Sir Alex SRS portfolio - 25 Aug 2019

I was in Manchester and paid “homage” to Old Trafford. It is a club with rich history and heritage but unfortunately the fortunes declined upon the retirement of her most successful manager - Sir Alex Ferguson.

To celebrate a 100 year of history is no easy feat and I was a fan of Alex Ferguson. The gold era also ties in with a great manager and before Sir Alex, was Sir Matts Busby.

The stadium went through many phases of refurbishment and reconstruction and I was surprised to learn that, other than Wembley and among British ️ clubs, Old Trafford is still the stadium with the most seating capacity.

After watching how they lost 2-1 to Crystal Palace yesterday, I can only conclude that having a great manager (the likes of Klopp, Pep or Mauricio) and a great captain, is absolutely critical to any Football club. As for Manchester United, she is no longer the team I knew. The fire in the belly and the belief in their eyes are totally MIA.

Blame it on the manager, the coaching staff or the talent acquisition team (Ed Woodward)?

My money is on Pep Guardiola but my “heart” goes to Jürgen Klopp. I think he deserves at least one premier league title to his CV. As for Mauricio, he is probably the dark horse for this season. My top 4 predictions:

1.  Liverpool
2. Manchester City
3. Tottenham
4. Arsenal

The analogy is probably quite the same for a company. Having the right CEO (Manager) and a good board (coaching staff) and the right senior management (core team players) are absolutely essential for any company to thrive.

SRS Portfolio - 25 Aug 2019



I added a new position to my SRS Portfolio this week - 5,000 shares of OCBC Bank at $10.70.

The sizing of about $50k is based on the other positions in my existing portfolio. I bought because the valuation looks reasonable at about 1.05x price to book with dividend yield of around 4% but it could be a tad early as the trade war just broke out (again) between US and China. 🇨🇳 is aiming to inflict pain to the Trump’s supporters.

Let’s see what kind of bloodshed we will see in the coming weeks to my portfolio. I have about $60k cash remaining to be deployed.

The interim dividend yield of OCBC this time was the highest at 25 cents per share and OCBC has the capacity to even increase it further. Assuming it maintains that rate, the DPS will be 50c. This translate to around $2,500 per year. To be conservative, I will put the likely dividend at $2,000 to $2,500 per year.

Wifey stock portfolio remained the same - still holding on to her Netlink Trust.

Bonds portfolio - 25 Aug 2019
Since my last update, I have been trying to increase my bond positions but I have been pretty disciplined in my pricing and was thus limited out in all my applications. (Not that I will get what I applied for even if I am successful).

I avoided all Chinese issuers and were highly selective on the industry and issuers.

I participated in the bond IPO of Swedbank, National Australia Bank, Bank of Montreal but missed the Capitaland issuance (closed too quickly).

Last Friday I participated in the perps for SPH REIT. Haven’t heard anything back from my RM and i wasn’t limited out at 3.9%. So let’s see if I can get anything this time. The final yield was 4.1%.

That’s all for the updates for now. My traveling schedule is going to get crazy in the next few months.

Happy SRSing when the trade war explodes!