Why Penang should just proceed with the tunnel

I am a Penangite and I am reading with surprise the amount of rejections from the NGOs (CAP as well) and some individuals viewpoint here. While environmental issues are a concern, one should know that for the past, one of the reasons why Penang has been under the rule (until March 2008) of the current sitting Federal Government is mainly due to the fear of being bypassed for development. Penang as a state has been bypassed for development for decades now, probably ever since the free port status has been taken away in the 70s. This is despite many times plea for reinstatement by Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu who was Chief Minister then. Even when we had a Penangite as a Prime Minister (and two Finance Ministers - Badawi and Nor Mohamed Yaacob), Penang has been bypassed. During then, the Iskandar Development in Johore was initiated. Monorail or any kind of major transportation system was not even introduced despite the Penang city really needed it.

The very people whom rejected to the tunnel and several link roads just do not (or refuse) to acknowledge what state government can and cannot do. There is obviously a limit to what the state government can do. I have been doing my search and realise that the amount of revenue the state is able to generate is pathetic compared to the federal government. In 2009, the state government for the first time managed to generate revenue exceeding RM1 billion.  My question is what is RM1 billion compared to what a federal government can generate? I would think most of the revenue that a state like Penang can collect are things related to land - assessment, rent, sale of state land, any transactions involving land transactions (from duties), billboards, sale of sands perhaps. For Penang, there are no loggings, very little agriculture revenue, definitely no oil and gas - basically very little natural resource to gain from.

Companies and individuals that are taxed from their profits and income - these goes to the federal government despite I would think Penang assisted to generate quite a few of them. In return, the federal government would re-distribute the revenue for states development. Obviously for Penang, usually that is a paltry sum - now probably worse.

Then, as a state government what should they do? Sit still and relying on the beauty of the beaches while trying very hard to promote the tourism sector of the state? Can, but you won't last long. To do that you need to develop the state. While people will want to remember the nostalgic experience of the Penang state during the 60s or 70s, obviously that is not possible without more development and better infrastructure.

For a state government, they have resorted to the earliest form of trading for progress (barter). Basically, they offer toll collections, land to be reclaimed for improvement of basic amenities (roads). Why? A Penang (or Selangor for that matter) state unlike in US for example is not able to raise state or municipal bonds - never have I heard of this in Malaysia. Without borrowings, your options are just very limited. Without development, that is equal to backward development for the state - do most Penangites want that?

Another thing which surprises me - these NGOs and some recalcitrant individuals mentioned of better transport infrastructure - buses, trams, monorails etc. Better infra means more money needed. Seldom have I seen public transport makes money - if they do, for the first initial years, much initial investments have to be spent. Spain, Singapore, Hong Kong, China spend hundreds of billions for their public infra but have yet to see direct return - indirect yes. This is social responsibilities where a government needs to provide. But for the government to do that, they need money - where is the Penang state government going to get that without increase in revenue? Bonds? Nope, as mentioned. Borrowings from the federal? Fat chance for now. Tell me what the state can do then.

Further, we want the state to build more public housing. We also want the state to build public housing on land that are today very expensive - in some parts of the island. Island is preferred over the mainland. Public housing is to be built on land that costs RM400 per sq ft or more. Is this logical? Does public housing need more capital injection from the state or is it a money generating affair? Public housing is very much needed, but it will just take up more state funds - which is why the state government has to find ways to generate more revenue.

The state government, I believe is looking at improving the state collections and revenue further for the future. With more revenue, then only more development can be further improved. Where are they going to increase their revenue? Again land, assessment, improving the infrastructure, tourism which also means more people into the state, real estate, more property transactions by the richer locals and foreigners - that is the only way to build their development warchest.

Hence, before any person reject, think before they do it. Social responsibilities cannot be improved without development - and the very group have been against development - of any massive scale - for a while.

One should not be afraid of Freight Management

This is one company which slips right through before my eyes. Why? I have never had the positive mindset for logistics services business. In my mind, I have always thought that this business is in a very competitive landscape. I have seen some entrepreneurs with the call cards registered in their phones, after a number of years of experience, came and venture out themselves - they are able to survive with very few people working for them. With the contacts and some licenses, they can basically operate.

On the other part of the landscape, companies like Freight Management are up against the very large freight forwarders in this world like Kuehne and Nagel, Expeditors, CEVA etc. This is a borderless business. While there are licences involved in their ability to operate, it was most of the time never a problem. Hence, you are seeing in Malaysia as well as in countries that Freight Management operates in the very large and smaller players are there as well.

