There are some companies that turn in a very satisfactory performance. They do this steadily. They do it come rain or come shine. These are firms which have got it right.

So many compaines get it wrong. Or they get it half right. The former go down the pan, eventually. The latter, and there are many, many outfits like this, blunder on, never really getting anywhere.

Companies which give up the ghost are fairly rare. If it happens to a decent sized company it makes big news. If it happens to a tiddler, nobody is really surprised and it goes unoticed, unless you happen to have been saddled with the varmint.

But it’s the middle group, the also-rans, which cause me most irritation. You have them in your bag and they stay there. This is because they don’t actually do badly enough for you to sell them and buy something else. They may even pay dividends. But the divis are probably very little.

Companies which don’t make much money, or at least don’t grow their profits year in year out have share prices which are stuck or gradually decay. They do not put on huge gains, and, if they do, they lose them fairly quickly when the inevitable truth dawns that nobody really wants what they do or make all that much.

I am going to have a good long look at my portfolio. If there are any companies which have not upped thier share price, even thyough we’re in the middle of a small rally, then I will be quite ruthless. Well at least I’ll try to be.

These boring shares may have been with me a long time, but that makes it even easier to track their useless records. Shares which do not put on share valued and pay poor dividends are neither use nor ornament. I don’t want em. They’ll have to go. And as soon as I do part with them, alas, they will put on a huge spurt in value. But that’s life. Rocking on.