That said, it doesn’t always work out as planned. A prime example is Aim-traded investment company Aurora Russia (AURR: 20.5p) whose shares surged 30 per cent to a multi-year high after I advised buying them a year ago at 30.5p ('Time to play Russia roulette', 4 Feb 2013). Following asset disposals, the company subsequently bought back 36.9 per cent of its share capital at 52.3p a share last May. So after factoring in the 70 per cent-plus profit on the tendered shares, this meant the carrying value of the remainder of the original holding was only 17.7p a share, which compared favourably with Aurora's share price of 40p at the end of April. That should have been the cue to take profits on the balance too. However, I didn’t because there was still a sizeable gap between the net asset value of the company - around 55p a share last June - and a share price of 32p at the time.
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