November portfolio update

The G&W portfolio rose 6.62% in November, while the benchmark declined 2.21%.

	August 3, 2017	November 30, 2018	Since July 1, 2018	Since Inception	Annualised
G&W Portfolio*	1.0000	1.1920	12.01%	19.20%	14.16%
Benchmark (SPAX2F0)	61,250.80	65,294.78	-5.44%	6.60%	4.94%

*I do not account for cash in the portfolio. The net result so far is that my returns are somewhat overstated.

The portfolio had another excellent month on both an absolute and relative basis. In each of the last two months, the portfolio has outperformed the benchmark by more than 8%. This is highly improbable and unlikely to be repeated.

There were two key drivers for the good result this month. Mitula (MUA), the largest holding in the portfolio with a weight of 30 per cent, started the month at 0.68 and ended at 0.775 —a gain of 13.97%. During the month, Lifull, the Japanese company which is seeking to acquire Mitula, rose 15% on the Tokyo exchange. Additionally, the scheme was amended to provide additional downside protection for shareholders receiving Lifull scrip. As of the end of the month,  the implied scrip consideration is 0.85, about 6 per cent above the 0.80 cash consideration I'm entitled to should the deal close. The final scrip price will be based on the 10-day VWAP as of December 7. I have until December 13 to lodge my election. At current prices, I am still inclined to take the certainty of the cash offer. I will continue to monitor the situation carefully. 

The other major contributor was the 10.5% gross dividend paid out by the portfolio's second-largest holding, which is undisclosed. This company is unlisted, and its shares trade via appointment, usually only a few times a year. The shares have not traded since the dividend was paid, so there was no ex-dividend effect. 

In other developments, OneMarket (OMN) released its financials for the nine months to September, and announced that CEO Don Kingsborough was stepping down for health reasons. The share price remained flat, and I added to my position during the month. One of the smaller positions in the portfolio, Capral, also issued a downgrade. The shares were initially sold down significantly but recovered somewhat by month's end. Capral had current assets less total liabilities of $83.47 million at June 30 (if we include the expense for the most recent special dividend). It last traded at 0.13, which puts it on a market cap of $62.44 million. It is still continuing to generate profits, and I am happy to stay on the register at current prices.

October portfolio update

The G&W portfolio rose 2.74% in October, while the benchmark declined 6.05%.

	August 3, 2017	October 31, 2018	Since July 1, 2018	Since Inception	Annualised
G&W Portfolio*	1.0000	1.1235	5.57%	12.35%	9.81%
Benchmark (SPAX2F0)	61,250.80	66,769.61	-3.31%	9.01%	7.18%

*I do not account for cash in the portfolio. The net result so far is that my returns are somewhat overstated.

The result this month was obviously very good though it didn't come as a complete surprise. On a relative basis, I expect to make my money in months like October where the broader market suffers. (Though I won't ever expect another month of 8 per cent outperformance.)

There was quite a bit of activity this month, so this update is a bit longer than usual.

Mitula

In the first week of October, I bought more shares of Mitula (ASX:MUA), which I have talked about in the past. Mitula is being taken over by a Japanese company, Lifull, in a transaction that presented an interesting opportunity for investors with small amounts of capital. Under the scheme agreement, holders of less than 20,000 shares were entitled to a cash consideration of $0.80 per share should the takeover go ahead. Holders of more than 20,000 shares, meanwhile, receive scrip. Lifull's price declined significantly between the time the deal was announced and early October, and the timelines of the deal blew out; Mitula's share price declined to reflect the reduced value of the scrip consideration and the added uncertainty. I spent some time reviewing the situation, to make sure I hadn't missed anything in my research. In the end, I decided to purchase additional shares between 0.635 and 0.645 to top up my holding to 20,000 shares.

I figured that while there was a heightened chance the deal might break, the risk-reward was extremely compelling. At 0.635, the 0.80 consideration implied a return of approximately 26% in a number of months. It is important to keep in mind that Lifull shareholders had approved the issue of additional shares and that Mitula's board and management own approximately half of their company's shares, meaning the deal was unlikely to be voted down. Before the takeover was announced, Mitula traded at 0.45, which implied those managers could potentially lose 30% of the value of their investment in the event the deal fell through. There was also the chance that the scrip deal could be sweetened to appease any disgruntled MUA shareholders. Finally, MUA had released a strong trading update, which suggested that its shares would trade above the pre-takeover price should the deal break.

