If you'd invested in: Henry Boot and Motorpoint

Property and construction firm Henry Boot has had a good year, while vehicle retailer Motorpoint’s year has been “challenging”.

Ben Judge
By
published
in Features

If only...

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Henry Boot (LSE: BOOT) is a land-acquisition, property-development and construction firm that has been in business since 1886. The past year has been a good one for the Sheffield-based firm. Revenue rose by 74% to £306.8m in the year to 31 December; pre-tax profit rose by 22% to £39.5m; earnings per share rose by 23% and the dividend was increased by 15%. The share price has risen by more than 50% in the past 12 months.

Be glad you didn't

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Motorpoint (LSE: MOTR) is the UK's largest independent vehicle retailer, selling cars up to two years old from its 12 sites around the country. The first half of last year was challenging, with the group having to cut prices in the wake of the Brexit referendum. Revenue rose by 12.7% to £822m, but pre-tax profit fell by 30% to £11.7m. The company floated on the stock exchange in May 2016, since when the share price has fallen by roughly 40%.

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Ben Judge
Ben Judge

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. 

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.

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