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Authoritative Independent Monthly Share Selections Using Technical & Fundamental Analysis

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Big Food Group - Finance director in fine form

December 2003

Investing in shares may lose you all or some of your money. Past performance is no indication of future performance. Some of the shares recommended here may be small company shares, which can be relatively illiquid and hard to trade and this makes such shares more risky than other investments.

Following last month's write-up on Big Food, the owner of  Iceland and Booker, we met up with finance director, Bill Hoskins.  Both Hoskins and chief executive, Bill Grimsey, who joined in 2001, have earned enormous respect among investors after their previous success in turning around the fortunes of fraud-strickenD.I.Y. retailer, Wickes. At Big Food, Hoskins and Grimsey certainly have the raw materials to work from. Both businesses generate operatingmargins well below industry norms and yet, paradoxically, both hold strong market positions.  For example, Booker, a wholesale business serving independent grocers, commands a market leading 33% share in cash&carry, while Iceland is second only to Tesco in frozen ...

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With small companies there is an above average degree of risk compared to buying blue chips. Please be aware that we have not assessed the suitability of any of these investments for you. The newsletter simply states a personal view and diarises the editor’s investment decisions. Please speak to your stockbroker or other qualified individual to ascertain whether any of these companies mentioned would form useful additions to your own portfolios. Past performance is no indication of future success.

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