MUA’s share price continued to drop after my purchase, which caused some anxiety. Compounding this, on October 16, the company released a statement in which the directors threatened to revoke their endorsement of the scheme if the scrip consideration did not improve. There was some positive news about a week later, when Lifull released positive results. Its share price rallied approximately 30 per cent by the end of the month, which means the deal is (again) highly likely to proceed. At the end of the month, MUA closed at 0.68. (Unfortunately though, the scheme has been amended to prevent any new shareholders for receiving the cash consideration.)

While I think my thinking on this situation was mostly correct, I clearly made an error with my position sizing. After purchasing the additional shares in October, the MUA position was approximately 30 per cent of the G&W portfolio, or about 15 per cent of my net worth. In hindsight, this was a mistake. I feel I should have capped the position at somewhere between 5 per cent and 8 per cent of my net worth. Luckily for me, it appears I will profit. I have nevertheless learned my lesson.

Spicers

In October, I sold down half of the portfolio's Spicers shares at 0.059. I discussed my feelings about Spicers in last month's report.

OneMarket

I also bought some shares in a new company. OneMarket (ASX:OMN) is a technology company that was spun-off from Westfield. It came to my attention via a fellow investor, so I can't claim any credit for uncovering it. The thesis for this company is pretty simple. I bought my first parcel of shares at 0.88 and have since bought more at 0.81. At 0.88, the market cap of the company is about $90 million. The company has $US152 million in cash and money market deposits, equivalent to $212 million. So, at that price I am buying a dollar of cash for less than 50 cents. The company is currently burning cash but recently announced its reserves will last until at least late 2020 (and that is excluding any revenue it will generate between now and then). The company appears to have good management and bright prospects. In the event that it doesn't work out, shareholders could quite rightly demand the company be wound up. OMN now represents about 6% of the G&W portfolio and I intend to buy additional shares if prices remain depressed. If this has piqued your interest, you might like to check out this write up on VIC.

Dividends

I also received some substantial fully-franked dividends which boosted my performance this month. I have more of these to look forward to in the coming months.

There have also been some developments in the OPUS Group/Left Field Printing Group situation, which I'll have to get to in another update.

September portfolio update

The G&W portfolio rose 1.99% during September while the benchmark fell 1.26%.

	August 3, 2017	September 30, 2018	Since July 1, 2018	Since Inception	Annualised
G&W Portfolio	1.0000	1.0935	2.75%	9.35%	8.02%
Benchmark (SPAX2F0)	61,250.80	71,070.06	2.92%	16.03%	13.69%

There was no buying or selling activity during the month. My ASX-listed stocks continued to rise during the month and Capral (ASX:CAA) paid a special dividend. Late in the month, Spicers (ASX:SRS) announced it was selling its Asian operations. Spicers has been the best performing stock in the portfolio. I bought it in August and October last year for an average cost of 3.4c. At the close of trading today, the stock was trading at 5.6c. At the time I bought it, Spicers was an ugly stock in an ugly industry that no-one wanted to buy. Some simple back of the envelope calculations were all that were required to see it was a screaming bargain. There have been a number of favourable developments since then, and I now believe the stock is trading at, or just slightly below, fair value. Nevertheless, there is still potential for the business, and thus the share price, to improve. During the month, I sold Spicers shares I held in a joint brokerage account with my family members — about one fifth of my total position. (The rest of the shares are held in the G&W portfolio.) I will continue to monitor the position closely.

I will also briefly discuss the Opus Group/Lion Rock Printing situation described in last month's blog. Since my last post, Opus Group has ceased trading on the ASX. Left Field Printing Group is due to begin trading on the HKex on October 8. Shortly before OPG ceased trading, I bought additional shares for my family's joint brokerage account at 40c. The indicative price for the Left Field Printing Group share offer is HK$1-$1.10. Under the transaction, OPG holders receive three Left Field shares for each OPG share. If the shares trade at the share offer price, which is certainly not guaranteed, that implies each OPG share is worth HK$3-3.30 — or, 53.17-58.48 Australian cents at current exchange rates. For that most recent parcel, that's a premium of between 33-46%. Not bad, especially considering the short holding period. I will continue to provide updates as the situation progresses.

