By: musicwhiz The first half of June 2008 was a surprisingly quiet month for me as my companies had nothing much to report. I would assume that their business is chugging along fine, though of course as the global economy reels from high inflation and a receding economy, this would inevitably have some impact on my companies’ businesses. Furthermore, Vietnam as a country is experiencing many economies woes such as high inflation, a ballooning trade deficit and a rapidly depreciating currency. This may affect my investment in Ezra as they have two shipyards located in Ho Chi Minh City and Vung Tau and thus will be exposed. It is a relief that their contracts for Saigon Shipyard thus far have been denominated in USD, but I am still keeping a watchful eye to see if their business may be adversely impacted. A combination of high oil prices (hitting a record of US$139 before settling to US$136) and more troubles from reputable bank Lehman Brothers also caused global stock markets to correct sharply in the last 2 weeks. Opportunities abound for the intelligent investor to look for good growth companies trading at undemanding valuations for long-term investment, and one should always have funds ready in such environments to take the opportunity to deploy them to generate a decent return (hopefully above projected inflation rate of 8% in Singaopore !). As for the coming 2H June 2008, I would expect it to be quiet as well as this period is traditionally less active in terms of newsflow from my companies. July 2008 will see the start of the reporting season for 1H results, and I am expecting results from Ezra (3Q 2008), FSL Trust (1H 2008) and Suntec REIT (3Q 2008). Below is the summary of my investments and related news as at June 13, 2008 (STI at 2,979.56 points).:- Read more...