End-March 2008 Portfolio Summary and Review

The second-half of March 2008 saw more business activity with respect to the companies I own. The market continued to recover somewhat slightly, though I think that will be scant relief for those who probably bought at the height of the bull market. This evidently illustrates the importance of purchase with a margin of safety, and to also assess the potential investment rationally to see if it has prospects for top and bottom line growth in the years to come.

April 2008 will prove to be an interesting month, as I am expecting results announcements from FSL Trust, Suntec REIT and Ezra. Also, I am looking forward to attending the AGM and reading the Annual Reports for Swiber and China Fishery.

Below is the summary of my investments and related news as at March 31, 2008 (STI at 3,007.36 points).:-

1) Ezra (Vested since October 6, 2005) - Buy Price $0.645 (bonus adjusted), Market Price $2.07, Gain 221%, YTD Loss 37.7%. On March 27, 2008, Ezra announced the clinching of charter contracts totaling US$77.6 million; these include new and renewal charter contracts. I have details on this in my previous post. Ezra should be releasing their 1H FY 2008 results by mid-April 2008, and I will provide a review and analysis before my next portfolio review.

2) Boustead (Vested since September 13, 2006; averaged down November 13, 2006) - Buy Price $1.295 (average), Market Price $1.98, Gain 52.9%, YTD Loss 17.8%. On March 24, 2008, Salcon announced S$32 million worth of contracts from Toshiba and Samsung. Also, just this evening on March 31, 2008, Boustead Projects announced the award of a S$15 million contract to construct a warehouse and office facility for LuxAsia Pte Ltd. Contract flow has started again after a drought following the August 22, 2007 announcement of a record S$300 million Libyan township project. This is Boustead Project’s 9th Project for FY 2008.

3) Swiber (Vested since February 14, 2007) - Buy Price $1.01, Market Price $2.54, Gain 151.5%, YTD Loss 25.9%. Swiber announced on March 17, 2008 that it had been awarded a multi-year contract from CUEL Limited for installation of platforms and pipelines in the Gulf of Thailand. The project will commence in 1Q FY 2009 and is worth US$50 million per year for 5 years. Following this, on March 18, 2008, Swiber announced the appointment of Mr. John Payne as the CEO of Kreuz International Pte Ltd. This is seen as another sign of Swiber investing in human resource to beef up their Management team. On March 26, 2008, Swiber announced that Kreuz had successfully delivered two floating crane barges to their 30% associated company OBT Holdings Pte Ltd, which demonstrates Kreuz’s ability to deliver on time. Two days later, Swiber announced that they had raised S$100 million by issuing 3-year bonds at 4% interest rate, in fixed and floating rate tranches. Finally, on March 31, 2008, Swiber announced the formation of a joint venture company called Principia Asia-Pacific Engineering Pte Ltd.

4) Suntec REIT (Vested since December 9, 2004) - Buy Price $1.11, Market Price $1.45, Gain 30.6%, YTD Loss 15.2%. There was no news on Suntec REIT in the half-month ended March 31, 2008.

5) Pacific Andes (Vested since March 29, 2006; Rights Issue July 11, 2007 at S$0.52 per share; averaged down August 17, 2007) - Buy Price $0.655 (rights-adjusted), Market Price $0.515, Loss 21.4%, YTD Loss 18.3%. There was no news on Pacific Andes during the period ended March 31, 2008.

6) China Fishery Group (Vested since November 20, 2007) - Buy Price $1.50 (average), Market Price $1.51, Gain 0.7%, YTD Loss 18.4%. There was no news for CFG for the period ended March 31, 2008.

7) First Ship Lease Trust (Vested since January 14, 2008) - Buy Price (Averaged Down) $1.105, Market Price $1.11, Gain 0.5%. FSL Trust’s AGM will be held on April 2, 2008 (Wednesday) and they have also announced on March 31, 2008 that they had appointed a new Head of Sales Mr. Vijay Kamath for East of Suez. Hopefully, with his experience and expertise, this means that FSL Trust can embark on more acquisitions which can enhance yield for unit-holders.

Overall Portfolio

My overall portfolio has increased by 51% without taking into FSL Trust’s cost. If included, the gain is 37.0% from a cost of S$80.4K as at March 31, 2008. The market value of my portfolio without FSL Trust is S$88K, and if FSL Trust is included then the portfolio value is S$110.1K. Realized gains remain at about S$4.9K until the ex-dividend date for China Fishery comes along.

Comparison against STI

The FTSE STI had declined by 13.6% since the start of 2008. Without FSL Trust, my portfolio has declined 24.6%.To date in 2008, my portfolio has under-performed the new benchmark FTSE STI by 11 percentage points.

My next portfolio review will be on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 after market close.