By: musicwhiz
Volatility seems to be here to stay, and the Index of late has seen very violent and unpredictable swings which have caught many speculators off guard. For those who choose this period of time to do proper research and invest with a margin of safety, then you would have peace of mind as you will not be emotionally affected by the volatility and temporary insanity of Mr. Market. I was not too worried about the companies I owned, as they did not appear to report any news which affected their business prospects, though of course I am wary and keeping an eye on interest rates which may have a mid-term effect on loans and borrowings.
After some digestion of facts from sharing on Wallstraits.com forums, I have a much deeper understanding of shipping trusts and the structure of FSL Trust in particular. I must attribute nearly 90% of my enhanced understanding to a forumer known as d.o.g. (Disciple of Graham) who has painstakenly answered my queries on the growth and long-term prospects of FSL Trust. His argument is very logical, objective and analytical and after evaluating the facts which he presented, it would seem that FSL Trust has “more than meets the eye” (to quote a phrase from the old cartoon “Transformers”). I will be digesting his arguments as well as other forumers’ comments before deciding on how to proceed with this investment. Evidently, I admit I made a mistake in not researching deeply enough into the structure of FSL Trust and the underlying growth story; but instead merely got “blinded” by the high yield. Value investing involves learning as I go along, so I will take this as a good lesson learnt on how to understand my investments better.
Below is the summary of my investments and related news as at January 31, 2008 (STI at 2,981.75 points). I have included Year-To-Date (YTD) gain or loss as a way to benchmark each company’s share price performance instead of a total portfolio basis
1) Ezra (Vested since October 6, 2005) - Buy Price $0.645 (bonus adjusted), Market Price $2.30, Gain 257%, YTD Loss 43.5%. Ezra announced, on January 24, 2008, that EOC had successfully wound up its first major Offshore construction and pipelay project using Lewek Champion’s DP2 positioning technology. This project was completed on schedule and within budget, and hopefully paves the way for EOC to clinch more contracts as more vessels come on board.
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