18 Comments
User's avatar
jefke's avatar

Good read, thanks for posting!

A lot of pitches for stock like this rub me the wrong way because they are too bulish in their SoTP calcs.

Look-through earnings seems to be more appropriate, which IIRC is what you usually seem to do

Vopak looks interesting

Dave Waters's avatar

I'm not a fan of SotP pitches at all, especially when the possibility of activism is remote thanks to a controlling shareholder. That's a game for losers.

Pemcap's avatar

Where are the days when Columbia Value investor William V. Mueffling was in the Graham Doddsville recommending Vopak as a quality compounder? I think it was the beginning of the 14 years sideways market. I'm getting old.

jefke's avatar

I love stocks where I wasn't aware of the company during the 5-10 years of suffering previous investors went through ;)

There are no believers anymore.

Tom Grlla's avatar

Just fyi: blocked & reported a https://substack.com/@alluviial (extra i) who followed me.

Wondering how you're feeling about banks atm - I am patiently waiting for FFBB as I still believe in management, though obviously disappointed by events, & now sceptical of ECIPs. Don't know if you're a fan of NBN - it was one of my favourite discoveries last year & presented some decent entry points.

anon's avatar

dave,

checkout the comprehensive details on HAL trust letter from East72 in 2024.

did not follow since liquidity\access thwarts me, but likely glacial pace persists.

Antonius van Opstal's avatar

Not european but Japanese, Suzuki is the real hidden gem on this topic of india listed subsidiaries

Dave Waters's avatar

I wasn't aware!

A Morse's avatar

Happy New Year! Very timely and interesting topic. Are you (or anyone else reading) aware of any examples of companies taking advantage of the now public and highly valued Indian company and using its stock to do acquisitions?

Dave Waters's avatar

So far, no. But it's a worthy strategy.

Tom Grlla's avatar

Happy New Year! Good to see you back here. But also, huge congratulations on an absolute banner year. Zegona was something else, but a bunch of others too.

I absolutely agree on FILA, though I was swayed for a while as some undoubtedly smart investors have been fans.

Wondering how you feel about RWWI these days, been an interesting few years - feels like this year could see the accountancy changes work through, divi restart, and decent price for it. Cheers.

Dave Waters's avatar

Still a fan! There has been a share overhang for years now that I hope will diminish this year. Been a frustrating one for sure.

Capital Employed's avatar

Happy new year Dave! Keep the substack posts coming, always a pleasurable read.

Modern Investing's avatar

I very much enjoyed writing up Vopak myself in November. Fantastic business.

Orsetto's avatar

Have a little bit of FILA, but I agree that it's not that exciting. They're not going to touch their DOMS shares anytime soon, as confirmed by the CEO.

Vopak, as always, is very intriguing.

Dave Waters's avatar

Several people I respect are, and that's fine. The numbers are certainly appealing.