February 2015: Portfolio Update.

New all time highs in February, for both myself and the FTSE100, with both indexes managing 2.92% gains in the month.
A reasonable month for dividends with payments received from Vodafone, Banco Santander, Verizon, Apple, Imperial Tobacco, and IG.
However, it was disappointing to see a significant fall of 17% in a significant utility, Centrica, which as the old British Gas has around 50% of the UK market.
And, despite their use as a cheap political shot across the bows, aren't utilities supposed to be safe?

It has been a long term holding, but I have to say that, even accounting for dividends, Centrica has been hugely disappointing as an investment, and it will need to significantly improve its prospects following this dividend cut.
Curious to see 2 elements of the old British Gas: BG Group; and Centrica, now in the dog house of my portfolio, and in danger of being culled.

Merchant Adventurer's Index
			Forecast	1 month	YTD	50 mth
	Price	% holding	Div. yield	% gain	% gain	% gain
R-R	949.00p	23.75%	2.51%	6.51%	9.08%	44.56%
Aviva	539.00p	13.49%	3.85%	2.08%	11.25%	48.98%
National Grid	887.00p	13.48%	5.04%	-5.24%	-3.39%	60.40%
BP	448.00p	9.64%	5.78%	5.66%	9.00%	5.87%
Apple **	$128.46	8.99%	1.32%	6.99%	17.50%	128.55%
IG Group	731.00p	4.54%	4.34%	0.69%	1.67%	53.18%
Imperial Tobacco	3193.00p	3.10%	4.47%	2.21%	12.59%	41.34%
William Hill	378.00p	2.97%	3.40%	0.27%	4.28%	105.24%
BAT	3782.00p	2.48%	4.04%	0.80%	8.06%	12.75%
Vodafone	224.00p	2.12%	5.25%	-4.68%	0.61%	-11.22%
Microsoft **	$43.85	2.02%	4.24%	5.91%	-4.69%	58.66%
Banco Santander	475.00p	1.92%	2.83%	5.56%	-12.76%	-12.96%
General Electric **	$25.99	1.89%	3.02%	6.15%	3.84%	72.13%
BAE Systems	533.00p	1.84%	3.92%	4.92%	12.92%	61.52%
Barrat Dev.	516.00p	1.59%	4.39%	12.66%	9.55%	44.35%
SSE	1573.00p	1.50%	5.85%	-2.24%	-3.02%	28.41%
Verizon **	3204.43p	1.45%	3.78%	5.60%	6.76%	15.46%
Centrica	244.00p	1.06%	5.80%	-17.01%	-12.54%	-26.42%
BG Group	958.00p	0.97%	2.05%	8.00%	10.75%	-26.08%
Cash		1.22%	0.00%
		100.00%	3.68%
				1 month	YTD	50 mth
Virtual Portfolio gain (incl. Dividends)
- 1 month gain  2161.51 -	2235.05			2.92%
- YTD gain        1644.62 -	2235.05				6.93%
- 50 month gain 1264.20 -	2235.05					76.79%
- 62 month gain 1000.00 -	2235.05					123.50%
FTSE gain (excl. Dividends)
- 1 month gain  6749.40 -	6946.66			2.92%
- YTD gain        5897.81 -	6946.66				5.80%
- 50 month gain 5971.01 -	6946.66					16.34%
- 62 month gain 5412.88 -	6946.66					28.34%
Transactions:
04/02/2015	Div	Vodaphone @ 3.60p per share
06/02/2015	Div	Banco Santander @ 8.70p per share
06/02/2015	Div	Verizon @ 30.98p per share
16/02/2015	Div	Apple @ 25.53p per share
17/02/2015	Div	Imp.Tobacco @ 89.30p per share
27/02/2015	Div	IG Group @ 5.75p per share
Notes:
*     US Dividends are adjusted for exchange rate and 15% withholding tax
**   Sterling : Dollar exchange rate = £1: $1.5438 as at 28/02/15
***  Banco Dividends are adjusted for exchange rate and 21% withholding tax
**** Sterling : Euro exchange rate = £1: $1.37889 as at 28/02/15

So, new all time highs make for a satisfying chart! 
Fingers crossed I will be extending the height of the scales again soon.

