March was another positive month for equity markets generally including the UK. As a result the FTSE All Share Index, which I use as a benchmark for the Compound Income Scores Portfolio (CISP), produced a total return of +4%. By comparison the CISP had another good month and delivered a third straight month of out performance in Q1 with a total return of +4.9%. This leaves it with a total return for the year to date of +9.9% which is 4.7% ahead of the +5.2% return from the FTSE All Share.

Over the 12 months since the Corona Virus hit the CISP has returned +48.3% versus +26.7% for the Index as the market recovered from its lows. So it is pleasing to be able to report that the Scores and the associated portfolio seem to have weathered the Covid storm and subsequent recovery successfully. This continues the decent run it has had over the last 5 years where it has practically doubled as it has managed to compound at around 14 to 15% per annum over the nearly six years since inception which compares to 4.4% per annum from the FTSE All Share over the same time frame, so about 10% per annum out performance.

This suggests that they are not a bad way for identifying attractive quality stocks with the potential to grow their dividends and your income and capital over time. You can see full details of the performance history in the Table of Returns drop down menu on the Portfolio tab in the site menu or just click the Table of returns link above if that is of interest to you. While if you would like to find out more about the Scores and how you can get access to them you can click the highlighted Scores link above or on the main menu and view a brief presentation about them here too if that is of interest. 
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Monthly Screening
This month there were five potential sale candidates based on where their Scores were. Of these two were repeat offenders with Scores well below my normal sale threshold (75% or top quartile CI Score) and the other three were more marginal being closer to the cut off line. So on balance and in the interests of avoiding costly / potentially unnecessary turnover I gave those the benefit of the doubt this month which subscribers will be able to read about in the Journal tab of their Scores sheets.
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As for the two that were sold, the first was Unilever (ULVR) which I held last month as it appeared to be oversold. That proved to be a reasonable call as it outperformed the index by about 2% this month. While I pointed out last month that personally I wouldn’t put you off holding it for it’s longer term compounding potential, this portfolio’s process is to follow the Scores and try to maintain exposure to stocks scoring in the top quartile in the main – so on that basis I let it be sold this month after the bounce, as the the score remained well below that threshold at the month end. At least this seems to be in tune with the market where the song remains same. That is stocks over bonds, cyclicals over defensive stocks, value over growth and Small-caps over large – for now as the reflation / inflation trade continues to play out and resonate with investors.

The other sale was Qinetiq (QQ.) which has done quite well for the portfolio and has therefore seen its score come down as it has re-rated to leave it looking rather average overall. The portfolio also held another stock operating in similar markets and while they are likely to be reasonably steady growers, it doesn’t seem like a strong enough theme that I want to double up on the exposure, so out it goes. Results are due in a month or so and their pre-close update was reasonable so they may be worth looking out for if you decide to hold on to it yourself.

Against those Computacenter (CCC) was added as their trading has continued to be positive leading to numerous upgrades as they continue to benefit from the trend for businesses to increase spending on IT hardware and services, which was in place prior to the Virus and which was accelerated by it and which they seem to think should continue this year too. Thus it would seem that their improved performance should be sustained rather than sagging back like some other Covid beneficiaries. It is also one I have held personally for some time which made me more comfortable with adding it up here, hopefully that's not confirmation bias!

The other purchase to replace Unilever was in the General Insurance Sector, so a suitably boring replacement, although this one is also well managed but does offer a much greater yield and therefore a higher value score than Unilever, so again playing into one of the current themes that I mentioned earlier. Again subscribers will be able to see full details of that one and all the other trades in their sheets.

Summary & Conclusion
Another positive month to round off a positive quarter and 12 months for the market and the CISP. Who would have thought that would have been possible 12 months ago when Covid first struck? Nevertheless it is pleasing that the Scores seem to have helped to navigate these strange times successfully. 

Meanwhile the current theme playing out in the market is to back the on going recovery / reflation and therefore potential inflation and higher bond yields / interest rates down the track. This has meant rotation from previous winners / beneficiaries of Covid / low rates and into losers from Covid plus value and recovery plays funded by sales of more expensive growth stocks which may suffer in valuation terms as growth becomes more plentiful and bond yields rise. 