*Edit, October 3, 2018: The performance figures for this month were restated due to a mistake; in my earlier post, I forgot to account for the Capral dividend discussed in the post.

August portfolio update

In August, the G&W portfolio returned 0.57% while the benchmark rose 1.91%.

	August 3, 2017	August 31, 2018	Since July 1, 2018	Since Inception	Annualised
G&W Portfolio	1.0000	1.0721	0.75%	7.21%	6.68%
Benchmark (SPAX2F0)	61,250.80	71,977.18	4.23%	17.51%	16.17%

Spicers rose strongly after reporting its results for the year. Mitula, which is my second largest position, declined, ostensibly due to the lagging share price of Lifull. The timeline of the takeover has been pushed back, but the key facts remain otherwise unchanged. Capral's report showed the business continues to chug on. We will receive another 0.5 cent dividend in September.

I added one new stock. It is similar situation to the one I described in the May update. This stock has NTA (mostly cash) roughly equal to its market cap, trades on a P/E of 7.75, and has paid out gross dividends in excess of 13% in recent years. It offers both safety of capital and the likelihood of returns in excess of the benchmark over extended periods. I was only able to purchase a small position (about 3.75%).

I made also made one sale in August, of the portfolio's shares in Kangaroo Island Plantation Timbers (ASX:KPT). While I still believe KPT offers great value, I decided to free up the capital for an attractive shorter-term opportunity in Opus Group (ASX:OPG), a printing business with operations in Sydney, Canberra and rural Victoria. OPG was originally a private equity roll-up, and ran into debt problems after listing. A Hong Kong business, 1010 Printing (now renamed as the Lion Rock Group), bought the debt, converted it to equity and ended up owning roughly 80 per cent of the business. I bought some stock in a family partnership outside of the G&W portfolio in December 2016 because it had significant net cash, no debt and a decent operating business, and have been following it since then. The new owners have cut a lot of fat and have been able to squeeze out a decent profit despite the decline nature of the industry the business operates in.

The opportunity relates to a transaction that is currently underway. 1010 is effectively re-domiciling the business to Bermuda and listing on the Hong Kong exchange. As part of the transaction, OPG shareholders will receive three shares in the new company — Left Field Printing — for each OPG share. There will also be an underwritten share offer for 20 per cent of the new business. According to the scheme documents, this money will be raised at a significant premium to the post-conversion price of OPG stock. To simplify things, and to prevent me holding Hong Kong stock in two entities, I purchased additional OPG stock this month in the family partnership for 0.43. At this price, the stock has a market cap of roughly $60 million. It has $40 million in net assets, including about $30 million in excess cash, and a business throwing off a lot of cash. At current prices, it seems far too cheap. Additionally, if we are to believe the scheme documents, and we are able to sell our shares on the Hong Kong exchange at a price roughly equal to that of the share offer, we stand to make approximately 20% between now and early October. I will provide updates as to how this pans out on the blog. In the meantime, if this has piqued your interest, I suggest you investigate Opus Group's recent filings as well as gvinvesting's excellent write-up of 1010 Printing on the Value Investor's Club. You have about two weeks before OPG is due to delist from the ASX. I intend to buy more shares in that time.

July portfolio update

	August 3, 2017	July 31, 2018	Since Inception	Annualised
G&W Portfolio	1.0000	1.0661	6.61%	6.66%
Benchmark (SPAX2F0)	61,250.80	70,970.71	15.87%	16.00%

In July, the G&W portfolio rose by 0.17% compared to the benchmark's 2.78% gain.

In two days, it will be a year since the inception of the portfolio. When compared to the benchmark, my performance since last August has been disappointing. One year, however, is not an appropriate time frame to measure investment performance. As I mentioned when I first set up the portfolio, my aim is to outperform the index over a three-to-five year period. If the G&W portfolio is still trailing the benchmark at July 31, 2020, I will have to seriously reflect on my abilities as a money manager; if I am still behind as of July 31, 2022, I will, to use Buffett's parlance, "hand in my suit" (providing I haven't done so already).

With that said, I am very comfortable with the portfolio's holdings. I own three stocks that trade on the NSX, and two that trade in low-volume markets. These five stocks make up more than half of the portfolio. (The largest accounts for about a quarter of my assets.) In the last year, the five stocks paid gross dividends in excess of 13 per cent. Most of these dividends will be paid later in the year, which will bolster my second half performance. Many of these stock trade a few times a year or less. In rising markets, such as that experienced in the last year, these stocks, with their static prices, are laggards. As I'm still accumulating these stocks, their lack of price appreciation is a benefit rather a curse. The more I can acquire at current prices, the better.