Click to enlarge, close to return.

OK so 2015 has started well, which seems a little curious given the unknown future for Greece within Europe, and for different reasons, Britain's future in Europe. A Grexit and a Brexit?
More imminently, the dangers of a hung parliament or Labour majority in the upcoming General Election will, I'm sure, create turbulence across the UK economy, until the unknowns become answered.

Either way, I've never been one to guess or try to reposition my portfolio one way or another. Individual opportunities but not the whole. And inevitably, once the dust has settled, we might be asking ourselves what the fuss was all about?

Previous Posts:
- January 2015: Portfolio Update.
- December 2014: Portfolio Update.

January 2015: Portfolio Update.

Well, well, 2015 it is, and the first update of the year has heralded a new high for my portfolio after treading water for the whole of 2014.
A 3.89% gain in the month was enough to push past the previous high seen on the 31 December 2013, helped by the dividends from National Grid, Rolls-Royce, and a lesser one from GE.
Some satisfying capital gains came from Imperial Tobacco, Apple, Aviva, and BAT, which were offset by a -10.01 fall in Microsoft (following disappointing financials), and Banco Santander (following a hatchet job and about turn on its dividend policy).

3.89% bettered the FTSE100's 2.79%, and since inception the reinvestment of dividends has helped my portfolio advance almost 5 times as much as the FTSE100.

Merchant Adventurer's Index
			Forecast	1 month	YTD	49 mth
	Price	% holding	Div. yield	% gain	% gain	% gain
R-R	891.00p	22.95%	2.72%	2.41%	2.41%	35.72%
National Grid	936.00p	14.64%	4.65%	1.95%	1.95%	69.26%
Aviva	528.00p	13.60%	3.73%	8.98%	8.98%	45.94%
BP	424.00p	9.39%	6.08%	3.16%	3.16%	0.20%
Apple **	$117.16	8.64%	1.45%	9.82%	9.82%	113.63%
Vodafone	235.00p	2.29%	4.78%	5.55%	5.55%	-6.86%
Verizon **	3034.49p	1.41%	4.12%	1.10%	1.10%	9.34%
IG Group	726.00p	4.64%	3.99%	0.97%	0.97%	52.14%
William Hill	377.00p	3.05%	3.43%	4.00%	4.00%	104.70%
Imperial Tobacco	3124.00p	3.12%	4.51%	10.16%	10.16%	38.29%
BAT	3752.00p	2.53%	4.13%	7.20%	7.20%	11.86%
General Electric **	$23.89	1.83%	3.12%	-2.18%	-2.18%	62.15%
Microsoft **	$40.40	1.96%	2.52%	-10.01%	-10.01%	49.81%
BAE Systems	508.00p	1.80%	4.08%	7.63%	7.63%	53.94%
Centrica	294.00p	1.31%	4.81%	5.38%	5.38%	-11.34%
SSE	1609.00p	1.58%	5.54%	-0.80%	-0.80%	31.35%
BG Group	887.00p	0.92%	2.31%	2.54%	2.54%	-31.56%
Barrat Dev.	458.00p	1.45%	3.10%	-2.76%	-2.76%	28.12%
Banco Santander	450.00p	1.87%	3.09%	-17.36%	-17.36%	-17.54%
Cash		0.99%	0.00%
		100.00%	3.66%
				1 Month	YTD	49 mth
Virtual Portfolio gain (incl. Dividends)
- 1 month gain   2090.17-	2161.51			3.89%
- YTD gain         2090.17-	2161.51				3.89%
- 49 month gain 1264.20 -	2161.51					71.77%
- 61 month gain 1000.00 -	2161.51					117.15%
FTSE gain (excl. Dividends)
- 1 month gain   6566.09 -	6749.40			2.79%
- YTD gain        6566.09 -	6749.40				2.79%
- 49 month gain 5971.01 -	6749.40					13.04%
- 61 month gain 5412.88 -	6749.40					24.69%
Transactions:
06/01/2015	Div	Rolls-Royce @ 9p per share
09/01/2015	Div	National Grid @ 14.71p per share
29/01/2015	Div	GE @ 22c per share
Notes:
*     US Dividends are adjusted for exchange rate and 15% withholding tax
**   Sterling : Dollar exchange rate = £1: $1.50635 as at 31/01/15
***  Banco Dividends are adjusted for exchange rate and 21% withholding tax
**** Sterling : Euro exchange rate = £1: $1.33498 as at 31/01/15

