Hoodless Brennan

[grantx]

Wolff,

I'm sure there's a quasi-arbitrage to be exploited.

Two people work together, two accounts: one at Witless, Brennan for example, one with a safe, execution-only broker (or CFD account).

WB account buys all recommendations at say, £1000 a time. At the same time, the other account sells short a far greater number. Is this viable? As an ex-salesman of dodgy stocks, I know c 85% go south.

Grant.

 

[THE WOLF2222]

Wolff,

I'm sure there's a quasi-arbitrage to be exploited.

Two people work together, two accounts: one at Witless, Brennan for example, one with a safe, execution-only broker (or CFD account).

WB account buys all recommendations at say, £1000 a time. At the same time, the other account sells short a far greater number. Is this viable? As an ex-salesman of dodgy stocks, I know c 85% go south.

Grant.

Why even buy them and not just take the 'short' side?

It is even possible to spread bet on many of the smaller stocks, so this is very viable.

 

[grantx]

Wolf,

They will only keep calling you if you are a regular buyer, hence you need to know what they are recommending.

Grant.

 

[dpowers]

I have been an active trader for many years and use many different brokers.

From my experience it’s not necessarily the firm you deal with but the account handlers, so to say Hoodless are poor is a bit unfair on Hoodless as it is the responsibility of the account handler to call you and service your account.

If I had to recommend a brokerage I would recommend Luke Securities, the company has only been trading for a year or so but their account handlers are all very experienced and in my mind offer a very high level of service!

You could not be more wrong with regard to Hoodless. I have extensive broking experience, and worked for them briefly a few years ago.
The "brokers" were told by the management they had to sell principal stocks to clients, and had specific quotas to meet. Most of the "brokers" were more like used car salesmen, with very little or no knowledge of the market. Hoodless would buy larges lines of stock very cheaply - usually well below the market price - which their salesmen would then place at a very much higher price to unsuspecting clients. They would always produce a really upbeat "research note" from their "analysts" to back to recommendation. (I remember case where one of the desk heads, wrote a "research note" himself, which he happily told the salesmen was a "load of crap"...) Although Sean Blackwell (a.k.a "Carboot" Sean) - a particularly nasty principal of the firm - was banned for life by the FSA; this firm's unsavoury practices and sheer contempt for their clients continue.
I did not last long with this pack of crooks, and left as I could not lie to clients. They would have pushed me out eventually anyway, as I actually believe a client's interests were paramount - NOT the firm's - and would generally advise them to buy FTSE250 stocks, rather than much of the rubbish they were peddling.
One final note. I was so disgusted with this firm, I went to the FSA with documentary proof, and made a formal complaint. What happened - absolutely nothing!

 

[Ifwishes]

I have to say that the above post certainly reflects my experience. I was a naïve inexperienced investor and lost a big chunk of my savings as a result of misrepresentations by this outfit. Looking back, I must have been crazy to trust them - I'd have been better off giving my hard earned cash to a used car salesman. (Incidentally, Hoodless Brennan now trades as HB Markets - I wonder why???).

Their response to my complaint was that they were under no obligation to me and it was my responsibility to manage my portfolio, which kind of begs the question of why they offered an advisory service in the first place. And what a pity they didn't take that tone with me from the outset, instead of constantly bombarding me with 'urgent' calls and hard sell tactics in order to offload their duff shares onto me!!!

 

[blueclaret]

I complained to them after they i bought their penny shares and lost money. They refunded me as i requested a mixture in my portfolio. They record all their phone calls which showed i wanted low risk. But stupidly i went along with their rubbish. Maybe you should complain to the ombudsman.