolio that I set up back in April this year based on top decile stocks in the Compound Income Scores. The portfolio which is skewed towards mid and small cap / AIM stocks has benefited from this in previous months and September saw a continuation of this trend. As a result the portfolio delivered a positive total return of +1.78% compared to the -2.73% for the FTSE All Share mentioned earlier, representing another 4.51% of outperformance this month.

This reflect the markedly different make up of the portfolio compared to the index and leaves it with a total return of 
+8.24% since inception in April 2015, which compares with -8.05% from the All Share for outperformance of 16.28%.
Interestingly the annually re-balanced portfolio which has remained untouched since the start has produced +8.63% in the six months or so since inception reflecting the large commonality in stocks so far and slightly less in the way of frictional transaction costs.

However I'm not getting carried away with the success so far as, given the different make up of the portfolio, performance is likely to be volatile in both directions and it just so happens it has been in a positive direction so far. At least it is encouraging that the Scores have so far been able to identify attractive stocks even in a difficult market.

Talking of attractive stocks 14 of the 20 holdings were up this month despite the market falls and the big winners were Utilitywise (UTW) which bounced back by 24% from the previous months sell off. While the illiquid Maintel (MAI) rose by 13% from the bottom of its recent trading range to the top on the back of some decent results. Others that also benefited from good results were EMIS the healthcare software group (+11.3%) and IG Group (IGG) the spread betting / stock broking firm (+5.4%). While the big winners in the quarter were Alliance Pharma (APH), Finsbury Foods (FIF) and Rank (RANK)

On the downside Diploma (DPLM) -8.3% and A.G. Barr (BAG) -6.8% fell on the back of lack lustre updates in September. While Renishaw (RSW) -7.8% continued to drift off from an expensive rating post results earlier in the quarter. These names were also the biggest fallers over the quarter too.

Summary & Conclusion
So a tricky September has left markets and headline indices looking damaged with trends potentially broken to the downside for now with the often difficult month of October still to come. It will be interesting to see if investors regain some confidence and come back in for so bargains to produce a traditional year end rally or if the markets are sending an early warning sign of economic trouble on the horizon - China slow down, US rate rise etc.

However as ever it remains a market of stocks and it is always possible to find some attractive stocks and make some money, but like King Canute this may not be possible if the tide has really changed. Any way that's all I have time for now, good luck with your investing in these difficult times. I'll do the quarterly re-screen of the portfolio today as planned and report back later with the changes.

  A quick update for you today as there has been a bit more news around in the last couple of days since my note on Clarkson. Yesterday we had updates from Imperial Tobacco (IMT) who put out a 9 Month Interim Management Statement confirming they were trading in line with expectations and continued to be on track to deliver their 10% dividend growth target for the year. This will put it on a yield of around 4.75% for this year and it continues to look like an attractive income stock as it scores 90 on the Compound Income Scores (CIS).

Meanwhile in Insurance we also had interim results yesterday from Admiral (ADM) which edged up its chunky dividend by 3% as UK car insurance profits increased and overseas start up losses reduced. Their comparison business did however see a decline into loss put down to lower profits from confused.com in the UK and increased investment in overseas sites. This ones offers an excellent 6% yield thanks to their shareholder friendly approach of paying speical dividends to return surplus capital not required by regulations or to fund the growth of the business. Consequently it does not look so good on traditional dividend cover and balance sheet metrics and therefore only scores 52 on the CIS but nevertheless I think it is a good operator in this area.

Today we have had a couple of updates from stocks which feature in the Compound Income Scores Portfolio. Firstly WH Smiths (SMWH) had a pre close trading update in which they said that they expect their full year results to be slightly ahead of the consensus of analysts' expectations, which is nice. This one continues to confound expectations as they manage the decline of the high street business and the travel side continues to go from strength to strength and continues to expand.

Finally Rank Group (RNK) had some final results today which look very strong as UK punters appetite for gambling seems to be showing no signs of diminishing. Thus they beat forecasts across the board with turnover +4% to £738.3m v £731.7m, earnings +18% to 14.6p v 14.3p and the all important dividend +24% to 5.6p v 5.25p for a 6.66% beat although it was achieved via a reduction in cover from 2.8x to 2.6x which is still fine.

They saw growth in both the casino and bingo venues as well as on line despite the the introduction of Remote Gaming Duty from 1 December 2014, so a good result all round. They also flagged strong cash flow which allowed them to pay down debt too. On the outlook the suggest these strong trends have continued into this year and that they expect to launch a new online platform early next year.

The shares, before any upgrades post these numbers currently stand on a fullish looking 17x with a 2.5% yield for the current year to June 2016 and they still score well on the CIS with a score of 91. So I wouldn't put you off as the business seems to be trading well and the shares have momentum (see chart below), but I'm kicking myself for not buying them personally when I looked at them under 200p. So I'm reluctant to chase them up here (anchoring in action ?) but given the score the CIS portfolio will continue to run them, place your bets.