Net deposits on Trading 212 are currently: Invest £100k and ISA 40k (only recently added 20k) so I am £34k up at the moment. Here is the result on this morning of Saturday 2 May 2026:
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| Invest IRR 72% - ISA IRR 31% |
I still have £4k as cash in the ISA and £10k as cash in the Invest GIA.
I took some profits on some holdings (AMD, ARM) in the last 2 weeks.
Note: If you save £175k into a SIPP and add £200/month every month - you should easily become a millionaire in 20 years (assuming 8%/year gain of shares) - if not a lot sooner!
Current Holdings
I have deliberately diversified my portfolios on T212. I have other portfolios with other brokers, inc. other ISAs, a GIA and a SIPP, which are heavily invested in World ETFs for stability.
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| ISA Holdings (IRR 25% over last 12 months) |
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| Invest Holdings (IRR 43% over last 12 months) |
The stock market seems to be ignoring the Iran problem at the moment and despite oil reaching a high on Friday, most S&P companies did very well.
Many companies announced very good results this week esp. the USA Tech companies.
Picks and Shovels!
I try to buy picks and shovels companies rather than try to pick which of their customers will ultimately be successful and avoid the companies that fail.So AI Data Centres will need CPUs, storage disks and memory (especially high bandwidth memory). If the price is right, I will buy the companies that make these essential components. These days electric vehicles also require a great deal of electronics and new combustion engine cars are being phased out.
Western Digital, Seagate, Samsung, Micron, Hynix all did very well. I also hold Intel, ARM, Broadcom and AMD which have also performed very well.
I feel that gold and silver is a good price at the moment. There should be inflation but Fed interest rates are being deliberately kept down so I have spent a few more £k to buy more junior gold miners.
I still have £14k in cash as I expect people to take profits next week. Trump impeachment (or curtailment of his powers) is looking more and more likely. I am ready to take more profits but also I am ready to buy more of the right stocks at the right price.
I see continued demand for chips...
AMD seems to have a very high price at the moment (P/E 135%) and I am thinking of reducing my holding or selling all (I am only holding £1120 in my ISA of which £407 is profit). I am also already holding most of the others.
Hormuz
The Hormuz blockade is going to affect oil and gas supplies for the rest of the year, even if free movement is allowed tomorrow. Fertilizer and Helium supply is also affected.
| Company | Sector | Strategic Advantage in 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Cheniere Energy | LNG | Largest US exporter filling Qatar's 20% supply gap. |
| CF Industries | Fertilizer | North American nitrogen production capturing 60% urea price spike. |
| Air Products | Helium | Leverages US storage to supply chipmakers during Qatar shortage. |
| Kinder Morgan | Midstream | Essential infrastructure for record-breaking US gas exports. |
| ExxonMobil | Energy/He | High oil prices + critical US-based helium production. |
The top-end target prices assume that the blockade continues, so buying any of these now will mean that I am betting rather than investing. If the blockade stops, these prices could drop even more than their previous fair-value prices. The gains do not seem worth the risk at these prices.
The winners seem to be US-based companies (not dependent on Hormuz and no import tariffs). and possibly chip manufacturers (esp. Micron which opens a new fab this year), Texas Instruments has experienced a large boost from AI and has a new fab planned to run around 2030. Intel also has USA fabs. US companies will also benefit from Trump's Chips Act.
I am up 120% and 160% on Intel and Micron to date. Sadly, I only bought approx. £500 of each.
Chip packaging of the silicon however, is still mainly done overseas and these subsidies are mostly paid only after certain benchmarks have been met by these companies. I already hold most of these and many are currently showing 70%-120% gains!
Banks and Finance
The performance of the EU STOXX banks ETF BNKE was amazing last year, but this year it has mostly stagnated. Currently, I think BNKE is underrated, whereas USA banks are priced near fair value.
I have also recently bought £2k of BAE. This defence company is expanding rapidly and has a large forward order book and a potential new £500m contract in the offing.
Why the CV90 is a "Growth Driver" for BAE
The CV90 is currently seeing a massive resurgence in orders, often described as the "go-to" fighting vehicle for Europe: [1, 3, 4]
- Record Backlog: BAE is bracing for its biggest-ever order of CV90s in 2026, involving a joint procurement of hundreds of vehicles for up to six European nations (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Lithuania, Estonia, and the Netherlands).
- High-Value Contracts: Recent wins include a $2.5 billion deal with Denmark and Sweden and a $2.2 billion order from the Czech Republic.
- Expanding "User Club": There are currently 1,900+ vehicles ordered across 10+ nations. Each new customer represents decades of high-margin "sustainment" revenue (spare parts, upgrades, and maintenance). [1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]
Strategic Partners & Suppliers
If you are looking for secondary plays in the CV90 supply chain, these companies often provide critical sub-systems:
- RTX Corporation (RTX): Recently awarded contracts to provide Landshield Plus anti-jam antennas and Bushmaster cannons for new CV90 variants.
- Saab (SAAB-B.ST): Frequently provides the sights and fire control systems for the vehicle.
- Rheinmetall (RHM.DE): While a competitor with its Lynx vehicle, it recently signed an agreement with BAE to provide a 120mm gun upgrade for the CV90 light tank variant. [, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Summer is just around the corner. Will people be jetting off to Crete or will they 'staycation' on their back lawns to save money on hotels and petrol and save up to buy a new eco-tumble dryer for the Winter? How soon will it be before electric kettles are only allowed to heat water up to 80 deg C?
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