Chartwise, I have again extended the scale to show the new high.

Click to enlarge, close to return.

The new high obviously gives me a little boost and encouragement after a disappointing 2014, and against a troubled global and political backdrop, is a nice way to start the year.
I think I do need to sit down and review the merits of each though.
A series of dividend cuts has been disappointing and, as with my exit from supermarkets last year, I still have a number of long term holdings that remain disappointing.
Strange that 2 of them, BG and Centrica, are both elements of the old British Gas, the last element being National Grid.
William Hill has also struggled to return to its ebullient highs, and then there is IG which I hope can maintain/consolidate its current highs.
Banco Santander is under review, after an about turn on its dividend policy, the very reason I had watched but eventually bought it for.
And finally, despite its contribution, I am still little uncomfortable holding tobacco stocks. 
My final reasoning being that successive Governments have little will to back up the health message, given the tax cash cow that tobacco revenue contributes to its coffers.
However, I am still not comfortable with it.

Those concerns aside, it has been an encouraging start to the year, but with UK elections in 2015, the road could be a winding one, with the added concern over Europe in addition to the political footballs of energy, tobacco, and austerity.

NB. 04 March 15. Amended by the addition of previously omitted dividends from R-R and National Grid which has improved overall gains and amended the individual holdings as a proportion of the overall portfolio.

Previous Posts:
- December 2014: Portfolio Update.

December 2014: Portfolio Update.

So that was 2015, now consigned to history and with it the disappointment of my first loss in the 5 years since I put a base on this portfolio and the discipline of measuring its performance against the FTSE100.

Strangely it has managed to just pip the FTSE100 at the last, and end the year -2.3%, as opposed to the FTSE100 finishing - 2.71% down.

So thats a full 12 months since my portfolio's high and a full 12 months put down to consolidation.

Although, there has been some changes notably, the all too late selling of Tesco and Morrisons; new additions in Barrat Developments and Banco Santander, and top ups to BP, Aviva, and R-R.

There was also the addition of Verizon as a result of Vodafone's dealmaking.

At 9 individual trades, thats slightly more than my typical 7/8 per annum, but includes an aborted attempt to put in place a regular purchase plan on Barrat, which ended up as 2 trades for what would have been 1 normal trading tranche.

So December proved to be a roller coaster with the early part of the month seeming to signal the start of an end of year rally, then with the bottom falling out of things, I think I was down more than 6% for the year before a late rally brought my portfolio back to finish the year year -2.3% (-0.66% in December).

The FTSE100 suffered a little worse to end the year -2.71%, after a -2.33% fall in December.

My portfolio benefitting from a few dividends from BAE, Microsoft, William Hill, and BP.

As briefly alluded to, I also added to my existing holdings in BP and Aviva which I hope will yield additional dividends and gains in the year ahead and beyond that.

I have to express my disappointment in the Supermarket sector's performance as my thoughts were that, as it provided one of our most basic staples, that my investments would actually be forever holdings but its seems that poor management and strategy can outweigh and undermine even those basic strengths.

