Third quarter is over and done with. Major events impacting the portfolio during this quarter were the still ongoing tensions with North Korea, Nordea deciding to propose moving HQ to Finland and Fortum buying a major stake in Uniper. All this didn’t cause much fluctuations in portfolio value, rather minor swings back and forth and closing with 1,32% gains. As a preparation to the Nordea decision I’ve built a bit overweight position on the company via Sampo. I don’t see that as a huge problem as both are quality companies which act as a hedge against eventually rising interest rates. Therefore it’s not likely that I would sell neither one unless there’s a major overvaluation which would justify such a thing. However I did sell my stake in Fortum with a nice profit. News on the Uniper deal drove the share price up and since this deal increases the involved political even further, I didn’t see any problem in selling out. I might be interested in buying back the shares around 14 EUR (sold at 17,20 EUR) per share but that’s a big if. Political risk was significant before but this will take it to a whole new level.
Another short term target was to eliminate some of the debt which was a bit on the high side and above my target level. Selling my stake on Fortum made this possible even though I initiated a new position on Apple Inc. In this market situation I’d be inclined to reducing the debt even further but there are some interesting valuations to pursue as well. As I don’t see a clear mechanism for major market correction (as I ever would if one was coming) or quick changes in the interest rates, I might just as well keep the debt level target as is and keep investing as long as I can find reasonable valuations in quality companies.
Pre-tax dividends were 680,11 USD compared to 487,01 USD year before. Nothing special there, pretty much as expected. Perhaps the most positive thing was the increase from BHP Billiton which is turning around nicely. Last year they paid 39,20 USD for my 140 ADR shares and this year much nicer 120,40 USD which I expect to go up next year.
Links:
https://www.ft.com/content/af24ddac-a2d9-11e7-b797-b61809486fe2?mhq5j=e5
https://www.ft.com/content/4fc74af4-33f6-11e7-bce4-9023f8c0fd2e?mhq5j=e5