Dividend from BP: March 2016

The unlucky BP arrived with the first quarter dividend payments. Since I have pushed up my holding a bit the amount paid out is very well accepted by me. The value of the GBP have however kept dropping lately which is claimed to be caused by the BREXIT discussions. I would not be able to say if that is correct or not.

For my 800 shares I received a total of 56.10 GBP that got converted into 70.86 €. On this amount I did not have to pay any taxes and all of it was transferred as cash to my broker account. With the dividend and currency remaining as such then this corresponds to a YoC of 7.0% which I find more than acceptable.

To find out more about BP then please click on analysis of BP 2016.

To see my total dividend flow then please visit the Stock Dividends page that will soon be updated. 

New job -> new life -> new country?

I have since July last year been looking for a new job. The reasons are many and I find it better not to list them all but let us just leave it at that every now and then we need change in our lives and I have lived and worked in Berlin now for ten years. It is enough. I have seen a lot and I have learnt a lot but it is time to move on.

Analysis of Cez 2016

Company: Cez 

ISIN CZ0005112300 | WKN 887832 

Business: A Czech electricity producer and distributor. They offer heat and gas to consumers and are active with telecommunications, informatics, nuclear research, planning, construction and maintenance of energy facilities, mining raw materials, and processing energy by-products. 

Active: Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and in Turkey. They wanted to step into Germany buy buying assets from Vattenfall but have currently taken a step back from that position.

P/E: 10.7

Cez annual report 2015

My Czech electricity company Cez arrived with their annual report. They are, like most other utility companies, having a tough time at the moment. The one big difference with Cez in comparison to for instance E.On and RWE is that they are still making money.

Analysis of Coba 2016

Company: Commerzbank 

ISIN DE000CBK1001 | WKN CBK100 

Business: A German bank. Their five pillars are: Private Customers (accounts, credits, wealth management etc.), Mittelstandbank (medium sized companies as well as institutions), Central & Easter Europe (mBank big in Poland), Corporate & Markets (Corporate finance, equity, currencies etc.) and finally Non-Core Assets (Real Estate and ship-building). They actually only claim to have four pillars but I prefer to add their "bad bank", the NCA, as the fifth.

Active: Claim presence in 50 countries. Europe with Germany and Poland the biggest. 

P/E: 9.5

Coba annual report 2015

My second German bank arrived with their report for the full year 2015. By the look of it Coba has now managed to turn the ship around and things are looking better. Not only are they bringing home more earnings but they are even claiming to move some assets that was entered in the Non-Core-Assets (=all the dangerous high risk stuff that they had in their books) back to the normal business. I do not remember what the market response was to the report but generally banks and German banks in particular are strongly disliked by the market today.

DB analysis 2016

Company: Deutsche Bank 

ISIN DE0005140008 | WKN 514000

Business: A German investment bank. They have five products and services pillars: Private & Business Clients (classical banking services: accounts, deposits, loans, pensions products), Asset & Wealth Management (helps institutions and wealthy individuals to increase their wealth across all asset classes), Corporate Banking & Security (sales, trading etc of financial products such as equity, bonds etc. as well as dealing with mergers and acquisitions), Global Transaction Banking (world wide banking services and products for corporates and institutions) and finally None-Core Operations Unit (dirty laundry).

Active: in 70 countries world wide.

P/E: -3.5 (P/E5: also negative!)

DB annual report 2015

Deutsche bank arrived some time ago with their annual report and it was, as expected, not a report for the shareholders to be happy about. I no longer remember what happened upon the day of the release but not that long ago the share price was down around 14 € and now it is around 17 € so overall there seem to be an interest in buying DB.

Analysis of Rheinmetall 2016

Company: Rheinmetall 

ISIN DE0007030009 | WKN 703000 

Business: A German supplier for the automotive and defence. Automotive called KSPG is divided into three segments: Hardparts (pistons and pistons systems), Mechatronics (pumps and valves) and finally Aftermarket (parts for the spare part market). The Defence is also divided into three parts: Weapon and Munition (Large and medium calibre weapons and ammunition), Electronics Solutions (air defence systems, sensors and various simulation systems) and finally Vehicles Systems (logistical and tactical vehicles).

Active: They are present in over 80 countries world wide. 