I have one major "workout" position, Mitula, which was mentioned in the June update. There are three other positions at present: Spicers (ASX:SRS), Capral (ASX:CAA) and Kangaroo Island Plantation Timbers (ASX:KPT). Both Spicers and Capral are capitalised at less than their current assets minus total liabilities, and both have businesses with some earning power. KPT, which accounts for less than 4% of the portfolio, has timber assets that were recently valued at $108 million, slightly more than the company's current market cap. There is a margin of safety in all three of these businesses at current prices.

During the month, I added to one of my existing positions. In August, I expect to purchase an additional stock, which, barring any sales, will be the portfolio's 10th.

June porfolio update

My results from portfolio's inception to the end of June are summarised in the table below. 

	August 3, 2017	June 30, 2018	Since Inception	Annualised
G&W Portfolio	1.0000	1.0642	6.42%	7.08%
Benchmark (SPAX2F0)	61,250.80	69,053.5	12.74%	14.05%

The portfolio was up 0.37% in June, compared to the benchmark's strong return of 3.27%. Since inception, the portfolio is trailing the benchmark by 6.32%. While the underperformance is disappointing, I hope to make up the deficit by the end of the calendar year.

We made one purchase in June, of Mitula (ASX:MUA), but otherwise there were no major developments to report. Mitula was not an opportunity I spotted myself, but one that was pointed out by Tony Hansen of EGP Capital. Mitula is to be acquired under scheme of arrangement by a Japanese company, LIFULL. Under the scheme, MUA shareholders with less than 20,000 shares are entitled to receive a cash payment 80 cents per share — whereas larger holders must take the consideration in LIFULL shares. I purchased 7,000 shares in early June for 70 cents each, and some more after the end of the month for 71.5 cents, making MUA the second largest position in the portfolio. When the two purchases are combined, we stand to make 13.09% excluding brokerage, which annualises to more than 40% if the scheme is completed by September 30. While the deal could fall over, the likelihood of that happening appears very low, which makes the risk/reward proposition very compelling.

May portfolio update

The portfolio was up 1.89% in May, while the benchmark rose 1.09%. The G&W portfolio now trails the benchmark by 2.87% since inception.

	August 3, 2017	May 31, 2018	Since Inception	Annualised
G&W Portfolio	1.0000	1.0603	6.03%	7.64%
Benchmark (SPAX2F0)	61,250.80	66,868.26	9.17%	11.2%

There were two significant movements in the portfolio in May.

I bought one new stock, which now accounts for 16.16% of the portfolio. It is the opportunity I briefly alluded to in my March update. This stock has a market cap of $660,000 at our purchase price, no debt and close to $620,000 cash at bank. It earned about $140,000 in NPAT last FY, which puts it on a P/E of less than five. About half of that was paid out to shareholders, putting the gross yield at 13.79%. While this stock is undoubtedly attractive on a statistical basis, there are some drawbacks. Firstly, while it is clearly undervalued, corporate action (e.g. a takeover) is impossible. It also is very thinly traded. This is great for buyers (like us in May) but means that quick selling is out of the question. Nevertheless, I find it hard to see how I lose money. I suspect the majority — if not all — of this stock's returns will be via dividends, which at about 14% are nothing to laugh at. As an investor far better than me told me today, the important thing in situations like this is to figure out how to reinvest the dividends at a satisfactory rate of return. Due to the small size of the portfolio, we may be able to continue investing in unusual situations like this for some time, but eventually they will become impractical. (This is one of the many reasons why these securities are so attractively priced.)

The other noteworthy event during the month was the conclusion of a risk arbitrage position, which was also alluded to in the March update. The stock in question in was Mantra (ASX:MTR), which was taken over via scheme of arrangement at the end of the month. In hindsight, even though the merger completed successfully, and I made a small profit, the purchase was a mistake. I will try to outline my thinking in the hope of preventing a repeat in the future, which could prove much more costly. There were a few reasons I liked the opportunity: the acquirer was a multi-billion-dollar corporate giant, the major regulatory hurdles had been passed, and the deal was free of any overly stringent conditions. What was particularly attractive was the special scheme dividend, which the scheme documents described as being a maximum of 23.5c per share, which would be deducted from the $3.96 headline figure. I used that 23.5c dividend in my calculations, which looked as follows.