However, despite all the fear how can we fault the consistent growth that Freight Management has been able to register over the last 10 years as below.

5 years Financial Highlight 2003 to 2007

5 years Financial Highlight 2008 to 2012

If you look at the track record, the revenue and Net profit were registering growth every year without fail. That is almost impossible to achieve but yet is happening. How can this happen? I guess as in most people whom are not very aware of the company, this is partly the reason. You can almost missed the company if you are looking for trading volume. However, the unfettered focus by the management to grow the business and profitability, after that let everything else runs its own course - this in every investments is almost more important - no doubt. The thing that probably will differentiate my earlier failed investment of very good companies is that Freight Management does pay consistent dividend and it is mainly a services company. Hence, cashflow is more consistent - and from there it will continue to be able to pay good consistent dividends.

On the industry outlook, this region's shipping volume grows and Malaysia continues to be a very important regional and global logistics hub. It seems that despite the continuous tough competition, Freight Management is not losing market share - it in fact seems like gaining market share.

Having looked further, I like Freight Management for many other reasons. Compared to Tasco and Century Logistics, this company is slightly lighter in terms of Fixed Assets (things like trailers, prime movers, warehouses etc). This shows that as in its namesake, its primary focus is freight forwarding (around 70%). The others like warehousing, haulage, tug and barge etc. are more complementary to the group than being the main contributor.

To be able to do that well - it is not easy but it shows where the company's strength is. Consistent volume from its main customers, strong customer service and deliveries. That is hard to achieve, but if you do them well, hardly a reason for its customers to leave the company. Hence, I can see the strength of this company is strong services as well as account management.

Freight Management is trading at around RM190 million market capitalisation, hence based on last year's financial performance, its current price is below 10x PE. And if it is able to grow at such consistencies and pace, why should anyone be worried of what it is trading against its peers and industry? My question is, are you able to find another business at less than 10x PE with a strong assurance from strong previous track record? Maybe some, but not too often.

Judging from what I can project into the future, there is no reason why Freight Management cannot continue to be strong. It has gone through tougher times of the 2008 and came out strong, hence this is a good candidate for one's portfolio.

Another thing I note having flipped through the company's many years of Annual Reports - see below. The directors are paying themselves only the basics. Others come from dividends from their shareholdings as well as capital appreciation. That is something which we should applaud and respect. Again, it is hardly seen.

What you can expect from me

When I started this blog, I did not expect myself to be active - but very much so into understanding blogging and the new media which is gaining traction and allowing us having the chance to pit out our own opinion. The main thing I know is stocks investment, hence there is no doubt that I uses this area as the main conversational point.

Although there are quite a few readers who read my articles nowadays, it is important to know where do I stand, what type of stocks do I look at, which do I prefer. As in a kid who is a picky eater, I am a picky stock picker. However, I am not just that - there are just a number of sectors which I am particularly more interested in - banks, finance, insurance, telcos, properties, IT, plantation, education, consumer stocks, and some part of manufacturing. There are several areas which I am particularly bad at i.e. oil and gas, construction, mining. And in areas which I have no expertise or knowledge, normally I would avoid. I do not try to be knowledgeable in everything although I do acknowledge that it is good to learn.

Many of you would also know that I have the Felice's Fund which I put up since 2 years ago. Why do I put this up? Well, to mainly show what I stand for. And of course, many would ask why I put the year 2027 as the target date. If one is into investment, there is no date actually. Our date is when our time is up and even then for those who have beneficiaries, these of course can be passed to them. Hence, there is no specific date. This very particularly applies to most of the stocks I put up - Airasia, DKSH, Malaysia Airport, Wellcall, Padini, Oldtown, NTPM, Jobstreet, Top Glove and to a large extent SP Setia.

My analogy is simple. When I was small, we used to buy Milo - that was more than 35 years ago and during then costs us slightly less than RM10 for a 1.5 kg tin - today, I still go to supermarket to buy Milo at RM25 per tin, and I believe Milo will outlive me. That same principle applies towards how I view most of the stocks that I buy. Yes, sometimes things change, Airasia may face many challenges and beaten by a better airline - if that day happens, we sell the stocks. Selling a stock is easy, unlike properties - which is why despite properties is another good investment, I do not like the hassle.

