Analysis of Accell Group 2014

Company: Accell Group

ISIN NL0009767532 | WKN A1JADL

Business: A Dutch, mainly, bicycle holding company. They are active with the design, development, production, marketing and sales of bicycles, bicycle parts and accessories and fitness equipment. They are frequently buying out successful bicycle brands in various countries. They already have several well-known bicycle brands under their umbrella such as: Raleigh, Batavus, Juncker and Brasseur.

Active: Strong presence in the Netherlands and Germany. Recently bought a company in Spain and they have some presence in the US.

P/E: 17.4

Analysis of Iberdrola 2014

Company: Iberdrola

ISIN ES0144580Y14 | WKN A0M46B

Business: A Spanish energy provider. The Iberdrola Group is divided into four different business lines: Network Business (energy transmission and distribution), Wholesale & Retail Business (sale of energy to private and commercial customers), Renewable Energy Business (to over 95% wind power) and finally Other Businesses (engineering company for energy companies)

Active: Spain and to some extent also in the United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil and Mexico.

P/E: 13.5

Autumn products

Yesterday, when I wrote this, there was a light drizzle in Berlin and due to the rain heavy clouds and generally due to the arrival of autumn it is getting very dark.

Besides from being slightly melancholic it also got me thinking about the kind of products and services that are used during this period.

Are there special products being consumed that I should change my investor behaviour to follow? Should I go out and buy a chocolate producing company because I am sure that they will start to increase their sales volumes this autumn? Should I step into a movie producing company or cinema chain for that matter since their results will be better compared to last quarter?

In my opinion the answer is no. A company must have a more long term advantage and hopefully I will never start to buy companies for the expectation of quick share price increase after the next quarter report.

When I started thinking about this my thoughts also slide into that autumn comes twice per year and that the world wide companies can profit from this. Do they strategically do it? Is the same ice cream producer present in Germany and in South Africa to even out demand? I do not know.
 

Analysis of Talanx 2014

Company: Talanx

ISIN DE000TLX1005 | WKN TLX100   

Business:  A German insurance company (better put it is part of a mutual holding insurance company). It is divided into five divisions: Industrial Lines (covering all the insurance needs of industrial companies), Retail Germany (retail and commercial customers covering property/casualty), Retail International (the same as previous division but outside of Germany), Reinsurance (non-life reinsurance via especially Hannover Rückversicherung that Talanx own to 50.2%) and finally Financial Services (which is among other things an internal reinsurance part for the entire group). The Talanx group contains many companies and the full list can be found here.
Active: Talanx with daughter companies are active in over 150 countries world wide.

P/E: 8.9

Comment: I spent far longer than usual with Talanx and I even ended up calling their IR department which I found very professional yet surprised over receiving a phone call from a potential investor. Either way... Talanx is owned to 79% by HDI V.a.G. and to 6.5% by Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company which leaves 14.5% free float so fairly little. So... HDI is a mutual insurance company meaning that it is owned by the customers. That makes it difficult to bring in new money and also difficult for the management to give themselves fat bonuses which is probably why they started the Mutual Holding Insurance company that many finds an illegal form since it rarely pays anything back to the policyholders that should get the profits back in form of decreased premiums. At least that was the classical reason for the mutual insurance companies. I have problems to get my head around it in the sense of it being dangerous or beneficial to be a shareholder in the long run. Each time they want to expand (organic or take-over) I am sure they will issue new shares to support that which is why they now collect dividends into their HDI V.a.G. Still... the rules says as long as a mutual holding insurance company is traded below P/B of 1 then the shareholder are profiting and when it is traded above 1 then the policyholders are benefitting... That is what the rules says... what is your opinion?

Analysis of Deutsche Euroshop 2014

Company: Deutsche Euroshop

ISIN DE0007480204 | WKN 748020

Business:  A German purely commercial real estate investor. They invest in shopping centres on prime location. Currently they have over 99% occupied space. The rent is to a certain extent based on the consumer price index meaning that in hard times their rent goes down and on good times it increases which is a system the stores seem to be pretty content with.
Active: They have 19 shopping centers in Europe with main bulk in Germany with 16 centres and then one in Poland, one in Hungary and one in Austria.

P/E: 11.1