Trading update

It has been a while since I put something down on this blog. It has been a tough couple of months for traders and investors alike. Market doesn't want to go higher due to the Euro debt crisis despite there clearly being some compelling valuations.

Here are the trades I am still playing with plus one new trade:

Old Mutual at under R14 (ADDED)
I'm not a huge fan of insurers but Old Mutual has a lot going for it. Its being tarred with the Euro crisis but remember that a lot of its profits come from South African operations and a lot of its valuation is linked to its stake in Nedbank. It is battling to kick on at the moment but Goldman Sachs recently upgraded the share to a buy.

Nikkei
As mentioned in the previous post, there has been a pretty predictable 9400 - 9800 band starting to form. Everybody is talking Japan at the moment and how cheap it is. You don't even have to believe in a super rebound in the markets to score. Scale 250 - 350 points each time and you can build a decent return here.

Brait at R17.50
Sure there is a lot of speculation around Brait at the moment, but it has two very solid assets underneath it in the form of Pep and Premier Foods. As it stands you are basically getting these businesses plus some cash and paying next to nothing for the other assets. Sure in some cases you probably shouldn't be paying much for them and without the dividend Brait is a less compelling investment story but if they can stick to generate long-term ROE of 20% odd you are going to find few investments that can match this.

African Bank Investments Limited
I maintain what I said in the earlier post - you get a dividend of 5%, you have a solid and cash generative business on an undemanding price to earnings multiple which doesn't have to support capital intensive investment banking businesses. Simple, stupid kind of investment?

Vividend Income Fund
Another of those investments which slot into the simple, stupid investment category is Vividend. There is nothing complicated about this new property listing. It is ungeared, nice portfolio and with a well respected management. You are picking up about 6% yield after tax and the price is off its highs. Definately worth a nibble.

Nothing else really jumping out at me.

I quite like the new Africa ETN from Standard Bank and have added a debit order for it from next month. Will see how that product evolves.