Buy price: $3.94 + brokerage (on my small parcel, the gross cost was $3.96 per share)
Consideration: $3.725 per share in cash
Special Dividend: 0.235 per share (0.34 grossed up)
Gross return: 2.5% (14.24% annualised, assuming deal closed at the end of May)

If you surmised, as I did, that the deal was highly likely to go through, that 14.24% annualised return looked quite attractive, even if the deal took longer than planned as is often the case. Instead, the dividend ended up being reduced to 16 cents, which dropped the gross return to 1.69%, or 9.47% annualised. (We also should be able to record a modest tax loss, as the consideration was less than the purchase price.) This is an unacceptable return considering the level of risk involved. Also, the position of about 5% was far too large. Risk arbitrage has been likened to picking up pennies in front of a steamroller for good reason. While this situation resolved in our favour, I would be ashen faced in the unlikely event it fell through: Mantra was trading about 30% lower than our purchase price in October, before the scheme was announced. For this kind of risk, I should have been demanding much more than 14.24% per annum, which I didn't even end up getting.

April portfolio update

It wasn't a great month for my little portfolio. The benchmark went on a tear in April, rising 3.91 per cent, after a poor showing in March. The G&W portfolio, meanwhile, fell 0.73 during the month.

There was no particular reason for my poor performance. A number of my major holdings declined, mostly for no apparent reason. During the month, my largest holding paid a healthy interim dividend. (Without it, I would have done even worse!)

The G&W portfolio does not resemble the benchmark and — as the last two months have shown — it will behave differently. Over a reasonable period (three to five years), I am confident that the portfolio will turn in satisfactory results. I expect to beat the benchmark over such a period unless there is a significant run up in the price of equities. In flat or declining markets, there is a high probability that I will do significantly better. I am a firm believer in Warren Buffett's rule #1: don't lose money. Sometimes not losing money means lagging the average over the short-term, which is a compromise I am very happy to make.

	August 3, 2017	April 30, 2018	Since Inception	Annualised
G&W Portfolio	1.0000	1.0406	4.06%	5.49%
Benchmark (SPAX2F0)	61,250.80	66,145.65	7.99%	10.8%

Finally, and most importantly, here is an excellent lecture by Li Lu on the principles of value investing. There was much in here for me to reflect on. Hopefully you find it as useful as I did.

Until next time …

March portfolio update

The portfolio had a great month in March, returning 1.22% compared to the benchmark's -3.77%. While I don't expect this level of outperformance will be regularly repeated, I am confident the portfolio will turn in its best months relative to the benchmark when the broader market is down.

This month, I sold one of my holdings, Global Construction Services (ASX:GCS). I bought the stock in October for $0.785 and was able to sell it for $0.81. (I also received the 2 cent fully franked interim dividend, which was paid out at the end of the month.) Including franking credits, I received a return of 5.16% on my investment over that period, which equates to 13.96% annualised. If you are unfamiliar with GCS, I suggest you read Tony Hansen's blog post about the company.

As a general rule, I don't intend to make short-term gains from stocks, expect in special situations — and GCS is not one of those. My reason for selling was simple: an opportunity with a more attractive risk-adjusted return presented itself. I thought I would be able to make the investment in this new opportunity this month, but it turns out I will have to wait at least until May. Because of this, I bought a new stock during the month with the proceeds. This stock is a special situation: it is subject to corporate action due to complete about the time the other investment should become available. If things proceed as I think they will, I should end up substantially ahead compared to the alternative, which is holding the proceeds from the sale in cash.

My stocks held up better then the benchmark during the month and I received a substantial dividend from one of my other holdings, which accounted in large part for the gain.

	August 3, 2017	March 31, 2018	Since Inception	Annualised
G&W Portfolio	1.0000	1.0483	4.83%	7.34%
Benchmark (SPAX2F0)	61,250.80	63,658.89	3.93%	5.98%

As of the end of March, the portfolio consisted of eight securities. Since inception, the portfolio is 0.9% ahead of the benchmark.

