The
market jumped by 7.62% this week, and unsurprisingly, we failed to keep
pace. As I have been expecting for the
last couple of months, the US recovery began to show very real signs of
traction as the unemployment rate there fell by half a percentage point in a
month. As for the optimism out of
Europe, I will wait before I get too wrapped up in it, regardless of what
action is taken there, the recovery will be long and slow.
I
found this comment a couple of weeks ago from Roger Montgomery here:
“I’ve
always been suspicious of a company that issues a report to the market after
the close of trade.”
I’ve
said before on my links
page, I generally like Montgomery’s
methods, though his relentless salesmanship can dull the quality of his message.
Nonetheless, he reminds novice investors to focus on the quality of the
underlying business, to forget about day to day pricing, market gyrations and
focus on business value etc, these are worthy messages. When it comes to his statement above,
however, I must passionately disagree. In fact I wrote a little about it 3
months ago in Update No.
23:
“Talking about the flood of reporting that
accompanies the last day of reporting season gives me a chance to get on my
soap-box over an issue that really irks me.
This is the reporting of price sensitive information during trading
hours.”…
“Berkshire Hathaway
Inc.’s 2010 Annual Report to the shareholders will be posted on the Internet on
Saturday February 26, 2011… Whenever we can post our report
on a Saturday we will continue to do so.”
I absolutely agree with the sentiments Buffett has
expressed on this matter. Wherever
possible, the longest amount of time possible should be made available to
report users to digest financial information.
Particularly with business updates, to me a Friday night disclosure
immediately after market-close is perfect.
The only exception to this is continuous disclosure related matters such
as takeover offers and the like, which should be reported ASAP to keep the
market informed. Scheduled business
updates, earnings releases and material of this kind should always be released
with the maximum practical time allowed for absorption.
So
although I appreciate the generally helpful (to inexperienced investors)
guidelines Roger Montgomery provides, I have to say, he is dead wrong in this
statement. – Tony Hansen 04/12/11.
P.S. I leave for about 4 weeks overseas this week,
I will be back in the last week of December.
The next 3 posts I make should come from Washington
DC, New York City
and Fiji. I am sure there will be no issue with the
Washington & NYC posts, though they may be shorter with just the financial
info and little else. As for the Fijian
post (scheduled for Christmas Day) – I have never been to Fiji before, but I’m
hopeful I will be able to get the internet access required to get the post away
on time. If not, I’m back in Australia
on 27 December and will make the final 2011 update post then.
|
|
April 1st 2011
|
July 1st 2011
|
Current Price
|
Current Period
|
Since Inception
|
|
EGP Fund No. 1
|
1.00000
|
1.08396
|
1.03266
|
(-4.73%)
|
3.27%
|
|
|
35632.05
|
34200.68
|
32581.37
|
(-4.73%)
|
(-8.56%)
|
|
EGP 20
|
1000.00
|
883.67
|
814.36
|
(-7.84%)
|
(-18.56%)
|
EGP Fund
No. 1 Pty Ltd. Down
by 4.73%, level with the benchmark
since July 1st. Since inception, EGP Fund No. 1 Pty Ltd is Up by 3.27%,
leading the benchmark
by 11.83% all-time (April 1st 2011).
EGP 20.
The EGP20 index is Down by 7.84%, lagging the benchmark
by 3.11% since July 1st.
Since inception the EGP20 is Down by 18.56%, lagging the benchmark
by 10.00% all-time (since April 1st 2011).
S&PASX200TR The benchmark index is Down by 4.73% since July
1st. The benchmark is Down 8.56% all-time (since April 1st
2011).