In my investment experience, I used to buy a very undervalued stock - Selangor Properties. If you study the stock and do a simple calculation, its Revised NAV to its traded price, it was well undervalued. That property company had prime land in Damansara, a decent developer etc. But of course, I was a very naive investor. The price of the stock would not move if the largest shareholder holds a large chunk, not going to pay much dividend as well as not doing anything about it. When the major shareholder, Dr Wen passed away, the stock surged - I had already sold. Are we buying to wait for this kind event? Hence, although sometimes a stock can be undervalued, it may mean nothing. The same story applies now for Hwang-DBS, as there is much speculation on it being sold, with the founder's passing. I am not good at guessing who is going to take over who - as I deem these as speculations. People who have been speculating the acquisition of Public Bank - all of them failed so far. And those who continues to try may succeed one day - that is 1 out of say a million guesses?

Some of you may send me messages asking about some of the stocks. You have to know that I have to be very careful with what I say. A recent example, Fitters Malaysia. It is now not just a fire prevention manufacturer - which to a certain extent I like, but also a property developer and a renewable energy player. It is now trading at much below its NAV and also has a very attractive PE of below 10x based on latest results. When I look at this company, I usually try to separate the different businesses and value them separately. If the fire protection business covers much of the market value, I may be interested. However, much of the profits went to its property development arm.

Now, this is my problem. Is Fitters now a property developer? If it is, where does it stand in future. Will it be in the mould of Mah Sing, a plastic player now turned into a massive developer. The problem is I am not sure, and I am sure that many are not either. Then another question is, after the current development, what's next?

When I bought SP Setia, I was looking beyond its landbank. I was looking at its brand. This is probably why PNB is buying it. SP Setia has proven to turn a decent land into a prime property and it continues to do so, and it will buy many more new landbanks and turn them into good and sellable properties. Even then, there is bigger risk in this investment when compare to say investment into Malaysia Airport. I was looking at the developers of the 70s. None of them are strong today, maybe with the exception of Sime Darby - and we all know why. (I in fact was told in one of my lunch conversation that Sime is a poor developer - they are what they are today due to their massive landbank - not so much due to their capabilities - to a large extent, I agree.)

Now, this same principle I apply to a construction as well as oil and gas companies - except for exploration companies like Shell, Exxon etc. The biggest problem with these kind of companies are that they are very dependent on book orders. Can someone be very sure what is going to happen to say Gamuda, Sapura Kencana or even Dialog in 2020? All analysts reports that I read mention book order. The stock can be undervalued, but sometimes an investment may not go as smooth as we thought. Investing into a business that regenerates income without being dependent on book order may pick up back, but for those who needed book orders may not be so. If we want examples, do look at Scomi and maybe Muhibbah. I am sure there are many more. This is probably why some of these companies like WCT, IJM and Gamuda as well are looking at assets that can regenerate. By the way, book orders sometimes can have a problem where projects may be bidded at a lost. Can any analysts know that?

On the other hand, buying a company that consistently generates using its brand, know-how, advantages that it has - sometimes it does not matter if it is at 15x or 20x PE. McDonalds was at one point of time in doldrums, it picked up back. So was Starbucks, Coca-cola, Johnson and Johnson. Many a times, none of these can be said for those that are dependent on book orders or worse still some of them handouts.

Hence, you may notice that I try to be careful when answering - and sometimes, some of these stocks can be invested due to the large discounts to asset value but just that I do now know when it will pick up in value. Anyway, does anyone know besides maybe the owners?

How do you smell a rat? PART 2

This one is much more difficult to spot than my earlier article. Seriously, until now I am not able to be very  sure. Since my article few months ago, Asia Media went downhill further - reporting a first time quarterly loss (if I can remember) and asking from shareholders for money, raising funds via rights. However, if you notice the quarterly loss is due to mainly the taxation which sometimes can only be a P&L item.

If you notice, again on paper it is a healthy company - registering 2 continuous years of profits and revenue trend continue to improve over the period. These numbers will definitely pass through any systems that only checks through revenue and Net Profit.

Asia Media Group's P&L as at 31 Dec 2012

At its today's price of RM0.14, it is trading at RM67 million valuation. Based on the Net Profit 2012 of RM11.7 million - that's around 6x PE we are getting. On the P&L above, notice the growth in Revenue...

The stories does not end there. The balance sheet is not squeaky clean but yet again if we look through there may not be much fault to be identified. Cash was at RM12.5 million while debt was at a manageable RM4.5 million.

Balance Sheet as at 31 Dec 2012

Then, where is the wrong? Nothing much that can pass through a normal investor, unless we look further. Still, I do not like the high PP&E but yet again I invested in Airasia which has an even higher Fixed Assets in proportion.

