All changed now so all is well.

Heh heh!

I've just gone in - no problems....

To wrap this up: BIG thanks to @Nik-Burrows for helping kick Quai/IM into sorting things, the task is complete Note to selves - we will do our sums earlier next year to avoid stress, & hopefully the process will be slick with everyone having learned something!

In a blog post today Meta Platforms (META) has increased the investment for its data centre campus in El Paso, Texas, to $10B from $1.5B. They aren't playing.

It's a great business albeit not that exciting-safe and durable. Their scale and reach opens them up to finding something to complain about-at the end of the day they are a business, they have millions of customers. Some won't be happy customers. Apple gets a lot of flack from some too. Ive always found them a pleasure to deal with. In saying that ive never had a piece of expensive hardware fail prematurely and tried to get some goodwill but I have dealt with their support relating to products many years outside warranty(without Apple Care) and always found them helpful.

Vertex have a good track record. We can't ever expect anything more that 'could, might, maybe'. It's still a drug trial. Nothing is certain until it's approved and commercialised. Vertex specialise in what is called Transformative therapies. Drugs which transform the pathway of a disease from mere managing symptoms to a long term cure/outcome. It's nice to know we invest in something that improves peoples quality of like. More specifically Vertex focus on genetic diseases (gene editing) In terms of success from drug trials. At phase 1 statistically, the odds of success sit at 10-15%. At the conclusion of a successful phase 3 trial-and the results were not just positive, they were extremely positive, the odds increase to 85-90% so I am confident they are onto something. There are many more drugs in their pipeline-Diabetes is the next potential break-through

Try this [image: 1773073791510-screenshot-2026-03-09-at-16.29.26.png]

Hi JQ74, Ive discussed how markets move when uncertainty flares up and how quality rebounds. I would say that there hasn't been a noticeable dip and YTD overall we are doing very well. Nearly all other external portfolios im looking at are red and most of ours are positive. On communication, unless we have a specific need to contact you we generally don't, rather, relying on any Direct Clients to use the forum, the dashboard and contact us if they need assistance, guidance etc. No one can say what the market will do day to day however over decades when wars start, volatility increases for a period. As mentioned we have, so far been relatively unscathed. This is due in part to the USD which is seen as secure in uncertain times. I can also say with confidence that the businesses we invest in are largely unaffected notwithstanding longer term impacts from inflation and energy costs if the situation persists but even so that would be very small. It would be a concern if we held hospitality or infrastructure assets in the Gulf-we dont have any exposure. If you want to discuss anything I'm happy to set up a call, alternatively you can email us: support@cobensdirect.co.uk Regards Adam

@Adam-Kay said in Tech changes: OT-the US just reported 4% growth in gdp. The biggest cut to the deficit in 10 years. Remind me what direction UK GDP is going in? We really are screwed in this country, aren't we.

KLA delivered above expectations The result overall was solid, fundamentally — AI‑driven semiconductor tool demand continues. Analysts have been positive and even raising targets. KLA’s share price dropped (~7–8% in extended trading) despite that beat/inline result. The stock had already run so far, so fast, that nothing they reported was going to be good enough. This echoes a classic “sell the news” dynamic: The stock was frothy heading into earnings — up big recently (nearly +40% in the last month alone and 130% 1 yr! That run priced in very high expectations for the print. Net it only moved the price down to what it was on Monday!

A shame you can’t ’back-date’ your ISA contributions, but at least a reminder to fill them now & moving forwards

It's a pretty consistent pattern of late. Strong intra quarter and sell the news. The bottom line is the MSFT result was solid, circa 20% growth. I'm happy enough. The tech portfolio so far today is weathering the bumps well imo. And we sit at an all time high so a bit of volatility is manageable . Unlike some tech portfolios I know which are getting thumped One other thing-quality always comes back!

Anyone who holds a portfolio and has questions can contact either myself and or Nik. Many have. Discussions around suitability are very individual specific due to goals, age, risk appetite and time to retirement/time to draw down.

Hi Ollie, I don't follow 'Defence' stocks generally as they rely on wars being waged. My area is growth/tech which has outperformed defence over any meaningful time frame. If you want to seek out defence funds there are a couple of global ETFs you can google.

@n5tew Good morning, to answer your questions, yes there are a handful of lenders that still offer offset mortgages, though they’re relatively niche now. With these, you only pay interest on your mortgage minus what’s in a linked savings account, which can significantly reduce your interest costs if you hold a large savings balance. There are indeed fixed rate products although they will tend to be notably higher than your conventional fixed rate products. If you would like to discuss this in further detail, please let me know, my email is michael.searle@cobens.co.uk, or we can arrange a meeting to dive into specifics.

@SiriAlexaAl Yep, that's what's happened.