Analysis of Gerry Weber

Company: Gerry Weber AG

Business: A German fashion retail and accessories company with three brands for women: Gerry Weber, Taifun and Samoon. Underneath the Gerry Weber brand they have an additional two brands (Gerry Weber Edition and G.W.). They run their own stores but also franchise as well as online and sale of their brands in department stores.

Active: With their own stores (around 850) they are mainly present in Europe with strong focus in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Lately they have starting to expand into the countries around them so Poland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden (opening first store in Malmö soon and then in Stockholm). In total their brands are being sold in over 2600 stores world wide and have distribution channels in 62 countries.

P/E: 17.6

Comment: When I made this analysis there were serious problems with their homepage. I hope that it is sorted out by now so that you can check it out without problems. I liked that they kind of direct themselves to the older generation and not the young like most other companies. When I walked past one store they had a catwalk for retired people with a bit elder, not thin models showing what was new in the collection. Sometimes the world seems to forget that the old generation are sitting on big bucks... but Doro knows for instance this...

Contrarian stock bought December 2013: K+S

It was time to send off the little cash I had left into a contrarian stock which then also became the final investment of 2013 and I once again increased my position in K+S the link goes to the analysis that were previously made. The addition investment will appear in the list with the next monthly update.

I got a longer email from my brother the other day and he was then questioning my investment in K+S as well as were wondering about my other investments. Why I made them, and how I think about them today and especially if i would have invested in them today. Good questions so I decided that I will write an article were I look over my investments why I made them and if that was correct or not. I will do this before the end of the year.

I will, as always, go back home over Christmas to see my family and friends and we will have to see if I will manage to keep the blog running with a new article every day. During the summer vacation I did manage to do that based mainly on a very kind neighbour that are kind enough to keep his internet open so even in my families summerhouse I managed to keep writing. So we shall see and if you see few or no updates during my two weeks Christmas vacation then no worries I will definitely be back!

There are still plenty of companies on the MDax that must be covered before we start to move more south in Europe (as well as east) and we should not forget to dig into the other smaller lists in Germany also. Like I mentioned before that I must do what I do now to build up a feeling for the companies in Germany, what they produce and what they do. I must do this because I am a foreigner here and does not from the mothers milk or beer or whatever you want to call it know what the companies do as any normal German person knows from just growing up here. This of course have created a lot of boring articles from companies that are not at all interesting to invest in but hopefully also you have learnt something about these companies by reading the short article that I write.

Analysis of Gerresheimer

Company: Gerresheimer

Business: A German plastic and glass packaging and products company that are focused towards pharmacy and healthcare. They are divided into three divisions: Plastic & Devices (complex, customer specific objects for the administration of medicine), Primary Packaging Glass (glass packaging objects for cosmetics and medicine) and finally Life Science Research (produce re-usable glassware for research).

Active: More than 40 production plants in Europe, North & South America and Asia. Over 57% of all their business is however in Germany (23%) and Europe (34%).

P/E: 24.7

Analysis of Gea Group

Company: Gea Group

Business: A German supplier of process technology and components for the food and energy industry. The group is divided into six segments: GEA Food Solutions (produce machines for the preparation and packaging of food), GEA Farm Technologies (solutions for animal hygiene and efficient milk production), GEA Heat Exchangers (from air conditioners to cooling towers), GEA Mechanical Equipment (valves, pumps, separators etc.), GEA Process Engineering (design solutions for dairy, food, chemical & pharmaceutical industries) and finally GEA Refrigeration Technologies (designing installing and servicing industrial refrigeration systems). Almost 60% of the revenue comes from the Heat Exchangers and the Process Engineering.

Active: They are active in over 50 countries world wide and especially in all the growth region. Interesting is that over 80% of the revenue comes from outside Germany today.

P/E: 20.0

Dividend from Intel December 2013

My favourite America company once again decided that I had been a good owner and that I should therefore also have a share of the profits. I therefore received 22.4 USD for my 100 Intel shares which became this time only 16.59 €.

From these 16.59 € were taken taxes in the size of 4.24 € which leaves me with 12.35 € added as cash to my stock deposit and that then becomes the only Christmas bonus for me this year!

The Stock Dividends page has now been updated.