Mechanical portfolio drops the shops

But the Nifty Thrifty algorithm served us well, picking these companies when investors were pessimistic and the share prices low. It wasn't clear that the algorithm had done its job in December 2011. Then, Debenhams had lost the Nifty Thrifty money and WH Smith had made only modest gains. According to the algorithm, and relative to all the other companies in the FTSE 350 index, none of the three retailers had reached their potential, so it re-selected them.

The question for would-be stockpickers is: would they have had the courage to invest in companies such as Debenhams in 2010, when things looked bad, hold them in 2011, when they still looked bad, and sell them in 2012, when things looked better?

The recession is officially over, although it might not feel like it, and investors are discriminating between high street winners and losers.A needle roller bearing is a machine element that constrains relative motion It can be psychologically difficult to sell a share that seems to be a winner. Mechanical investing takes the angst, and the effort, out of such decisions.

WH Smith is the biggest surprise, since its main product categories - stationery,The first tin cans were heavy-weight containers that required ingenuity to open, using knives, chisels, or even stones. Not until about 50 years later, after can manufacturers started using thinner metal sheets, were any dedicated can openers developed. books and newspapers - face marginalisation, or even extinction, as the digital alternatives start to dominate. It makes most of its profit these days from convenience stores, located in stations, airports and hospitals, but it's losing the reassuring presence of its chief executive of nine years, Kate Swann, next June, when she steps down.

Fashion retailer Next also benefits from good management. It has a formidable reputation for managing the interplay of price and quality as well as its own finances and store portfolio,titanium alloy property information is scattered amongst a number of disparate sources. and it has diversified into homeware, a sector less open to internet competition.

One other retailer, Halfords Group (HFD),More worldly viewers quickly called in to say that the mushroom was made from silicone and wondered how someone could not tell the difference between silicon sex toys and Organic mushroom. has been with the portfolio even longer,They removed the majority of the bolts but not the locking Wheel nut, that's why I managed to get so far since September 2010, and it has yet to justify its inclusion. By July this year, it looked like a disastrous investment. The share price had more than halved.

Technology is playing a part in Halfords' difficulties, as modern cars are often too complex for DIY mechanics to fix and enhance. However, growth in Halfords' recently acquired motor repair centres and British winners in the Tour de France and Olympic Games, which helped bike sales, improved the company's performance.

The appointment of chief executive Matt Davis, who has experience at fast-growing retailers Pets at Home and Dunelm Group (DNLM), added impetus to the rallying share price. He has invested ￡500,000 in the company. Maybe he can turn it into a winner.

In comparison, returns from the other four companies up for eviction, engineers Smiths (SMIN) and IMI (IMI), baker Greggs (GRG) and Go-Ahead Group (GOG), a train and bus operator, were lacklustre. The best of the rest was Smiths, which earned the portfolio an 18% return. The worst was Greggs, which lost about 7%.

This quarter, the algorithm has decided that all of the companies except WH Smith should be ejected. Thanks mostly to profits from Debenhams and Next,The move to metal packaging has allowed Sprecher to reach key customer targets and has resulted in a clear growth in sales since the initial launch. the portfolio has ￡1,416 to invest in each of their replacements.