Japanese small-caps

 Looking for a bit of diversification I've bought a few ISJP: iShares Japanese Small-Cap ETF.  Why?

• They're reasonably priced, based on P/B and P/E.
• The yen currently seems very weak vs the dollar, so there's the potential for that to unwind.
• I don't currently have any exposure to Japan.
• There are lots of noises about financial reform in Japan at the moment - demanding companies with very low P/B value publish plans on how to resolve it, for instance.  Could spark an improvement in earnings coupled with an improved P/E ratio, for double impact.

2023 Review

It's been a relatively active year for me, buying more Aviva preference shares and making new investments in Sylvania Platinum and Vesuvius.

Performance has been OK considering the lack of tech shares:

• 9% in GBP (vs 7% for the FTSE 100 including dividends)
• 15% in USD (vs 25% for the S&P 500, I think that doesn't include dividends)
• 19% in NOK (vs 9% for OSEBX, probably not including dividends)

Star performer was TAG Immobilien, up over 100% (after falling 50% in 2022 - so I'm still barely in profit overall).  Berkshire Hathaway, iShares Emerging Markets Dividends ETF and Aviva preference shares (my 3 largest holdings) all returned around 10%.  Ferrexpo (my smallest holding) was a disaster, down 43%.

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...