It remains to be seen how long this trend lasts, but for now both Central Banks and governments seem intent on pumping money out so it may well go on for longer than one might think and for now at least the trend is your friend as they say. The market does however seem to be getting a bit frothy with all these SPAC's in the US and quite a few IPO's being delivered to markets even if they were a bit cool on the Deliveroo offering in the UK. I note that the UK regulators are also trying to loosen the rules to allow more SPAC type listing over here so we don't miss out. I guess there is also a chance that the US Fed at some point may start with yield curve control to keep yields down and keep the recovery going, which would be bullish if it happens. Trying to call the top of the market is in any event a bit of a mugs game and as Keynes was quoted as saying: " Markets can remain irrational longer that you can stay solvent." 

Having said that though the UK market does still appear to offer some value and still trades some way below previous highs unlike the US where ratings are higher and indices there are hitting new highs. You would also think that the UK market's larger exposure to Miners and banks etc. should also help it with the current rotation into more value laggards that is going on, but we'd still no doubt suffer if there was a US led sell off. 

So for now for me the song remains the same and I'll carry on Compounding with attractive looking stocks identified by the Scores. I'll leave you to enjoy your Easter eggs or whatever outdoor excitement you might have planned for this Easter assuming it is not cancelled for you. Otherwise I hope that markets continue to be kind to you - rock on, ciao for now. 

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Introduction
February proved to be a positive month for the UK market as investors and residents of the UK generally gained some hope and expectation that the successful and rapid roll out of the vaccines might bring forward the day when our lives and the economy might get back to some sort of normality. This is shown in the table on the site which can be accessed here as is the out performance by the CI Portfolio for the second month running. This leaves it 3.6% ahead of the FTSE All Share in the year to date and builds on the excellent relative performance shown in the last three and five years and since inception back in April 2015, as shown in the Chart above, which are more meaningful periods of time to look at rather than one month or year to date figures. This also shows that the portfolio has now made it back to an all time high value.

The performance so far this year comes as a pleasant surprise as market moves have in the main been a bit discombobulating as many poor and struggling Companies have soared in price while some quality names have been under pressure. This however is explained in part by the rush of liquidity provided by central banks finding its way into markets, especially it seems in the US, with the likes of Gamestop soaring thanks to Reddit forums and Robin Hood traders buying up call options and creating a short squeeze. More broadly it can be rationalised as reflecting hopes for a return to normality being discounted as the vaccine roll out seems to be going well. Thus plays on reflation, re-opening and recovery from Covid effects are being bought as the natural winners of that process and the lock down winners and more defensive / quality / growth plays being sold off in return as part of this rotation.

Monthly Screening
This month there were four potential sale candidates that came up based on where their Scores were aside from a couple that I gave the benefit of the doubt to. One of these was Moneysupermarket (MONY) which had results and saw downgrades as a result which led to a decline in the Score as the shares rallied against this background. The outlook statement was quite cautious, but I guess maybe the market is giving them the benefit of the doubt and perhaps perceives them as a potential beneficiary of re-opening and a consequent pick up in Money & Travel comparisons which they flagged. As ever time will tell on this but in the end I decided to go with the Scores and sell it along with another stock which I had waited for results this month which also seemed underwhelming. Since that was a stock I didn't have a strong feel for and there was no improvement in the Score this month, I let that one go through too.

Two more sale candidates that I found more tricky were decent steady businesses which one would might want to hold for their longer term compounding attributes. One of these was Watkins Jones (WJG), which as it is a property developer, some may not view as a quality operation. It does however operate with a capital light model in the main in some growth areas like student accommodation and build to rent and has a decent pipeline of work. As a result it has some attractive looking operating characteristics and should be fairly steady. Again I had waited for results and a subsequent management presentation. These were well received and the price did well despite some subsequent downgrades. While the webinar I watched did highlight a bit of a potential dip in their development pipeline after they had put things on hold post the first lock down. Again I think the market might be prepared to look through this so I wouldn't put you off holding it for the long term. Despite that, given the price move and the effects of the downgrades on the Score I decided to let that one go as well.

The second quality long term compounder that came up as a sell was Unilever (ULVR) after their results were not that well received and they also saw some downgrades which leaves them with a fairly pedestrian growth outlook in the short term. It was also no doubt sold off aggressively as part of the reflation / re-opening trades of selling the winners and buying the low quality losers / recovery plays discussed earlier. This had however left the shares looking very over sold in the short term (as shown by the OB/OS indicator in the Scores sheet)  and I suspect might leave the possibility of some mean reversion in the short term if the recent market weakness should be extended or resume. Beyond that I guess it will remain fairly unloved in the short term so I'll review it again next month although personally I'd be more inclined to hold it for the long term as a classic quality compounder.

