THE forced sale of our notional holdings in Glasgow-based power plant group Aggreko took the edge off another good all-round performance by the majority of our share tips last week.

The disposal was made under our stop-loss rule where we evict any tip which has fallen 10 per cent from previous peaks and crystallised a hefty £100 loss for our 2018 portfolio.

It comes after the eviction of energy giant SSE under the same system last week and follows on from previous sales which have left the four investment portfolios sadly short of Scottish members.

We aim to go some way towards redressing the balance over the next few weeks and made a start on Wednesday morning by adding Glasgow’s Smart Metering Systems to the 2015 selections.

We recognise that the shares already enjoy a premium rating but they show signs of moving to a different level since the company’s recent figures which showed that it is now enjoying inflation linked income from 1.25 million customers.

Brokers at Macquarie are particularly enthusiastic and believe the shares could rise by another 90 per cent over the medium term although we are more cautious and will use the stop loss system as a protection against any heavy profit taking.

While there were one or two other disappointments last week, all four portfolios recorded further valuation increases when we carried out our usual mid-week review of progress.

The 2018 selections, for example, came within a whisker of recording a £1,000 gain for the first time as further rises in the shares of technology giant Micro Focus and flavourings and fragrances group Treatt cancelled out the Aggreko loss and another slippage in water treatment concern Pennon.

The 2017 portfolio also managed a small overall rise, helped by further support for Legoland to Madame Tussaud leisure group Merlin and the heavyweight Smiths Industries.

Best performance, though, came from the 2014 list which saw its total valuation jump by 1.8 per cent with all five constituents managing some sort of rise over the week.

The 2016 selections were not far behind with their value rising by 1. 4 per cent after a further useful recovery in the price of Lloyds Banking after previous weakness.