P/E: 19.4

Dividend from IBM: March 2016

My technology oil tanker IBM decided to please their owners by giving out a dividend for the first quarter of 2016. I recently increased my holding in IBM and for this reason the quarter payment jumped up significantly.

For my 25 shares in IBM I received a total of 32.5 USD which got converted into 29.53 € and from this  the American took 15% in taxes or 4.43 €. This left me with 25.10 € as cash paid out on my broker account. With IBM I now have  a YoC of 3.6% which is very reasonable in my opinion.

To find out more concerning IBM then please check out analysis of IBM 2016.

To check out my current dividend payment history then please visit the Stock Dividends page which has now been updated.

Analysis of K+S 2016

Company: K+S 

ISIN DE000KSAG888 | WKN KSAG88 

Business: A German commodities company that are mining and processing raw materials. The group is divided into the two segments Potash & Magnesium (that is being used as standard and speciality fertilizers for enhancing the agricultural harvests) and Salt (de-icing, purified salt that are used for instance as table salt etc.). Lately their best business has been salt.

Active: Main focus in Europe and the US. Growing activity in Canada due to the Legacy project that will enter the final phase during 2016. Minor presence in South America and Asia. 

P/E: 7.9

K+S annual report 2015

My only mining company arrived with their full year report for 2015 and the report as such for 2015 was good but the outlook for 2016 was not encouraging. Additionally K+S will be kicked out of DAX and if I am not mistaken it will take place sometime now in March.

Analysis of E.On 2016

Company: E.On 

ISIN DE000ENAG999 | WKN ENAG99 

Business: A German energy provider and electricity producer. They are still claiming to have ten different business areas: Renewable Energy, Conventional Generation, Energy Efficiency, Exploration & Production, Gas Supply, Gas Storage & Transport, Trading, Distribution, Sales and finally Technical Services. Uniper exists as a individual company but the separation has still not been completed and what they offer is (Power Generation, Global Commodities, Energy Storage, Energy Sales, Third Party Services and Engineering Services).

Active: They are present in several countries in Europe as well as in Russia and in Brazil. 

P/E: -2.4 (P/E5: also negative!) 

E.On annual report 2015

The report from E.On is out and the reading is not pretty. Each time when I read the reports from E.On then there is always a quote from Munger that keeps poking my brain regarding EBITDA in which he responded to a statement from Buffett during the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting by saying:

“I think that, every time you saw the word EBITDA [earnings], you should substitute the word “bullshit” earnings. People who use EBITDA are either trying to con you or they’re conning themselves. Telecoms, for example, spend every dime that’s coming in. Interest and taxes are real costs.” - Charlie Munger

What makes things even worse is when managers bonuses are tied to EBITDA. It is simply a very unhealthy way for the shareholders to unjustifiable enrich incompetent managers. The theory behind a bonus tied to EBITDA is, especially for high investment business, that the managers will not fear to keep up the maintenance and investment needed to cover the depreciation but on the other hand... if you as the board feel that you need to force the CEO by such bonuses to guarantee that he or she will make a correct job with future investment well then please do not hire that person. It is as easy as that.

Analysis of Adidas 2016

Company: Adidas 

ISIN DE000A1EWWW0 | WKN A1EWWW 

Business: A German sports brand company that are delivering state-of-the-art sports footwear, apparel and accessories. The most well known brands are: Adidas (sport), Reebok (sport) and TaylorMade (golf).

Active: In 160 countries world wide with their over 53,700 employees. 

P/E: 31.0 

Adidas annual report 2015

My blue suede shoes company Adidas arrived with their report not that long ago. I did not really register the market response which means that it was probably not of interest. Generally the share price have been dancing around 100 € as if that would be some kind of border. Technical people would probably inform me that it is and why it is so... but in the long run no one cares.

Analysis of Fugro 2016

Company: Fugro 

ISIN NL0000352565 | WKN A0ET3V 

Business: A Dutch geotechnology company. They still have their four subunits: Geotechnical (resolve geotechnical problems offshore, nearshore and onshore), Survey (all kind of offshore and geospatial surveys for the development of oil and gas platforms), Subsea Services (repair, construction etc.) and Geoscience (seismic and seabed databases for the exploration of new projects). 