Against those sales three purchases were made for the portfolio this month. One of these was a specialist operational property REIT as a straight swap for the property type exposure forgone by selling Watkins Jones. A second one was a well run family lending business which operates in some specialist niches which should be a beneficiary of the re-opening and thus plays into that trend against the similar recovery prospects that Moneysupermarket may  offer. It did however have a better Score as it offered better value and momentum and it is a business that I know well and hold myself, so I was happy to add that one.

Finally somewhat more controversially perhaps Games Workshop (GAW) made a belated return to the portfolio having been sold early (and badly as it turned out) in the pandemic when the score had deteriorated on downgrades and I was worried about operational gearing to the downside as they had shut all their operations at that time. Now with the shares at more than twice the price when it was sold it feels very uncomfortable to be buying it back up here, especially as it could be seen as a beneficiary of lock down and therefore vulnerable to a reversal of sentiment and fortunes thereafter perhaps? Nevertheless I followed the Scores as it now looks more reasonable value having come back in price from peaks above £100 despite some chunky upgrades. I also believe there should be another trading update this month in which they may still produce some forecast beating results, so it will be interesting to see if the market is more enthusiastic about those this time around if that should come to pass or if they end up disappointing this time around.

Subscribers can see details of these trades and some journal comments too plus the rest of the portfolio. If you are not familiar with the Scores and would like to know more about them and how to gain access, I put up a presentation on the site recently to try and explain the background to them in as clear a way as possible & how you can access them - you can find that here if that is of any interest. 
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Summary & Conclusion
So a better month for markets and another month of out performance for the Compound Income portfolio despite a dash for trash and recovery plays and a move away from quality / growth and lock down winners. Despite some of the moves (like Gamestop in the US) seeming pretty confusing and inexplicable, in the main the broader moves seem more understandable in the context of hopes for a recovery on the back of central bank & government money supporting the economy and the vaccine roll out and a subsequent re-opening unleashing pent up demand etc. - hopefully!

This also meant something of a switch from growth to value names depending on how you define those, although it remains to be seen if that has run it course now or if it has further to run. Valuations in the US continue to lead to some concerns about these bubble like moves in some stocks and things like Bit coin and especially at a time when inflation fears and bond yields are rising which may impact on valuations if these rates go too far up. For now these moves don't seem to be getting out of hand just yet. So I'll sign off for now but leave you with a couple of tunes that seem to my mind to sum up recent market activity and those that might be getting involved at this stage. 

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Introduction
Another positive month for equity markets around the world as investors seem keen to look over the valley of the Covid-19 lock downs and towards the sunny lit uplands of the re-opening of economies. Consequently there continues to be something of a dichotomy between this performance and the numbers coming out of the economy in the short term, although as we all know the markets tend to look ahead and are a discounting mechanism.

Aside from that there have been a few signs of further outbreaks which could bring on further localised shut downs and the threat of second waves etc. but again investors seem quite relaxed about that too. As ever all the liquidity provided by Central Banks around the world is no doubt helping to keep markets / investors afloat despite the on going virus / economic storm.

Market Timing Indicators
Regular readers will know that I have been producing these moving average based indicators for the UK Market for a while now and that they triggered as a sell at the end of March, since when the UK equity market and other equity markets around the world have staged recoveries to varying degrees with some such as the tech heavy Nasdaq Index actually achieving new all time highs. No such tech excitement in the UK and as a result the recovery in the Indices here has lagged that seen in the US in particular.

As a result all the UK indices remain below their moving average trends by around 4% to 8% with the Small Cap index being the strongest and the Mid 250 the weakest or furthest below its trend. So these together with rising unemployment claims in the US still suggest that one should be out of / cautious on the markets based on these technical timing indicators, although thus far it would only have cost you from missing out on the subsequent rally that we have seen since they triggered aided and abetted by the Central Banks largess as mentioned above.
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Compound Income Portfolio
Again regular readers may re-call that I decided to ignore the market timing indicators as I'm more of a fan of time in the market that trying to time the market. See also Terry Smith in the FT today. I also felt that it would be more useful for subscribers to see how the Scores performed over this challenging period and what stocks the portfolio ended up trading. 

Thus the portfolio was able to participate in and indeed enjoy a decent recovery in April and May when it recouped about 80% of its losses from March and outperformed the FTSE All Share, which I use as a benchmark, by 9.4% in the process. This recovery however came to an end in June as the portfolio returned -2% versus the +1.5% total return for the Index. This leaves the portfolio with a negative total return of 15.2% for the year to date which is some 2.3% ahead of the -17.5% total return from the FTSE All Share. 