A note about my performance calculations

I have decided to slightly change the way I account for my investment returns. In the past, I had been registering the "purchase date" of non-ASX stocks as the date the stocks were issued to me. (For ASX stocks, I recorded the date of the transaction.) From now, I will record the "purchase date" for non-ASX stocks as the date when the cash flow to purchase the stocks occurred. This change does not significantly affect my results — but it brings them closer to reality. If you are concerned — as you should be — that I am "moving the goal posts", please take a look at the table below, which records the original results for posterity. (I will edit the previous posts to reflect the change.) You will notice that, had I not made the change, I would have reported a 5.57% cumulative return as of the end of the month. The difference is due to an investment paid for in late February, for which I haven't received a holding statement. Under the old regime, it was not counted as part of the portfolio; under the new regime it is.

Interested readers should also note that I have not accounted for cash in the portfolio since inception. The reason is because my money flies around between my brokerage accounts, my savings account, general day-to-day expenses and other investments, such as managed funds, which would complicate accounting. What this means is that, even after my accounting change today, in reality, my returns are still likely somewhat overstated. While I am nearly always close to fully invested, during the early days of the G&W portfolio, for instance, I had a substantial sum of cash in a brokerage account, which was later used for something else.

	Revised	Initially stated
August 3, 2017	1.0000	1.0000
August 31, 2017	0.9976	0.9976
September 30, 2017	0.9970	0.9993
October 31, 2017	1.0146	1.0146
November 30, 2017	1.0340	1.0340
December 31, 2017	1.0676	1.0676
January 31, 2018	1.0597	1.0597
February 28, 2018	1.0356	1.0427
March 31, 2018	1.0483	1.0557

Until next time…

February portfolio update

February was a very interesting month. I mentioned in my last update that I had identified some potential opportunities to deploy capital. As a result of this work, I added one security during February. While I am reluctant to provide too many details, the position deserves some explanation as it now accounts for about 44% of the portfolio. 

Those who have read my earlier writings — in particular my very first post and my comments on Mohnish Pabrai's book — will be unsurprised that this particular business is stable, with an operating history of more than 10 years, and well-run. More importantly, the stock provides safety of capital and was bought well below any reasonable estimate of its intrinsic value. Stocks that display such attractive characteristics are hard to find. As an investor, if you are presented with such an opportunity, you should load up. To borrow words from Charlie Munger: "Opportunity meeting the prepared mind — that's the game." In my view, there is an extremely low probability that owners of this particular stock will earn less than a double-digit return over the next five years. (A return in the low-to-mid teens is far more likely.) The risk of permanent capital loss is extremely low to negligible. This is why it now speaks for nearly half of the portfolio's assets.

A number of my holdings reported interim results during the month. There were no big surprises — either good or bad. Despite this, the portfolio fell 2.27% over the month. Some of this drop can be accounted for by the significant purchase. While that stock has not fallen in value, my purchasing increased the overall size of the portfolio by about 70 per cent compared to January, which had the effect of diluting the impact of my existing gains. The benchmark was up 0.36% over the month. Since inception, the portfolio is trailing the benchmark by 4.45%.

The portfolio now consists of seven stocks. During the coming month, I expect to purchase an eighth security and add to at least one existing holding.

	August 3, 2017	February 28, 2018	Since Inception	Annualised
G&W Portfolio	1.0000	1.0356	3.56%	7.45%
Benchmark (SPAX2F0)	61,250.80	66,153.94	8.01%	13.98%

Until next time.

January portfolio update

Happy New Year to any readers out there. It's that time of month again, so here's the portfolio update.

The G&W portfolio was down 0.74% this month and trailed the benchmark (-0.45%).

	August 3, 2017	January 31, 2018	Since Inception	Annualised
G&W Portfolio	1.0000	1.0597	5.97%	13.04%
Benchmark (SPAX2F0)	61,250.80	65,918.88	7.62%	16.66%

Spicers, my largest position, is thinly traded and prone to frequent price fluctuations. This month it finished at 0.034, down 2.85% for the month. (It should be noted that this was after a 5.56% drop today — the final day of the month — for no apparent reason.) These fluctuations are of no consequence and, while my performance may be rocky, I expect Spicers to do substantially better than the broader sharemarket over a reasonable period.

I did not do any buying or selling during the month. I have found a few attractive situations where I may be able to put capital to work in future — but more work needs to be done before any dollars are put down.