Gostevie's Blog
My postings on things investment-related - and perhaps more.
Having only recently started this blog, and with it now being over three weeks since my previous post, I thought it was time to get the ball rolling again. It has been an interesting time for me as I am leaving my current salaried job next week and I have taken the decision not to look for another one for a while but to take a break from the treadmill while I decide what I want to do next. This of course will give me more time to concentrate more on my investing, which is something I have been wanting to do for some time. Many readers of this blog will be aware that I have also had the honour of being interviewed by Peter Higgins of Share Talk as part of his Conkers’ Corner series. At first I felt a bit embarrassed to be doing it as I am nowhere near in the same league as many of Peter’s previous interviewees but he was great at putting me at ease and once I got started I enjoyed it a lot – to the extent that I rambled on a bit at times! Anyway, here is a link to the Conker’s Corner website – I am #46: http://www.share-talk.com/investing.php Anyway, the title of this post refers to today being my 54th birthday. I’m not a great one for celebrating birthdays but it does mean that it is just a year until I can consider taking the 25% tax-free lump sum from my SIPP so this seems like a reasonable time to have a look at what it currently contains. Here is a summary: So my biggest ‘holding’ at the moment is cash at just over a fifth of the total, which is a higher proportion than I normally hold in my SIPP. This is partly due to a general feeling that some things on my watch list look pretty fully valued at the moment and I am happy to wait for any dips before buying (watch as that ship sails off without me, folks!) and partly because I have recently sold a couple of things – Debenhams and IG Group – and haven’t yet reinvested the proceeds. All of my shareholdings pay at least a reasonable yield and most of them will need no introduction, but here is a brief rationale behind why I hold them: Centaur Media is a small company that I have held in one form or another since May 2013 (and I mention briefly in the above podcast). It has been a bit up and down at times but has paid a good dividend throughout and overall I am comfortably up. Hansteen Holdings is a bit of a ‘special situation’ REIT that I purchased in March when it announced that it was selling off its German and Dutch portfolio for €1.28bn, which appeared to be roughly the entire market capitalisation of the company at the time, and would likely be making a cash return to investors whilst keeping its UK portfolio. The share price has hardly moved since then but things should be resolved in the next month or so, so I am happy to hold and see what happens. Marston’s – I first bought these in February and the share price is currently roughly where it was back then. Has been steadily increasing its dividend for years. Royal Dutch Shell – A staple of any High Yield Portfolio. Dividends are declared in dollars but paid in sterling so the recent weakness of the pound has helped in that respect. Revolution Bars Group was an attempt to ‘catch a falling knife’ when a share price fall following a mild profit warning seemed to me to be overdone. I bought at around 132p and, naturally, the price continued to tank to around the 110p mark. However, it has perked up a bit of late and is now around 126p. This morning they announced that the Interim Finance Director has been appointed Chief Financial Officer so hopefully he can sort out the issue of increased costs which was the main cause of the warning. Carillion seems to divide opinion on the bulletin boards. It is apparently the most shorted stock in the FTSE 350 and some view the 8.8% yield as a sure sign of a value trap, but it has increased the dividend every year since 2009 and I don’t see any sign that they are about to change that. Some disagree, so who knows? Galliford Try – Another one whose dividend has been increasing annually for a good few years (since 2010). Lloyds Banking Group seems to me to be the best of the banks (from an investing point of view) at the moment. Now freed from any part-ownership by the government after it sold its final stake last month. So that’s how it stands now. Looking ahead, I am not adding any new money into the pot but will seek to add another two holdings with the 21% cash element later in the year. I apologise for the slightly rushed nature of this post but I wanted to get it published today. Thanks as always for reading it! Gostevie
3 Comments
Ben
29/10/2019 02:37:28 am
I've only just found this blog - I remember reading the Motley Fool boards and especially Dealing with Debt.
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Gostevie
29/10/2019 02:46:19 am
Hi Ben,
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25/1/2023 12:49:45 am
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