Merchant Adventurer's Index
			Forecast	1 month	YTD	48 mth
	Price	% holding	Div. yield	% gain	% gain	% gain
R-R	870.00p	23.28%	2.78%	3.26%	-30.48%	32.53%
National Grid	918.10p	14.92%	4.74%	-1.28%	16.51%	66.02%
Aviva	484.50p	12.97%	4.06%	-4.63%	7.09%	33.92%
BP	411.00p	9.46%	6.27%	0.78%	-6.49%	-2.87%
Apple **	$110.38	8.18%	1.53%	-6.84%	45.88%	94.52%
Vodafone	222.65p	2.25%	5.05%	-4.83%	-11.75%	-11.75%
Verizon **	3001.41p	1.45%	4.02%	-7.18%	8.14%	8.14%
IG Group	719.00p	4.78%	4.03%	6.13%	16.72%	50.67%
William Hill	362.50p	3.05%	3.57%	8.21%	-9.80%	96.82%
Imperial Tobacco	2836.00p	2.94%	4.97%	-4.19%	21.30%	25.54%
BAT	3500.00p	2.45%	4.43%	-7.76%	8.09%	4.35%
General Electric **	$25.27	1.95%	2.95%	-4.24%	-4.49%	65.77%
Microsoft **	$46.45	2.26%	2.19%	-2.48%	31.47%	66.47%
BAE Systems	472.00p	1.74%	4.39%	-1.89%	8.51%	43.03%
Centrica	279.00p	1.29%	6.37%	-1.97%	-19.76%	-15.86%
SSE	1622.00p	1.65%	5.49%	-1.10%	18.39%	32.41%
BG Group	865.00p	0.93%	2.37%	-3.91%	-33.33%	-33.26%
Barrat Dev.	471.00p	1.55%	3.02%	2.32%	31.76%	31.76%
Banco Santander	544.50p	2.35%	6.46%	-5.71%	-0.22%	-0.22%
Cash		0.54%	0.00%
		100.00%	3.91%
				1 Month	YTD	48 mth
Virtual Portfolio gain (incl. Dividends)
- 1 month gain  2104.11 -	2090.17			-0.66%
- YTD gain        1644.62 -	2090.17				-2.30%
- 48 month gain 1264.20 -	2090.17					65.33%
- 60 month gain 1000.00 -	2090.17					109.02%
FTSE gain (excl. Dividends)
- 1 month gain   6722.62 -	6566.09			-2.33%
- YTD gain        5897.81 -	6566.09				-2.71%
- 48 month gain 5971.01 -	6566.09					9.97%
- 60 month gain 5412.88 -	6566.09					21.30%
Transactions:
01/12/2014	Div	BAE @ 8.2p per share
05/12/2014	Div	William Hill @ 4.89p per share
10/12/2014	Buy	BP @ 407.39p per share
15/12/2014	Div	Microsoft @ 16.50p per share
15/12/2014	Buy	BP @ 387.71p per share
16/12/2014	Buy	Aviva @ 464.00p per share
19/12/2014	Div	BP @ 5.8p per share
Notes:
*     US Dividends are adjusted for exchange rate and 15% withholding tax
**   Sterling : Dollar exchange rate = £1: $1.5586 as at 31/12/14
***  Banco Dividends are adjusted for exchange rate and 21% withholding tax
**** Sterling : Euro exchange rate = £1: $1.28769 as at 31/12/14

Click to enlarge, close to return.

The chart serves to illustrate the bobbing along pattern of consolidation, that follows the fact that my portfolio failed to break the all time high set at the end of December 2013, so lets hope that 2015 will bring better fortune.

And whilst, January is already bringing its ups and downs, I am comforted by the fact that my portfolio is still within touching distance of new highs.
Dividends from R-R and National Grid are due and will hopefully help to offset the financial machinations and change of strategy affecting Banco Santander.

So with that summarised it just leaves my wishing you all a happy and prosperous 2015!


Previous Posts:
- November 2014: Portfolio Update.
- October 2014: Portfolio Update.
- September 2014: Portfolio Update
- August 2014: Portfolio Update
- July 2014: Portfolio Update.
- June 2014: Portfolio Update.
- May 2014: Portfolio Update.
- April 2014: Portfolio Update.
- March 2014: Portfolio Update.
- 2013 Dividends profiled.
- February 2014: Portfolio Update
- January 2014: Portfolio Update
- December 2013: Portfolio Update.