Viña Concha y Toro S.A Voluntarily Delisted ADRs From NYSE

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Chilean firm Viña Concha y Toro S.A is a wine maker and distributor of wines and other alcoholic beverages. The company’s ADR used to trade on the NYSE under the ticker VCO. Vina voluntariy delisted its ADRs from the NYSE effective July 12, 2018.

Below are the details of the termination notice:

You are hereby notified, as owners and beneficial owners of the above American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”), that we will terminate the Deposit Agreement, dated October 13, 1994, among Viña Concha y Toro S.A. (“Viña”), The Bank of New York Mellon, as Depositary, and Owners and Holders of American Depositary Shares (the “Deposit Agreement”). As a result, the existing ADR facility will be terminated effective at 5:00 PM (Eastern Time) on September 27, 2018.

Under the terms of the Deposit Agreement, you have until at least September 30, 2019 to decide if you would like to attempt to surrender your Viña ADRs for delivery of the underlying shares. If you surrender ADRs for delivery of the underlying shares, you must pay a cable fee of $17.50, a cancellation fee of up to $0.05 per ADS surrendered and any applicable U.S. or local taxes or governmental charges. Payment should be made payable to The Bank of New York Mellon.

Subsequent to September 30, 2019 under the terms of the Deposit Agreement, the Depositary may attempt to sell the underlying shares. If the Depositary has been able to sell such shares, you must surrender your ADRs to obtain payment of the sale proceeds, net of the expenses of sale, any applicable U.S. or local taxes or government charges and a cancellation fee of up to $0.05 per ADS.

To surrender your ADRs, the address of the Depositary is: The Bank of New York Mellon, 101 Barclay Street, Depositary Receipts Division – 22nd Floor, Attention: Cancellation Desk, New York, NY 10286. Registered or overnight mail is the suggested method of delivering DRs to the Depositary.

Source: BNY Mellon

Currently Vina trades on the OTC markets as a sponsored ADR under the ticker VCOYY.

Disclosure: No Positions

Norway’s Statoil Changed its Name to Equinor

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Norwegian oil giant has changed its name from Statoil to Equinor. Statoil used to trade under the ticket STO on the NYSE. Since May 16, 2018 the ticker was updated to EQNR. The company instituted this change in order to get rid of oil from its old name to meet current trends towards renewable energy and to attract young talent.

From an article at OffShore Energy Today back in May:

The company had on Monday said it expected to implement the name change from (and including) May 16, 2018. This also means that Tuesday, May 15, 2018, was expected to be the last day of trading on Oslo Børs under the ticker “STL”. From May 16, 2018 (inclusive), the Company’s shares are expected to trade on Oslo Børs under the new ticker “EQNR”.

Statoil has said the name Equinor was formed by combining “equi”, the starting point for words like equal, equality and equilibrium, and “nor”signaling a company proud of its Norwegian origin, and who wants to use this actively in its positioning.

Providing rationale for the proposed name change, chair of the board in Statoil, Jon Erik Reinhardsensaid in March: “The world is changing, and so is Statoil. The biggest transition our modern-day energy systems have ever seen is underway, and we aim to be at the forefront of this development. Our strategy remains firm. The name Equinor reflects ongoing changes and supports the always safe, high value and low carbon strategy we outlined last year.”

Source: Statoil becomes Equinor as shareholders OK name change, OffShore Energy Today, May 16, 2018

Equinor is 67 percent controlled by the government according to a Bloomberg article.

Equinor closed at $25.92 yesterday and has a $90.0 billion market cap.

Disclosure: No Positions

Average Annual U.S. Equity Returns Following Bear Markets: Chart

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U.S. stocks have historically yielded strong returns in the years following bear markets. Since 1926, the average duration of bull market has been 82 months while that of the bear market has been just 23 months according to an article at T.Rowe Price. To put another way, bull markets last four times as long as bear markets.

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Source: The Power of the Bull, T.Rowe Price

Australian Stock Market Intra-Year Gains and Declines vs. Calendar Year Returns 2001 To 2017

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Market timing is extremely hard and is not a wise strategy for most investors. Equity markets decline and rise for all types of reasons and with no warning. In addition, the falls can be dramatic and shocking within a short period of time but equally dramatic are the violent gains that follow plunges. So the key to long-term investing success is to be patient and avoid getting caught in the chaos and selling out with the hope of buying back at a cheaper price later. Even though markets can fall in any given year, intra-year declines tend to be overridden with gains yielding a net gain in most years. The above scenario is true with most markets.

The following chart shows the Intra-Year Gains and Declines vs. Calendar Year Returns from 2001 to 2017 for the Australian stock market:

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Source: VOLATILITY – 8 SIMPLE LESSONS, Stewart Partners

From the article:

Market timing is hard.

Recoveries can come just as quickly and just as violently as the prior correction. In 2008, the Australian share market fell by nearly 40%. Some investors capitulated, only to see the market bounce by more than 37% in 2009 and rise in seven of the eight subsequent years. The lesson is that attempts at market timing risk turning paper losses into real ones and paying for the risk without waiting around for the recovery.

The graph below shows calendar year returns for the Australian stockmarket since 2001, as well as the largest intra-year falls that occurred each year.  During this 17 year period, the average intra-year decline was 13%.  About 60% of the years observed had falls of more than 10%, and about 40% had falls of more than 15%.  But despite substantial intra-year falls, calendar year returns were positive in 14 out of the 17 years examined.

Related ETF:

  • iShares MSCI Australia Index Fund (EWA)

Disclosure: No Positions