This was largely explained by only a handful of stock managing a positive return and despite last months value pick, City of London Investment Group (CLIG) soaring by 20% on the back of their deal. Against this the rest of the portfolio fell and a handful of stocks by a double digit percentage. Most of this was on little or no news and therefore probably reflects a bit of selling in not so liquid stocks in the main and perhaps a dash for trash as investors try to anticipate a recovery from re-opening perhaps?

In terms of this months screening there were five stocks, three expensive winners and a couple of more neglected value rated stocks which came up with Scores in or around the zone where I normally think about selling. On this occasion, given the market conditions, I decided to give most of them the benefit of the doubt for now. However, given the recovery we have seen, I did let one position go which had seen downgrades and some uncertainty to the effects of the virus on its operations. Despite this it had recovered to trade on around 30x and had a fairly low yield as they had also passed on paying their latest interim dividend. They have also been quite reliant on acquisitions to boost their growth in the past and I guess it remains to be seen if the fall out from the virus / recession makes that harder or easier for them to achieve going forwards.

In place of this I added what might still be described as a relatively expensive quality play which trades on a little of 20x, but does offer a yield of over 3% which is nearly twice that of the stock it was replacing. They have recently paid an increased dividend and seem likely to again in the current year as they benefit from 78% recurring revenues and operate in a fairly defensive area which is probably benefiting from the virus in terms of new business opportunities going forwards.

Any way I'll leave it there but subscribers will be able to see the stocks concerned and the other portfolio holdings in their file in the Portfolio and Transactions tabs. If you are not a subscriber then please see the Portfolio tab in the menu and the Scores tab in the menu for more details about them and how you can gain access or click the highlighted text above. Finally you can see a table of the full 5 year+ performance history here and this is presented in the graph below at the end of this post. 

In the meantime have a great summer where ever you are able to enjoy it if you can and good luck with the return to the new normal and whatever that turns out to be - cheers.

Market Background
After the carnage of March we had something of a relief rally in April, or as I suggested last month the reflexive rebound stage which is quite common during bear markets. As a result the FTSE All Share managed to bounce back and provide a positive total return of 4.9% for the month. This does however leave it with a negative total return of 21.5% for the year and as you can see from the chart above, the UK market has lagged the recovery in other markets around the world. Some of this lag is probably explained by the make up of the various indices with Nasdaq obviously being helped by it tech bias and the FTSE 100 in the UK being held back in the main by its heavy exposure to more vulnerable sectors like Banks & Oil.

Talking of Oils and the headline on the chart about markets being detached from economic reality. I think we had a dose of that the other day as Royal Dutch Shell finally bowed to the inevitable and cut their dividend for the first time since the war. In addition results in the US from a couple of the market darlings, Apple & Amazon were somewhat underwhelming too.
Thus it looks like we may have seen the best of the rally for now and we might even be into the next down leg of the bear market or again as I suggested last month the drawn-out fundamental downtrend.

Indeed referring back to my FTSE ready reckoner that I shared in my recent webcast, with the Royal Dutch Shell dividend cut this week, this brings the 50% dividend cut for the market more into view and futures market is suggesting that too. This would also be in line with the worst case scenario foreseen by Link Asset Services in their Q1 2020 Dividend Monitor update. Thus the risk reward from where we were (briefly) above 6,000 on FTSE recently looks skewed to the downside I would suggest.

While it is worth remembering how bear markets pan out and there was a good reminder of that recently in a good post on the Real Investment website (see highlighted link above) that I recommended in a recent post and on Twitter. Below is their graphic on how the current one compares to the last two bear markets and the different phases discussed above.

Market Timing Indicators
As for the market timing indicators, which to remind you turned negative in February and were confirmed when the US Unemployment rate and other economic indicators indicated that a recession was coming in March. Despite the rally in April these still remain some way (about 12 to 14%) below their trend moving averages suggesting that one should still be cautious of the market from here. Indeed if you feel over exposed and didn't reduce before, the recent rally has probably given you a good opportunity to adjust if you don't want to ride it out for the long term.

With that in mind, on that same Real Investment Website mentioned earlier, there was a slightly alarming post about CSPA (crash statistical probability analyses) and Bull & Bear Tracker algorithms. These seem to have called the recent low and are now calling the end of the rally, as per previous bear markets. It is also making the following bold predictions:

• New lows for the markets of nine countries which have yet to penetrate their initial 34% March 2020 correction lows. The lows will occur between May 9 and May 22, 2020.
• 100% probability that world economic depression has already begun and will last until at least 2023. See “Worldwide 1930s Style Depression Has Begun”, April 27, 2020.
• The markets of the 13 of the countries to decline by 79% from their 2020 highs by Q4 of 2022.