One of the favorite spot to look at - cashflow and a little bit of intuition i.e. gut feeling. As I have mentioned before, its operating cashflow vs capital expenditure. A growth company will most necessarily be requiring more cash - Asia Media seems to be so. As you can see, it is eating up cash faster than it can churn - capital expenditure for broadcasting equipment? How much does that costs?

Cashflow 31 Dec 2012

Now, I am not implying Asia Media is doing this but do you know that capital expenditure numbers can be boosted up? Say the equipment actually costs RM20 million but an arrangement with supplier can make it looks like RM50 million. Hence, on paper it can look like the PP&E is purchased at RM50 million while that difference in numbers is passed through back into the operational cashflow. That's why free cashflow is very important.

Again, I reiterate I am not saying Asia Media is doing this. The onus to check this is dependent on the auditors - not investor. Hence, as an investor we can only depend on the auditor to pass through the accounts for us to believe in. In an investment, look for a better quality auditor as in the Big 4 or at least the middle tier auditors. Names of auditors that we have never heard of sometimes can be a bigger suspect. One thing though I would like to highlight is the substantial drop in net cashflow from operations but the trade receivables did not increase much. Neither was the cash which was cushioned by the additional raising of cash from new private placements and borrowings during the year. Net total RM11.8 million. This scenario looks like a huge portion of the cashflow from operations in 2011 was even collected upfront. Where is the upfront from? Other payables? I am not sure.

I am looking through the cashflow (unaudited) for Asia Media for 31 December 2012. Notice the ones I box-ed in Orange. If you notice, the capital expenditure paid was most probably for the other payables which was extremely high the year before. Other payables to me was still un-explainable. Why other payables for capital expenditure. Shouldn't it be trade payables. For 2012, there was barely much capital expenditure being spent with a net addition of RM1.3 million. Still, I do not understand the need for broadcasting equipment with today's availability of technology capable of delivering content through the 3G, 4G and whatever not. Asia Media does not need to do live broadcast.

The rights issuance proposed is to beef up the balance sheet of the company for more capital expenditure - I presume (otherwise why?), and I am not so sure one should be confident enough to put in more money into it.

How do you smell a rat?

There are reasons why many would want to avoid Chinese stocks. In every few stocks, I am sure there are some decent ones but we just would not know which is good, and which is bad. By the way, all of them on paper looks decently good, in value. There are however stories of accounts and even cash balances are forged - I don't know how but just we have to be careful.

China Stationery is one of the Chinese stocks. Its accounts look good. It has a NTA of RM0.98 per share while the cash balance was at RM0.73 per share as at 31 Dec 2012. No debt. It however is trading at RM0.465. That looks very good? We are buying at substantially lower than cash holding - how fantastic is that?

Just last week, there was a transaction by the major shareholder selling 4.02% of his stocks and guess at what price? RM0.60. If I am the major shareholder, and in my bank balance, I have RM0.73 cash per share, I would not sell at RM0.60. That looks very stupid, isn't it? The sale of RM0.60 was to an unknown party, could be left pocket to right pocket. But yet it is no good. It is not at all transparent.

On top of that, the IPO a year ago was raised at RM0.95. Who again would sell, way below IPO price if on paper it is performing as in the financial accounts?

Anyway, who cares...there are just some people who would still be interested. Much stranger things have happened in Bursa and this is not it.

ECM: A Post Mortem

In stocks, sometimes I would like to have a large 5 feet diameter target just 10 feet in front of me. I can use either a spear, bow and arrow or even throwing a knife - it will 90% hit the target. The reward for the target may not be a brand new car or even make me rich but it will nevertheless be higher than 3% to 5% annual return which we are getting from putting our monies with financial institutions.

Last September, I wrote a piece on ECM. Not that I like the business or company, but I felt that there were opportunities with this stocks. Neither was I interested in putting the call into my Felicity Fund as I am concentrating longer term on that one - it was not meant for ECM kind of trade. I however was not going to let that opportunity go (having found it) and for sure put in some of my money into the stocks.

Trading in ECM, one would know that he is to expect getting 4 things - cash, Kenanga's shares, Kenanga's RCULS and some part of ECM's shares back. If one is to invest say during the time I made my piece, the return would have been at least 10% annually. This is what I achieved...

