Brief run through new investments – HAUTO:OSL, CMCX.L, ASHM.L, VOD.L, ECH, EBOX.L

Aware I haven’t posted in a while – been busy as you can see below..

Overall it’s been a difficult year, natural resources not the place to be. Rough performance right now is looking to be roughly flat.

Had a busy last couple of months adding a number of positions to the portfolio which may be of interest. A little bit of a health warning is needed as many of my ideas haven’t been working out of late.

My favourite is probably HAUTO.OSL 0 Hoegh Autoliners. This provides car shipping. The market is tight and prices are high. In a insanely volatile / specialised market such as shipping I would usually stay clear but some of the growth in demand is in Chinese EV’s being shipped to Europe. EV’s are far cheaper in China than Europe (for the same model) and Chinese EV’s (in Europe) far cheaper than those produced in Europe. There is some talk of import restrictions by the EU. Apparently they are being subsidized / dumped – despite retail prices in China being far lower (for the same vehicle) than the EU. Shipping is a challenge. Some older lower rate contracts are rolling off – but they are not the most transparent on this if the market stays tight likely to be good revenue rises…

OPP/P – Origo Prefs / Ordinaries

Just bought a reasonable chunk (c6% portfolio weight) in Origo Prefs and a similar- c6% weight in the ordinaries.

Origo is a Chinese private equity investment trust. As you might imagine when you hear the words ‘AIM listed Chinese private equity trust’ performance has been disasterous. c500p in mid 2011 has become c1.5p now.  Putting a lighter to your money would probably have given you a better return.

In theory the ordinary has a NAV of 9p a share (June results) vs a market price of 1.5p –  so a decent return from here.

I am going for the prefs – trading at 0.30c vs hopefully a redemption at $1.00 – or a 3x return as well as the ordinaries.