Make of that what you will but probably best to be a bit cautious I would say and at least, given their precise prediction (breaking the first rule of forecasting about never giving a figure and a date) we won't have too long to see if they are right on the new lows front! While lets hope they are being too pessimistic about a Worldwide Depression on the back of the Global Virus Crisis and the likely falls in markets, although that is in line with the bursting of previous bubbles like Japanese equities in 1989 and Nasdaq in 1999. 

Compound Income Portfolio
Which leads me onto the Compound Income Portfolio (CIP) based on the Scores, which as discussed last month is throwing caution to the wind despite the above discussion and continuing to invest through this bear market to see how that compares with the Market timing signal. So far one month into the experiment it is 1-0 to time in the market versus timing the market, but this is likely to be a marathon rather than a sprint and an easy win for market timing if the alarming post above is to be believed. As ever time will tell on that I guess.

So after March's record fall of 22.2% the CIP saw a record monthly rise or total return of 13.5% versus the 4.9% from the FTSE All Share. This meant that it had clawed its way back ahead of the FTSE All Share Year to date by 4.5%, but that just means it has produced fewer losses with -17% versus -21.5%. Since inception just over five years ago the CIP is now up 68.1% versus 7% from the FTSE All Share or 10.8% per annum versus 1.3%, which is nice. If you would like to see the full history of that in table form then click here or you can see a graph of that below.
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Much of this months performance was accounted for by the unwinding of the under performance by Mid and Small Cap names, where the portfolio is overweight versus large cap names and which had driven the fall in the previous month. In addition 3 of the 4 purchases last month did pretty well with two up by over 30% and another up by over 10%. As I mentioned on the Blog during the month one of these was Jarvis (JIM) which has since reassured and then put out a trading ahead of expectations update - which I had manged to predict. So I'd say it is definitely worth focusing on individual names and see if you can see how they might come through this OK and try and avoid those that might not rather than getting too hung up on market level. 

Against that 2 of the 3 sales I undertook last month didn't do much but one, Games Workshop (GAW) also went up by more than 30%. So you win some you lose some I guess. This was however on the basis that they were going to start selling on line again and despite some hefty downgrades which has now left it on over 30x earnings so I'm not sure I'd be buying that up here myself now. I maybe worried too much about the operational gearing on the down side. i also just wondered if all their customers would have as much disposable income to spend on their hobby and may even think more about spending their time on more important things like family and friends after all this perhaps? Any way fair play though to those that have held on, may you escape all your Dungeons and slay all your Dragons or whatever the hell it is that their games are all about?

Aside from that, as suggested last month, I did make one switch intra-month where one stock Ramsdens (RFX) had, I felt, recovered far enough and with downgrades it was now on a rather high 20x versus a more normal 10x maximum or so and it is still not operating. Now while Pawn Broking & gold trading might boom on the back of all this I felt that the FX business, which accounts for 40% of their profits, might be missing in action for longer through all this as it seem likely that foreign holidays and air travel may be slow to return, but I could be wrong as it went up another 13% since I sold it!

To replace that I bought a more defensive counter in the food manufacturing sector that came up with a good Score and which was in the main (80%) still trading. This was Finsbury Foods (FIF), which hasn't done much yet since, so maybe I shouldn't bother with the intra month trading? Nevertheless it looks pretty good value to me on around 6x their likely earnings this year (June year end), although they too have withdrawn their profits guidance and latest dividend for now.  I would however expect them to pay some kind of final and they should mostly be back up and running in their next financial year. It also looks pretty well invested and as a result does carry some debt, but they have confirmed that they have enough financial flexibility as things stand so shouldn't need to issue shares etc. Now it is not the highest quality operation but as I say it should be fairly defensive (bread and cakes to food retailers 80% and 20% food service) and as such I could see it re-rating back towards its more normal 10x or so and therefore I'd look for it to recover towards 80p to 100p levels from where it has come recently for a potentially decent return of 33 to 66%, although again I could be wrong.

In terms of the Monthly Screening a couple of semi-operative retailers came up as natural sales. One had not been as defensive as I'd hoped (although I didn't expect retailers to get shut down) and although it's not the highest quality, it is at least very financially robust so I was in two minds, but nevertheless let it go given the uncertainty surrounding when and how retailing might return. The other one had recovered more and is more exposed indirectly to housing activity and is more discretionary in nature in terms of the spend. So given the portfolio has a few names that are either directly or indirectly exposed to housing demand, which I think may well be weak going forward - I sold that one too. 

