See SEGRO Grow (Portfolio Sale)

Source

To continue my previous 'investment-as-gardening' theme; I have been doing some more pruning of the portfolio. In fact, the start of this autumn has been far busier than I was expecting both in the garden and here in cyberspace. Normally, watching the DIY Income Investor portfolio is a bit like watching grass grow - boring. It usually ticks over quietly with some of the constituents blooming while others fade away (hopefully to recover later).

This September has been quite remarkable, with the portfolio growing by 4% in the first three weeks - leading to some digging up of old favourites and a search for replacements.

My next uprooting has been SEGRO, which I bought in February 2012 (a top-up of a previous holding of Brixton that crashed and burned and was taken over by SEGRO). SEGRO was formerly known as Slough Estates Group - obviously the word 'Slough' in the company was not seen as an asset - is a 'mid-cap' property firm, specialising in industrial space.

When this holding hit my indicative 'sell' target (capital growth of five times current income) I roused myself from my usual indolence to review the key numbers - to see whether there was any obvious reason to hold on to this.

Digital Look gave me some mixed news: yes the yield was still nice (nearly 5%) but the dividend cover has fallen to around 1.3 (I would usually look for something like 2), a situation that is forecast to deteriorate further. To me that looks like a dividend cut waiting to happen - sooner or later. Having said that, their business plan looks to be on track, with the purchase of a new bonded warehouse in Barking and other European developments, although I don't anticipate very rapid growth in the UK or European economies.

So, a tricky choice between - on the one hand - continued 'steady as she goes' development and share price growth, versus - on the other hand - a risk of a dividend cut (which would cause the share price to tumble). Greed versus fear.

I've seen SEGRO grow enough - 34% profit is enough for me. Time for something new.

[Sale price: £3.12]



I am not a financial adviser and the information provided does not constitute financial advice. You should always do your own research on top of what you learn here to ensure that it's right for your specific circumstances.