Active: World wide in 60 countries. 

P/E: -4.6 (P/E5: ~80) 

Fugro annual report 2015

The annual report from Fugro was pretty well accepted by the market... much better than what I accepted it which of course is biased due to that I am upset with myself for not selling it at the good moment. What was then in it?

Analysis of BASF 2016

Company: BASF

ISIN DE000BASF111 | WKN BASF11

Business: A German chemistry and polymer company. They are still active with five different business units and those are: Chemicals (with intermediates and polymers), Performance Products (pigments, care chemicals, health chemicals and paper chemicals), Functional Materials & Solutions (catalysts, construction chemicals and coatings), Agricultural Solutions (crop protection) and finally Oil & Gas (exploration and extraction).

Active: World wide and as they say themselves "in almost every country in the world". 

P/E: 11.4

Investment March 2016: ETF Portugal

A long, long time ago I wrote a reflection concerning how much of the overall population is actually working. This measurement I find to be much more important than any manipulated values regarding unemployed people etc. The beauty of it is the simplicity of it. Everyone not working in a country must be supported by the workers. It does not matter if you are old, young, unemployed or on social welfare. Either you contribute right now, today, or you do not.

When I wrote that reflection (working population in various countries) there were a couple of countries that stood out from the rest. Amazingly, to me back then, Portugal ended up very high on the scale of %-age non government workforce of total population. Looking back at the financial crises then Portugal were always included in the PIGS which later became PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain). Besides from being included in the PIIGS I must admit that I have heard very little crying from Portugal concerning the situation. The Portuguese are a population that loves Fado which is... well... not very happy music and singing. The Portuguese knows in the very heart and soul - suffering. I would almost bet that due to this reason we have heard nothing about protests regarding the political reforms that were brought in etc. etc.

Avtovaz: incompetence sitting at the steering wheel

No, I am not talking about the CEO Bo Inge Andersson because he has a proven track record but instead I would like to point at the complications of having majority shareholders that are controlled by incompetent individuals.

A lot of bad things can probably be said about Russia, Mr. Putin and Mr. Medvedev. One thing is however very clear. Russia is a great nation with extreme quantities of natural resources. No one has ever managed to fully conquer Russia and yet countries have tried. Mr. Putin and Mr. Medvedev... well... one do not have to like their politics or how they gained and remained in power but one thing is very, very clear. They are extremely intelligent people.

Dividend from TJX: March 2016

I have plenty to do at the moment which is why the publishing of articles have to fall back a couple of steps. In the company we managed to move forward with a large EU project which will now require additional work to pass the final hurdle and I privately have to prepare myself for a job interview in an insane fast growing company. The job and company are highly interesting and I know that I could do a good job with them which is why I must be über prepared!

Anyway... my American off-price retail chain TJX arrived with their tiny dividend that was in the size of 6.16 € for my 32 shares. From this I was forced to pay 0.93 € in taxes and on my broker account I ended up with 5.23 € in cash. This correspond to a YoC of 1.2% (considering dividend + currency difference intact) which is bad but then again I did not buy them for the dividend payments.

To find out more about TJX then please visit analysis of TJX 2016.

To check out my current dividend payment history then please visit the Stock Dividends page which has now been updated.

BASF annual report 2015

My German chemical company BASF arrived with their sad annual report for 2015. If I remember correctly the market accepted it pretty ok. From my point of view this year will not go down in the history as being one of those years that I was happy with my BASF investment but given time also this will fade away.

Analysis of TJX 2016

Company: TJX 

ISIN US8725401090 | WKN 854854 

Business: An American off-price apparel and home fashions retailer. They use several store names based on take overs and store concept and in the U.S. they have T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, Sierra Trading Post and in Canada they have Winners, HomeSense, Marshalls and in Europe they got T.K. Maxx and HomeSense. 

Active: in the US, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, the UK, Poland, Ireland and Austria.

P/E: 22.1

TJX annual report 2015

TJX arrived with their annual report a couple of days ago. The market found it to be good and it is ok. More important to me though is that my wife love the products that are being sold in the store and are even distributing them to friends and family that hopefully will also start running to the TJX stores to do their shopping. My bet is on that they will do just that!