Holway’s 2007 Portfolio

Back in Jan 07, I decided to test my investment ‘skills’ in our sector. I used a (small) part of the proceeds I got from the sale of my Ovum shares and established a tech portfolio. I have given you regular updates on its progress and my sales/reinvestments.

The rest of the Ovum proceeds I invested in high interest internet accounts which have returned around a 5.5% on the year as interest rates have risen. (Currently they yield c6.25%). So that was my benchmark – could I beat 5.5%?

In the end, Holway’s Portfolio yielded 14% on the year when dividends received to date are included. That’s better than the 11% increase in NASDAQ, better than Techmark’s 8%, better than FTSE100’s 4% and much, much better than the 6.6% decline in the FTSE UK IT Index.

Winners

By far the best performer was Apple – up 130%. I decided to top slice in Nov by selling half my Apple share when they had merely doubled. That appears to have been a mistake!

I sold Axon at 723p when I was up 19%. That was a good move as the shares have slumped to 530p since.

My Vodafone investment is up 28% and my investment in RCM Technology Trust (where I am a director) is up 19%. It is very gratifying to be on a ‘winning team’ here as we have eclipsed the performance of rival funds Polar and Herald. Also good to see that ‘our manager’ Walter Price performed even better than me! Capita is also showing a 6% gain.

The dogs

Blinkx was my worst call – still down 45%. Fortunately I didn’t buy very many. I switched out of EDS when I had lost 23% and went into Sage where I have since managed to lose another 11%. (‘Frying pan’ and ‘fire’ come to mind.) BT is also down 11%.

2008?

I’ve already turned about 30% of my 2007 portfolio into cash. I intend to hang onto all my current investments as they all look good for 2008 (provided we don’t have a general crash)

I am reluctant to buy into tech further right now. But I’ll keep you informed. Overall over 90% of my current liquid assets are in cash with c50% of that on one or two year fixed interest deposits yielding around 6.8%.

You can call me Mr Cautious if you wish but I don’t care.