31 May 2012

May has always been the month to receive dividend, but it has also been the month when the portfolio value decreases. This pattern has been consistent throughout the past five years, where the decrease of portfolio value in May was higher than the dividend received. This means that if I have sold everything at the beginning of May and bought back at the end of it, I would have made handsome profit. Anyway that is just some thinking aloud and I couldn't have done that as I was on a tour in Tibet at the beginning of this month.

Global equity market has been volatile this month, caused by the Euro crisis. STI retreated this month on thin volume. As at the end of the month, STI dropped more than 200 points, or 7.01%, ended at 2772.54. My portfolio value dropped 5.05% in the same period, performing better than the index.

During the month, I bought in LippoMall Trust and Yangzijiang. I participated in the script dividend scheme in AIMSAMPIREIT and DBS. At the moment the rights issue from SP Ausnet is still open, but I have not decided to participate. Going forward, I will continue to invest in good dividend stocks.

Ireceived a record dividend of S$17,000 this month (including div from bond fund). I looked well on track to reach the targeted dividend of S$60,000 this year. I must confessed that I spent half of the dividend on tour with my wife. The rest has been or will be re-invested.

Below are the top 30 holdings as at 31 May. Not much changes at the top of the list. YZJ re-entered the list when I bought in more. The offshore marine stock slided down a bit.

1.   SPH
2.   Semb Corp
3.   OCBC Bk
4.   ComfortDelGro
5.   DBS
6.   F & N
7.   SP AusNet
8.   ST Engineering
9.   Starhub
10. SGX
11. MetroHldg
12. FraserComm
13. CitySpring
14. Nikko AM STI ETF 100
15. SembMar
16. CapitaComm
17. Kep Corp
18. SIA
19. Ascendasreit
20. SATS
21. MapletreeLog
22. FrasersCT
23. MacqIntInfra
24. Yangzijiang
25. CapitaLand
26. Sabana Reit
27. AIMSAMPIReit
28. AscottReit
29. CoscoCorp
30. SingTel

SP Ausnet - Script Dividend Scheme and Rights Issue

I have SP Ausnet shares in my portfolio since 2007. During the last financial crisis when its price dropped below S$1 I average down my cost. Frankly I like the share as its price has been quite stable and dividend payout consistently good. I was looking for opportunity to buy more.

SP Ausnet has a dividend scheme in place, but I have never taken part. 2 reasons: First, I think the discount is not attractive enough. They used to offer 2~3% discount from the average trading place over a certain period. This time round they don't offer any discount! The form states 0% discount in bold. When I saw the form I felt that they have taken the investors for granted. The 2nd reason is that they make the form in such manner that once you accept teh script once, you are deemed to accept the script in all future dividends by default, until you submit a form to CDP to withdraw your participation. There is no way you can opt for receiving the script only for the present dividend.

SP Ausnet has annouce rights issue of 3 out of 20 shares at the price of S$1.25 per shares. Initially I thought this was a good opportunity to buy more shares. With the price dropped to S$1.245~1.25 now, I am no longer sure that taking up the rights issue is a good choice. I think the rights issue will end up a flop for SP Ausnet, unless the share price can pick up in the next few days. I am waiting till next week to decide my participation.