I in fact need not put in all of those money during September but some of it was made in December when I wrote another piece. There was an average down. The return is around 4% over a period of 3 to 6 months. Annualising it, one would have made more than 12% - but not every day is a Sunday...you do not get this kind of offer every time. It is not great but it was a good opportunity.

Why such things happens? Because market is inefficient. Investors or people who get involve in the stock market are not fully knowledgeable. So am I, but probably I am better informed - that's it. Reading, learning and practice makes perfect! Many investors are more into highly tradeable stocks - those with lots of news especially hearing them from remisiers, punters etc. They are exciting but chances are one would get his pants on fire. Why take that chance? From ECM, I will not be rich from these kind of trades - but hey, Rome was not built in one day.

With the cash already in my bank account, today, I have yet to sell Kenanga, ECM and RULS will be cashed in less than a year's time. This is because as much as Kenanga and ECM are not exciting, it is still undervalued. ECM at RM0.67 is trading at below 60% of its NAV. So is Kenanga - and most probably due to the involvement of the Taib Mahmud's family in Kenanga, it is trading as such with election getting so near.

Back to trades like this, do write to me whenever there are more opportunities as such and maybe we can study this together when I have the time.

Cheers...

Why are you over paying your tax?

By now, many of you would have seen the below youtube on how Malaysians (and Sarawakians in particular) could be cheated off transactions with state land being sold at very low price and further flipped at market price. If you haven't, do watch this as it is part and parcel of how sometimes transactions could be happening. This is how some of the rich gets richer (by cheating) and in this case evading tax (and beyond).

(Note, this article I am not a proponent of evading tax - you should not - but rather an advise on how one should not be over eager to over pay your tax). Note again, that there is a BIG difference between evading tax and avoiding tax!

A segment of the video shows basically how a lawyer proposed creating 2 separate agreements. One with transactions at nominal value (meaning a value that is acceptable to the government - most of the time lower), then another with all transacted premium on it. The one with nominal value, the transaction will be paid in Malaysia - the one with add-ons, it would be transacted in Singapore to evade tax. Why are they doing this? See the S&P Stamp Duty Rates below on property.

S&P Stamp Duty Rates:
First RM 100,000.00 = 1%
Next RM 100,000.01 - RM 500,000.00 = 2%
Next RM 500,000.01 - RM 2,000,000.00 = 3%
Above RM 2,000,000.00 = 4%

Imagine if a land is being transacted at say RM100 million. How much tax would that be? Besides the stamp duty on S&P, there is a Real Property Gains Tax of up to 15% in Malaysia currently. If the land was bought cheap say just less than 2 years ago, a flip of 100% gain would have attracted a RPGT of 15% on the profits. Again a RM100 million transaction of 100% gain would have attracted a tax of as high as RM7.5 million. Hence, all in all the tax alone could be more than RM10 million.
(Note that I am giving assumptions on above numbers)

Now that you can see that there is a high chance of these kind of transactions to evade taxes happening in Malaysia, why are we Malaysians over eager to pay our taxes especially involving ourselves in these kinds of transactions...

1. lots of trading - buy and sell stocks almost every day in large quantities. There are still clearing fees of 0.03% today and stamp duty of RM1 per RM1,000 of transactions. Seldom, do I see benefits out of doing lots of trading - unless you have the tendencies to beat Uncle Lim in Genting Casino...hmm perhaps;
2. flipping properties - again, if you are one of insiders whom are able to get apartment lots or houses direct from well known developers - one must always remember of the costs of transactions involved in properties;
3. spending all you hard earned money. You are actually working harder in order to pay more taxes. Even if you are able to earn a lot say more than RM150,000 per annum, do you know how much taxes are you paying? And what would your take home income be? With income as such, you could be paying more than RM25,000 tax per annum - you should pay them as this is one of the ways how the government is able to earn enough to implement its policies, and the higher you make, the more one should pay. It's fair. However, one should know that there is a limit to how long one can be in employment. Additionally, deducting travelling expenses, the additional wardrobe you need to have etc., your net takeaway could be the same as a person who makes RM100,000 from home. Without savings, one could not build enough warchest for passive income. And the beauty in Malaysia is that, there is no tax in capital gains from stocks. There is very little difference between a person who has RM1 million and able to gain 10% annually (on average) from stocks (by right rental income from properties should be declared as well) AND one who earns RM150,000 and spends all his money. The investor is taking home a non-taxable income of RM100,000 investing comfortably from the sofa or study room of his / her house and compare that to a person who has to beat the jam daily, know nothing about investing, spends all his money and earns RM150,000 annually.

