Vinci SA – A Pure Infrastructure Play

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Vinci SA (VCISY) is an infrastructure company based in France. VCISY , the ADR for Vinci trades on the OTC market.

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Vinci is a pure infrastructure play because it builds, maintains and operates many infrastructure things like roads, bridges, buildings, stadiums, transportation, etc. There are not many companies in this space which are available as ADRs.Firms like GE, ABB, etc. can be competitors for Vinci.

Listed below are a few important points about Vinci:

  • Operates in 4 business lines – Concessions, Energy,Roads and Construction.
  • Operations in France account for some 64% of revenue.
  • Europe accounts for 90% of revenue.
  • World’s largest toll roads operator.
  • Built the Charilaos Trikoupis Bridge in Greece (Photo above) , Three Airports in Cambodia including the one in Phonm Penh,Fredericton–Moncton motorway and Confederation Bridge in Canada.
  • Construction of roads and roads in Africa, Reunion Island, Vietnam, etc.
  • The 5 Year average annual return of Vinci Stock in the Paris market was 35% (from 2003 to 07).
  • Dividends per share increased three times in the same period.
  • VICSY dividend yield is 4.29%.

Five Most Traded Pink Sheet Stocks

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Frankfurt

Photo: Frankfurt, Germany 

The following are some of the most traded stocks on the OTC market. All the stocks listed below had trading volume of 300,000 today:

1.Company: OAO GAZPROM ADR
Ticker: OGZPY
Country: Russia
Sector : Oil

2.Company: Nestle
Ticker: NSRGY
Country: Switzerland
Sector : Food

3.Company:MACQUARIE GRP
Ticker: MQBKY
Country: Australia
Sector : Diversified

4.Company: Adidas
Ticker: ADDYY
Country: Germany
Sector : Shoes

5.Company: Nintendo Co Ltd
Ticker: NTDOY
Country: Japan
Sector : Games

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A Few Frontier Market Investment Ideas

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The developed markets are in the bear’s grip for many months now due to the credit crunch. Investors looking for better returns went to emerging markets like Brazil,India, China, etc. last year and even early this year.But that strategy is not working anymore since the emerging markets have plunged as well.My friend Vlad highlights some of the emerging market indices in the article titled Emerging markets indexes.

So this year investors are going to unusual places to invest. These are countries like Vietnam, Egypt,Peru,Indonesia,Romania, etc. Together these extremely risky markets are called “Frontier markets”. Already this year, ETF providers have luanched many ETFs for the frontier market countries.

In this post, lets look at a few ADRs,funds to invest in the frontier markets:

1.Credicorp Ltd. (BAP)
Credit Corp is a banking company in Peru.The stock has had an incredible year run as the chart shows below.BAP has a PE of 13.05 and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Beta is 1.1.The average annual dividend growth for the past 5 years is 45.41%.

Chart: 5 Year Growth

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2.Indonesia Fund (IF)
IF is a closed-end fund now trading at a discount of -11.24%.This a small fund with assets of just $106M.

3.Thai Capital Fund (TF)
TF is a closed-end fund now trading at a discount of -9.93%. This a small fund with assets of just $41M.TF is down YTD some 26%.

4.Turkish Investment Fund (TKF)
This CEF has an asset base of about $111M and it is down some 26% YTD.

5.Philippines Long Distance Telephone Co (PHI)
Telecom company in the Philippines.with a high dividend yield of 5.14%.

Again the above investment vehicles should be carefully evaluated before adding them to a well diversified portfolio.

French Chemical ADR Stocks

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Chemicals

In our modern society, it seems like chemicals are found everywhere. They are present in food items, boxes that contain the food such as cereal boxes, fridges, drugs, electrical goods, household items, etc. Similar to crude oil and other energy sources, chemicals have become part and parcel of our everyday life. Its almost impossible to think of a world without the chemical companies. We simply just can’t have our soft-drinks, food and even carpets without the use of chemicals – unless one can produce all these on their own without adding any chemical ingredients.

So in a nutshell, it makes sense to have some chemical stocks in our portfolio – just like our body takes in all kinds of chemicals everyday. There are thousands of chemical firms in this wold – some of them are small while some of them are giants like Du Pont, Dow Chemical, BASF, etc.

In this post, lets review three chemical companies from France. An investor looking to get a dose of stability, long-term growth and diversification can add a few of these stocks.

1.Air Liquide – AIQUY

This company has a weird name. But its a global player in the chemical business. It supplies indispensible gases to over 1 million clients in more than 72 counties.

A short note from their latest first half 2008 report:

“Air Liquide SA has posted net profit of EUR 601 million in January to June 2008 period up by 8.1% YoY as against EUR 556 million in January to June 2007 period. Revenue gained by 13% YoY to EUR 6.37 billion.

Air Liquide said that it has seen no sign of a slowdown in demand and the company reiterated a target for profit growth of at least 10% this year, at constant exchange rate”

Air Liquide is also a constituent of the EURO STOXX 50 Index which contains the 50 large companies from the Euro Zone.

2.Akema – ARKAY

Arkema is a spin-off from the French oil giant Total. Just like Air Liquide, Arkema also operates in the industrial gases and other related areas.

The P/E is 41.60 and the stock has a daily average volume of about 4,500.

3.Rhodia SA – RHAYY

Company Profile :”Rhodia is a specialty chemical. Co. products include cosmetics, detergents, pharmaceuticals, automotive, electronics, agrochemicals and construction. Co. owns and operates manufacturing facilities located in Europe, North America, the Asia/Pacific region and Latin America.”

RHAYY has a dividend yield of 1.64% and currently trades well off its 52 week high of $42+.

Related Posts:
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Chemical ADR Stocks !!!

Top Two German Utility Stocks

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E.ON AG and RWE AG are two of the largest utility companies in Germany. These two utilities are the in the top ten holdings of the newly launched SPDR S&P International Utilities Sector ETF – IPU. We wrote an article on this new fund titled “New Foreign Utilities ETF !” a few weeks ago.

1. E.ON AG : E.ON is the largest utility in Germany. In fact it is one of the world’s largest energy companies operating in 20 countries mostly in Europe. EON generates 1/3rd of all the electricity in Germany.

Ticker: EONGY
Dividend Yield: 3.68%

As per Morningstar website, EON beat both the S&P 500 Index and the utility sector index’ total returns in each of past 3 years. In the past 5 years, average annual dividend growth has been about 18.5%.

2.RWE AG : RWE is the second largest utility in Germany based in Essen.

Ticker: RWEOY
Dividend Yield: 4.49%

In the past 5 years, average annual dividend growth has been about 23.42%.