my portfolio

Glen_Clark

planteria wrote: »

currently fancy Unilever, especially if they drop further.

Unilever has some great brands, but how will it be affected if the switch to unbranded consumer goods sold by Aldi & Lidl etc continues to increase?

jimjames

Glen_Clark wrote: »

Unilever has some great brands, but how will it be affected if the switch to unbranded consumer goods sold by Aldi & Lidl etc continues to increase?

Do they also make unbranded goods for them too?

planteria

it's an interesting question Glen. the theory is that Aldi and Lidl own-brand lines compete with Tesco Everyday Value and Asda, Morrison and Sainsbury's equivalents, but that there will remain a core portion of consumers that want to buy Domestos, Dove, Lynx and Bertolli. ie. that branded products have an element of 'protection' around them which enables them to avoid the price fight.

as it happens, i haven't bought into Unilever so far, but still fancy them as a long-term hold in a portfolio...in effect as part of an own-managed large cap portfolio rather than holding, say, Neil Woodford's fund.

Glen_Clark

jimjames wrote: »

Do they also make unbranded goods for them too?

I don't think so - but if they do they certainly are not going to make as much profit on them

Glen_Clark

planteria wrote: »

there will remain a core portion of consumers that want to buy Domestos, Dove, Lynx and Bertolli.

I don't think they can buy those brands at Aldi or Lidl, even if they still wanted to.

Glen_Clark

PS: Slightly off topic but the Lever Museum in Port Sunlight is worth a visit. William Hesketh Lever collected paintings of beautiful young women. This gave him the copyright to reproduce them in adverts suggesting if you wash in his soap you will look like them. It worked
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hesketh_Lever
I like ULVR, they look after their empoyees, I have held their shares for a long time and am well in profit. The apparent shift to Aldi & Lidl in Britain can't be good for them, but at least Britain is only a small part of their market. Apparently the spread of Aldi & Lidl has been arrested in France & Spain by Carrefour and Mercadonna cutting prices like Tesco/Morrisons/Sainsburys are doing here.

sabretoothtigger

I think alidi isnt the concern so much but emerging markets as Unilever could really take off if they were keyed in there as Ive read?

planteria wrote: »

Heritage is no more. shares>cash having been taken over by Energy Investments Global (Al Mirqab Capital)

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail.html?announcementId=11937802

yes Im all out now through no choice. Its a bargain so long as Nigeria stays moderately stable enough I think.
Wish I'd bought more on the lows but how much can be extended on just impressions its a good deal, could all turn bad or be covered up in some way.

QPP seems also viable and sure enough its up over 10% today and could double. However 1 source says the CEO should be jailed, just a random comment but they just reported another firm for cooking the books. However I think this is different

IronWolf

Unilever have faced these kind of threats, its nothing new. In the 00s it was supermarkets like Tesco and Sainsburys introducing private label products on the shelves next to them. If that didn't kill them then I don't think Aldi and Lidl will.

moxter

Unilever and P&G are both worried about the Aldi/Lidl phenomenon though. They have no foothold there whatsoever and shoppers ARE being drawn away from the "mainstream" supermarkets - with no immediate signs of being drawn back. It's a bit different to supermarket own brands - in Aldi/Lidl the branded goods aren't on the shelves and so aren't top of mind.

theshortstack

Just as a noobie question - how have you been able to invest in Amazon using your ISA? I thought non UK companies could only be accessed by trackers or funds.