So start building your retirement war chest. Learn about investing and start saving as well...

Sometimes inactivity is good activity

One must be thinking what a lazy title this is. Is stocks investment something which one must always be on their toes with? Can a person be away and be switching off his trading screen for a month? What if during the end of February period where most companies would be announcing their year end results - some company had unexpectedly posted bad results? Market collapse due to ever extended announcements of general election?

I was away for some 20 days. Most of the time, I was not able to trade or even check out relevant news. In fact, in some places I have little internet access and not much time to even access the net. Along with me, there was no notebook but only an iPad.

My position was full for the fund which I have posted on the net as well as other positions that I have. Would me being away affect how I am going to trade my stocks. Would relinquishing some of my positions be better than keeping them as it is? I actually, viewed through the position that I had before I was about to be away - none of them are for the short term. I would not be very concern of short term impact.

Upon me being back in Malaysia, as I have updated my position, it in fact looks even better. This is the first time, it has exceeded 100% return. Several of the companies are continually doing well.

When I read some of the comments by short term traders in their forums, they are uncertain of what holds for tomorrow. They are afraid of spikes especially towards the downtrend in a market place where Bursa does not allow short sell. My question is why put yourself in that position? Why do you need to be on the trading screen all the time? Why do you want to second guess how the major shareholders are going to do with its stocks.

Upon me away, it was lessons time as well. Stocks trading is one thing, continuous lessons on business is another thing. In Spain, I was able to notice that Zara is doing very well. Inditex SA (company that owns Zara), the stock that its major shareholder, Amansio Ortega (together with family) is trading on has done very well over the last one year. Zara is a Spanish based company - Spain together with Italy in Europe are facing a severe recession with especially large unemployment of more than 20% (Spain). But yet the largest shareholder of Zara is now the third richest person in the world surpassing Warren Buffett. How is that? Zara, a mid range clothing company is upping its ante by being very much close to market trend. Due to its ability to change to what the market wants in a short period of time, it is now the largest clothing retailer in the world. This shows that it could have possibly been taking market share from other competitors especially the luxury range whom have now been concentrating on China nowadays.

Zara, in fact, as I can notice, it is doing extremely well in Europe as well as in emerging markets. I am not a fashion enthusiast but I am a business enthusiast - and I can see how Zara has managed to put itself into - despite the slowdown in the in some of the market it is in. By European standards, Zara's line of products are not expensive - and yes it is now cheaper to buy in Europe than buying them in Malaysia.

Anyway, during the period I was away. I was right on Patimas, Asia Media. I was partly wrong on Tradewinds Plantation as the major shareholder did improve on the offer to RM5.00 although it seems like at that price, it is still way below the NAV. YTL Power seems to be dropping further as investors are wary of its future in the Malaysian IPP market. However, I would think if it drops further, YTL Power's overseas contribution should be attractive enough for the stock. Airasia announced a surprised dividend and it seems to be doing more and more deals overseas - India and Philippines. Airasia, as I have suspected is aggressive.

And I am right as well on Astro - it continues to disappoint as it should be. IHH seems to be doing well, but it is largely due to EPF buying as I would continue to think. I still think that it is a good stock but not good enough at its current price it is trading at. I am happy to see that Time Dotcom is doing well, so is Jobstreet.

And that's it for now...

Out of the country

Some may be wondering why I have not been posting. Over the last 1 week I have not been in the country traveling to Europe. At the same time, I have been following the results for the fourth quarter. I guess some of the holdings that I have created are doing pretty well - DKSH, Airasia, Jobstreet. Others like Wellcall may not be to my surprise as the revenue dropped quite a bit. I thought that it has pricing power and with the easing of rubber prices, it is supposed to be doing well. Not really.

Anyway, if you have been following my blog, just look at what happened to Patimas, Asia Media...one should just be careful when comes to stocks as such. Sitting in London, I am just seeing slowdown, although it seems that it is still a touristy place with very nice museums and other places to visit even during winter. While I like most of the things here, there seems to be that Europe may not be picking up that fast. There is a sense of it is trying hard while depending on foreigners to invest in multiple areas such as real estates, financial products. However, I feel that that the country is feeling a bit jaded, with the people hoping for more overseas money while not really be thankful for that. Most parts of Asia seem to be much more vibrant, exciting which is why I can see that many European companies are buying assets at inflated prices here in Asia - such as the F&N Singapore deal.

Anyway chow - I am off to a country with 20% unemployment - Spain and lets see how bad it is.