The Blackmores Limited (ASX: BKL) share price won’t be going anywhere on Wednesday.

This morning the health supplements company requested that its shares be placed into a trading halt.

Why are Blackmores’ shares in a trading halt?

Blackmores requested a trading halt this morning while it undertakes a capital raising which aims to raise up to $127 million.

According to the release, Blackmores’ capital raising comprises a fully underwritten $92 million institutional placement and non-underwritten share purchase plan of up to $25 million.

Blackmores Chief Executive Officer, Alastair Symington, expects the capital raising to support its activities in the Asia market.

He explained: “The Equity Raise will strengthen Blackmores’ balance sheet and liquidity position and provide the flexibility to pursue our key strategic priorities. It will enable us to accelerate our growth initiatives in Asia and invest in our efficiency program which will help us to achieve our objective of returning Blackmores to sustainable, profitable growth.”

Trading update.

The company also provided the market with an update on how it is performing during the pandemic.

Blackmores advised that it has experienced a material increase in demand for its immunity products. However, as immunity products constitute only a small part of its portfolio, it isn’t having a major impact on its performance.

Furthermore, any of the benefits it is experiencing from the surge in demand for immunity products, is being offset elsewhere in the business.

Management notes that there has been a lag in non-immunity products, which has been partly driven by lower shopping traffic.

Also weighing on its performance has been issues gaining access to some overseas sourced materials and capacity constraints at some contract manufacturers. These have prevented the company from being able to fully meet demand in some products.

In light of this, the company expects to deliver underlying net profit after tax of $17 million to $21 million in FY 2020. This is in-line with the guidance it provided with its first half results in February.

More reading

• 2 quality ASX shares to buy for long-term growth
• ASX shares and investing trends that could boom post COVID-19
• Will coronavirus make Blackmores a market darling again?
• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX starts May with a slide

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Blackmores Limited. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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Building a massive portfolio of ASX shares from scratch is no easy feat. Creating real wealth through the share market takes time, dedication and discipline. But it can be done, nonetheless. One thing I’ve learned over time is that sometimes it’s simple rules executed consistently that can really give your returns a boost. So, with that in mind, here are 3 rules for building a massive ASX share portfolio.

1) Set aside money for regular investing

I often hear would-be investors say something like ‘I want to invest, but there’s never any money left over from my pay packet’. Our brains have a funny ability to work with the cash we think is available. Whether you have $100 or $500 sitting in your account, there’s a high chance it will be gone by the time your next pay cheque comes in.

That’s why setting aside your investing cash when you get paid is vital for building wealth with ASX shares. If you make this a habit every time you get paid, and invest the money regularly, your chances of building a massive ASX share portfolio will balloon.

2) Don’t just buy ASX blue chips

There’s nothing wrong with having an ASX portfolio consisting of the big 4 banks, Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW), Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) and Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS). But these companies are likely to give you a nice stream of dividend income and little else over the coming years. If you really want to make your ASX share portfolio massive, you’ll need some help from your shares too.

That’s why I think investors in the ‘wealth accumulation’ phase should mix blue chips with at least some growth shares. Whether it’s Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT), Altium Limited (ASX: ALU), Xero Limited (ASX: XRO), Polynovo Ltd (ASX: PNV) or any other growth share, you want to have at least some portion of your portfolio dedicated to companies that have long runways in front of them.

3) Don’t act with emotion

Keeping a cool head is one of the best ways you can outperform the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) over time. Most investors who underperform the index do so because they make silly decisions based on what ‘the crowd’ is doing.

This might involve buying an overvalued company in the hope it will make you a quick buck, or otherwise selling a perfectly good company at a terrible price because the market is crashing. Both of these decisions are emotional and have no place in the creation of a massive ASX share portfolio. The best investors in the world buy businesses, not ticker symbols, and any ambitious disciple would do well to follow by example.

More reading

• Where to invest $5,000 in ASX 200 shares today
• Where will the Coles share price be in 1 year?
• Tax planning for ASX 200 investors
• Is the BHP share price a buy?
• 3 top ASX dividend shares I would buy for income right now

Sebastian Bowen owns shares of Telstra Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Xero. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Telstra Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of AFTERPAY T FPO, Altium, Wesfarmers Limited, and Woolworths Limited. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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On Tuesday the Australian share market continued its remarkable run and charged notably higher. This has led to a large number of shares racing higher this week.

Three which have climbed so much they have just reached record highs are listed below. Here’s why they are breaking records:

Ansell Limited (ASX: ANN)

The Ansell share price continued its positive run and hit a record high of $35.35 on Tuesday. The health and safety products company’s shares have been on fire this year due to the increasing demand it is experiencing it is during the pandemic. And unlike some companies which are getting a temporary sugar hit from the crisis, investors appear to believe the pandemic will cause a sustained increase in demand for Ansell’s hand and body protection solutions.

Appen Ltd (ASX: APX)

The Appen share price hit a record high of $32.02 yesterday. Investors have been fighting to get hold of the artificial intelligence company’s shares over the last couple of months after it released a positive market update. Appen revealed that demand for its services has remained strong despite the pandemic. According to the release, the company remains on course to achieve its FY 2020 operating profit guidance of $125 million to $130 million. This represents a 23.8% to 28.7% year on year increase.

Temple & Webster Group Ltd (ASX: TPW)

The Temple & Webster share price climbed to a record high of $4.49 on Tuesday. Investors have been buying the shares of Australia’s largest online retailer of furniture and homewares after it revealed stellar sales growth during the pandemic. A recent update shows that Temple & Webster’s second half revenue to 24 April was up 74% on the prior corresponding. This was driven by record new and repeat customer orders. Investors appear optimistic that this shift to online shopping will be sustained.

More reading

• 5 ASX 200 10-bagger shares of the decade
• If you invested $10,000 in the Appen IPO, this is how much you’d have now
• ASX 200 shares to buy for growth and income
• 2 quality ASX shares to buy for long-term growth
• Why this ASX infrastructure company could help protect your portfolio in a downturn

James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Temple & Webster Group Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of Appen Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Ansell Ltd. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

The post Why Appen and these ASX shares just hit record highs appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

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