Brian Bollen's Blog

Reduced price: studio apartment for sale in Wengen

Recently reduced in price. For sale in Wengen, in the Jungfrau region of Switzerland's Bernese Oberland. This studio apartment in the middle of the ground floor of the Chalet Margaux, in a tranquil part of the original village, only a five-minute walk from the train station.

It is a rarely available entry level property, available to foreign buyers with little fuss. 

The studio is fully furnished with a sofa bed and a proper full-size bed that folds away during the day. It seats four for dinner, and the communal facilities in the basement include a party room, a ski room, a share of cellar storage, a nuclear bunker, a utility room with washing and drying machines and what the Swiss call a wellness area with heart-shaped spa bath, sauna, wooden benches for lounging in recovery, and additional shower and WC.

There is beer and prosecco in the fridge, and tea bags and instant coffee in the kitchen cupboards. Just bring your toothbrush and move in. Fully operational UK tv set-up with all BBC and commercial television free-to-air channels. And others. It also has a phone line and broadband/WiFi.

Built in 1978, Chalet Margaux is of its time but a medium-term refurbishment and upgrade is under consideration, paid for out of communal funds. The most likely first element of that will be the replacement of all windows with state-of-the-art triple glazing.

The Swiss do not move quickly; the issue has been under discussion for around a decade, but the money is in place to pay for it. If the plan goes ahead, any buyer will benefit from the new glazing at this vendor's expense.

My wife and I have owned it for nearly 13 years and have had some fantastic breaks there, sometimes as long as five weeks at a time in winter and in summer. Why are we selling? We made a classic downsizing move in August 2016 to a new home in the centre of the bustling market town of Towcester and have discovered we want to spend more time in this ancient Roman town (Lactodorum) than in the Swiss Alps.

 

After the trade war wobbles

Mint - Blain’s Morning Porridge

The Morning Porridge is unrestricted market commentary freely available to all investors on an unsolicited basis. It is not investment research. 

After the trade war wobbles earlier this week, it feels like we’re on more or less an even keel this morning. What can possibly go wrong next? (Form an orderly queue to the right please..)

Independence is better than meat

Mint - Blain’s Morning Porridge

A free man can live on fish. Independence is better than meat.

The Morning Porridge is unrestricted market commentary freely available to all investors on an unsolicited basis. It is not investment research.

Today, it’s all about Iceland! The giant-killing demi-gods of football slaughtered Argentina in a 1-all draw! [Think Led Zep riff: Da da da dada!] What other mere team can possibly match them? The population of Edinburgh is 100k people bigger than the whole of Iceland! And, since the Icelanders are pretty much Scots according to their DNA, I’m now a fanatical fan!

Of all extinct life-forms

Mint - Blain’s Morning Porridge

Of all extinct life-forms, dinosaurs are the most popular. Why that should be is not clear…

The Morning Porridge is unrestricted market commentary freely available to all investors on an unsolicited basis. It is not investment research. 

All eyes on the US Federal Reserve today. They will hike by 25 basis points to 2 percent – the sixth hike in seven quarters. Slow and gradual.

I wish they wouldn’t land those things here while we’re playing golf....

Mint - Blain’s Morning Porridge

The Morning Porridge is unrestricted market commentary freely available to all investors on an unsolicited basis. It is not investment research. 

What joy to be back at my desk after two weeks sailing round the Atlantic coast of La Belle France.

These headlines cannot both be right

Just had two press releases about investment commentary land in my in-tray. One says: 

Bitcoin Volatility Is Back.

The other says: The end of Bitcoin volatility?

They can't both be right, can they?

Sustainable Finance for Breakfast (10)

A round-table meeting on developments in the sustainable finance space. With Ben Caldecott (Oxford Sustainable Finance Programme), Karthik Iyer (Climate Bonds) and Katie Stafford (Schroders).

To be held on Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 8:30-10:00am. At Deloitte, 2 New Street Sq, London EC4A 3BZ Register by emailing alex@csfi.org.uk or phoning the Centre (0207 621 1056).

Schroders strengthens Solutions

Schroders is today announcing that it has strengthened its Solutions business globally with a key hire to its London headquarters and the expansion of its US footprint.  

A suggestion for the future of European club football

I read with interest that there are plans to expand European club football, probably at the expense of domestic leagues. I have a suggestion that might help.

Why not have two distinct squads of players, one registered for European football and the other for domestic football?

According to the financial reports being discussed, there is plenty of money sloshing around the game, with possibly more to come, and a lot of clubs already have bloated squads so probably wouldn't have to recruit any more players to field two separate teams. Circle squared. I expect my knighthood to be in the post shortly...

Schroders executes SYPA risk management strategy

Schroders is today announcing that it has executed a £2.6 billion equity risk management strategy for the South Yorkshire Pensions Authority (SYPA). It says this is understood to be one of the largest of its type undertaken to date in the Local Government Pension Scheme space. 