Against those I purchased a couple of Companies in different industries that are still operating and which are in the main not that badly affected by the Global Virus Crisis. Any way subscribers to the Scores will be able to see the detail of these and all the other transactions in their Scores sheets and be able to follow the success or otherwise of these. If you would like to join them for less than the price of a cup of coffee per week then click here to find out and sign up for access if that is of any interest to you.

Summary & Conclusion
Well we are certainly living through unprecedented times as everyone keeps saying. As a result we have seen unprecedented falls and rises in share prices in the last two months and May has already started with a down draught. Thus I won't be getting carried away with the bounce back in the market or the CI Portfolio this month. This is because based on my experience and prior bear markets we are probably in or have just gone through the reflexive rebound rally stage. We may already be in or may soon enter the drawn out fundamental downturn stage. 

The market timing indicators that I follow also suggest that it is too early to turn bullish too. While an article about some algorithms is also suggesting another down leg starting about now and being done potentially in double quick time again, which would at least tie in with the first two phases of the Global Virus Crash (GVC) a term I'm looking to coin after the GFC last time. Beyond that, if it comes to pass, we might then get a longer drawn out bottoming & recovery phase which could also include some sharp rallies along the way. One other depressing thing that has occurred to me is that west seems to be following Japan, but with about a 10 year delay, although I know this is not an original thought. So as the Japanese market is still below its bubble highs after 30 years, it is depressing to think that on that basis the FTSE might still be below 7,000 in another 10 years time.

Having said all that there are always opportunities for stock picking even in a bear market or sideways trading pattern, you just need to be active and nimble to take advantage of them, although I'm doubtful of any ones ability to perfectly time the market but I'm sure there are some exceptions out there who can claim to disprove that. Consequently I'm keeping the CI Portfolio pretty much fully invested throughout while trying to pick my way through the fall out from the GVC by trying to gravitate towards stocks that might benefit from it like Jarvis (JIM) last month and one of this months purchases.

Consequently it will hopefully be interesting to see how this plays out against the on going bear market and whenever the timing indicators / economic indicators suggest that it is safe to go back in the market. As I like to say, I guess time will tell on that. Talking of which thank you for taking the time to get this far and if you have as a reward or punishment (depending on your view of my musical taste) I'll leave you this month with a few more music tracks. Take care, stay safe and take your time in investing your cash I'd say if you have any to invest and good luck when you do!

A quick note for subscribers in these difficult times. On the Scores sheet in addition to the usual Scores measuring financial security, operational quality, dividend cover, & estimate revisions amongst other things. I am planning from today's update to add the underlying data points for these to the sheet to help you with monitoring and filtering stocks financial health, earnings changes and resultant dividend cover etc. more directly as the crisis evolves and we start getting more financial updates and guidance from Companies. I would recommend looking in particular at the interest cover column at the moment as anything less than 3x here could well indicate a company that may get into financial trouble from this or be in need of extra funds depending on how badly their business is impacted.

Secondly just to note that one of the stocks that was added to the Compound Income Portfolio this month, Jarvis Securities (JIM) when I said "Bought on Score as still operating & probably benefiting from more client trading, looks very cheap compared to HL. & AJ Bell & has cash rich balance sheet.

The CEO has put out a reassuring letter to shareholders. In this they suggest that they will still pay an interim dividend on or around 11 June 2020, to shareholders on the register at 22 May 2020, in line with the Company's dividend policy and a further announcement will be made when this dividend is declared. He also added that, as I suspected would be the case, that they had seen a pick up in trading activity post the election and since the virus outbreak, in common with other financial platforms. More encouragingly and something I was concerned might hit them he also claimed that he believed the reduction in the Bank of England base rate should have a negligible effect on interest income. 

So all in all good news and it has cash on the balance sheet and the CEO finished his letter by saying; "Finally, I would like to reassure Jarvis' shareholders and wider stakeholders that despite the seriousness of the current situation globally and the effect this will have for the economy we are not seeing a detrimental impact on the Jarvis business model at this time."

Just be aware though that it is right at the bottom end of the market cap. size that I normally invest in and has a small free float so as such it is not terribly liquid and therefore the spread can be quite wide too. See the graphic below for a comparison on Jarvis with Hargreaves Lansdown & A.J.Bell. Take care, stay safe and enjoy the rally in the market while it lasts.