Vesuvius

Another small investment today, this time in Vesuvius plc (VSVS.L), which now make up around 2% of my portfolio.  They make engineering ceramics used in e.g the steel industry.  Balance sheet looks solid, P/E ratio is 6, dividend yield is 5.5%, so they look pretty cheap.

Sylvania Platinum

Made a small investment in Sylvania Platinum (SLP.L) today at 82p per share.  It will make up about 2.5% of my portfolio.  They produce platinum group metals from mine tailings.  They seem incredibly cheap - market cap about £210m vs profit last year of £35m, but with a whopping £100m cash on the books, and no debt.

If the price of platinum craters - e.g. because all cars go fully electric and we don't need to produce catalytic converters any longer - then they'll be in trouble.  On the other hand, only 4 more years like last year and they've already got enough cash to justify the market cap.  Is the electric car revolution really moving that fast?

Yet more AV-A

Bought some more Aviva prefs yesterday at 120.5p.  They now make up 11.5% of my portfolio.  Current yield is 7.2%.  According to Inflation and price indices - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) UK inflation is currently 7.3%.  So right now they're no better than an inflation hedge (but that's still better than cash).  Long-term I expect inflation to be more like ~3%, and on that basis they're pretty cheap.

2022 review

On sitting down to write this review, I have realised my portfolio tracker hasn't been updating itself since the end of October when I "fixed" a bug.  What a quiet last 2 months to a turbulent year it had seemed!  I thought I was finishing the year with a -0.1% return in GBP.  Better fix my fix and see the truth...

Turns out the real figure is +3% in GBP.  By share:

Winners:

• Plus 500: +40%
• Berkshire Hathaway: +16%
• Ferrexpo: +17%

Losers

• Barclays: -12%
• Aviva Preference Shares: -12%
• Natwest Preference Shares: -15%
• iShares Emerging Market Dividend Fund: -23%
• TAG Immobien: -44%

In USD I'm down about 10%.  US inflation has been about 8%, so in real terms, in USD, I'm down about 18%.  Yikes.

GBP has weakened very slightly against NOK over the year, so my non-inflation-adjusted NOK return is +2%, which after inflation is around -5%.

Despite a modest profit on Ferrexpo I would have done far better this year by sitting on my hands and not trading at all - TAG Immobilien in particular has been a stinker.  Perhaps I'll buy some more.

TAG Immobilien

I fancy investing in something a bit different, and German REITs look pretty cheap.  I've therefore taken a punt on TAG Immobilien AG: Home | TAG Immobilien AG (tag-ag.com) at just under EUR12.5.  1 year graph looks fun!

While I was at it, I picked up a few more Aviva Preference shares at £1.31.

Now to see if my portfolio tracking tools can cope with Euro-denominated shares...

Ferrexpo: FXPO.L

Buy shares in a Ukrainian company while Putin is invading.  Why not?

Not a large position, paid just under 149p (on 14th March).  The P/E ratio is somewhere below 2.  The downsides are pretty obvious:

• Right now production is probably zero.  I assume the workforce has more important things to do.
• Even if they're still producing they can't ship their product anywhere.
• If Russian forces make it to Ferrexpo's production facilities they might level them.
• If there's a long-term occupation then Russia might seize ownership of Ferrexpo or their assets.
• Even if Ukraine kick out Russian forces they might nationalize industry or levy punitive taxes as part of their economic recovery plan.

But I figure there's plenty of upside at the current price:

• Putin probably (hopefully) regrets getting into this and right now just wants to get sufficient leverage to cut a favourable peace deal.
• Ferrexpo is based in the middle of the country.  The war will be won or lost before the Russians get that far.
• They're cheap, and apart from the war they look pretty good quality - no debt, investing in improving the quality of their product, stupendous margins.

Is it immoral to invest in a company whose share price has cratered because of a war?  I don't think so:

• I'm not taking advantage of anyone, just buying at the market price.  Indeed if there are Ukrainians who want to sell because they need ready cash, and everyone stopped buying, then that would clearly be a bad outcome.
• I don't have a problem with what the company itself is doing.
• I have no conflict of interest - owning Ferrexpo shares isn't going to make me start supporting Putin.

I did also consider investing in Polymetal, but I think that would have been morally dubious - but luckily my broker won't trade them, so the decision is out of my hands.

More AV-A

Bought some more Aviva preference shares at 155p, just to take my holding up to a reasonable size.  It's now about 7% of my portfolio.