Sign of the times

Sign of the times update. Of the 24 Scottish footballers travelling to play Peru and Mexico I recognise just three names...

CSFI: Future of P2P lending

The future of Peer-to-Peer lending: A round-table discussion with Giles Andrews (Zopa), Sarah Walker (KPMG) and Daniel Lanyon (AltFi). To be held Thursday, May 31, 2018, 12.30-2.15pm. At Baker’s Hall, 9 Harp Lane, London EC3R 6DP.  Email alex@csfi.org or call CSFI on 0207-621-1056.

Nelson confirmed as leaving Standard Chartered

Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore has this morning formally confirmed that Barnaby Nelson is to leave his position as its head of securities services for Greater China and North Asia next month.

The wasteland that is British TV broadcasting

Such is the wasteland that is British TV broadcasting that while others watched the overexposed Sue Perkins host the BAFTA awards, Meet the Neanderthals, Midsomer Murders or Bake Off, my wife and I binge-watched old episodes of Time Team yesterday evening, from Much Wenlock, Hanslope and Alderton. So enjoyable.

The essence of politics

Mint - Blain’s Morning Porridge

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it where it doesn’t exist, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy. 

What does Sturgeon think she is going to achieve?

So Scotland now has significantly higher alcohol prices than the rest of the UK. What on earth does 'first minister' Nicola Sturgeon this is going to achieve? Are Scotland's drinkers going to wake up and sign her pledge? Or will they head south in their cars, vans, lorries and pantechnicons to load up over the border with England?

I see the marchlands being filled with giant warehouses flogging nothing but cheap booze in its various forms, reminiscent of the glory days of the Calais booze cruises. What will Sturgeon then do? Erect physical borders with customs posts? That would surely be illegal in what is, remember, a United Kingdom.

Or will she attempt to criminalise the purchase of cheap booze? I seem to remember the USA trying to do just in the 1920s and that worked out well, didn't it? I think the Queen in the North has well overstepped her mandate.

If the people of Scotland want to drink more than is good for them, and many of them do (as I recall there are areas of Glasgow where male life expectancy is lower than in Mali in Africa), and do not necessarily lose the habit when they move further south, that is surely their business, not hers.

Welcome to Scotland, no salad for 200 miles, says one well known English comedian whose name escapes me for the moment (Andy something, cheeky Cockney chappy). That is the way the people want it. And it is their RIGHT.

What next? Tax fish suppers? Ban Buckfast wine? Water down Irn-Bru? Start a witch-hunt on tablet and macaroon bars? Force people onto diets and into gyms? That way lie madness and political ruin, I would suggest.

Is this the end of the eurozone recovery

Eurozone gross domestic product (GDP) growth slows, but adverse weather is probably to blame. Azad Zangana, Schroders', Senior European Economist comments on the latest figures announced today.

Mega PE deals drive Q1 2018 activity

There were 1,023 private equity-backed buyout deals announced globally in Q1 2018, worth a combined US$116bn, according to figures published today by industry data specialist Preqin.

Preqin says it expects these figures to rise by up to 5% as more information becomes available, but this already represents the strongest Q1 on record, surpassing the $102bn registered by 964 deals in Q1 2015.

Trade war a mistake of gigantic proportions

Jan Dehn, head of research at Ashmore Group, outlines why Trump’s trade war with China is a policy mistake of gigantic proportions, resting on a misunderstanding about how open economies work. He examines the likely ramifications on Europe and emerging markets.

Protectionism – a history lesson

Economists have known for hundreds of years that protectionism is bad for growth, encourages rent-seeking and destabilixes relations between nations with negative implications for investment. Even so, protectionism continues to raise its ugly head when conditions are such that populist politicians can dress up tariffs as acts of defence in the national interest, i.e. usually during periods of economic stress or rising inequality. Ironically, impediments to free trade almost invariably benefit the few at the expense of the many.

Where IS this supposed growth?

I look around me and see lots of leading indicators of an economic downturn (when we still haven't recovered from the previous one).

Marks and Spencer food sales are down. Unemployment in the UK is edging up. The country's largest estate agent Countrywide has posted a loss of around £208m and is making people redundant.

Poundstretcher has closed its store in Towcester. Bargain Booze is struggling. Prezzo is closing around 100 restaurants. Burger chain Byron is closing shops. Italian-style eaterie Carluccio's is running into trouble. Clothes retailer New Look is shutting shops. 

And yet we hear it is a nailed-on certainty that the US Federal Reserve will push up its key interest rate to ward off inflation at a time of global synchronised growth. 

WHERE IS IT???

Roll out the C-Suite

Singapore Exchange (SGX) and FinTech firm Smartkarma have today announced a partnership to roll out the C-Suite Pilot Programme. This is a cloud-based platform that will enable SGX-listed companies to streamline their communication and data reporting to the institutional analyst and investor communities.