Old Chang Kee: Have my curry puff and eat it too.

Time really flies! It really does not feel like I have been a shareholder of Old Chang Kee since October 2011 but it is true! 

I have been a shareholder of the company for more than a year now.

Today, I made a decision to sell half of my shares in Old Chang Kee. 

Why not hold? Well, it has more than doubled from my buy price.

The decision is not based on TA since it is such a thinly traded and volatile stock. 

The decision is more based on FA as I feel that although it is a great company with characteristics similar to See's Candies which Warren Buffet likes so much, valuation is now rather rich.

Then, here comes the interesting part. 

Why have I chosen to sell at 57c or higher? 

Why not 55c or 56c? 

For those of you who think that AK is a savvy investor with profound insights or thoughts, this could change your mind (hahaha..).

Well, my entry price was 26c a share. A doubling of the share price would see 52c a share. 

Old Chang Kee recently announced a 5c dividend which is payable sometime next month. So, 52c + 5c = 57c. 

Tadah! Rocket science at its best.





Why not sell all my shares then? 

Well, apart from the 5c bumper dividend declared, I really don't know why Mr. Market is so into Old Chang Kee suddenly. 

Could there be something brewing that is more delicious than the comfort fast food that Old Chang Kee is famous for?

Being minority shareholders, we are usually slower in getting any type of news, if at all. So, I am keeping half of my shares (which are free of cost now) just in case. 





Of course, then, I will still receive the bumper dividend to be paid out to shareholders next month. Yummy!

Related posts:
1. Old Chang Kee: Special interim dividend.
2. Old Chang Kee: Initiated long position at 26c.

Old Chang Kee: Special interim dividend.

Shares of Old Chang Kee are trading higher today at 42c a share. A special interim dividend for the half year ended September 2012 has been declared. The amount? 5c per share.

Incidentally, I bought some Old Chang Kee curry puffs just yesterday! Yummy curry puffs! So is this special dividend.

This certainly brightens up the holiday season for all shareholders.

Read announcement: here.

Related post:
Old Chang Kee: Initiated long position at 26c.

Tea with AK71: Soup Restaurant's S-Card.

Yeah! After weeks of waiting, I have received my S-Card from Soup Restaurant.

Some might remember that before I was a shareholder of Soup Restaurant, I blogged about how I chose to invest in Old Chang Kee instead of Soup Restaurant. That decision has turned out quite well.

Not too long ago, I explained my more recent decision to invest in Soup Restaurant. Well, it remains to be seen if my decision would bear fruit.

In the meantime, I will enjoy a discount off my bills on my periodic visits to Soup Restaurant's outlets. Yummy!

Related posts:
1. Old Chang Kee: Initiated a long position at 26c.
2. Soup Restaurant: Gain of $7.7m.

Old Chang Kee: Holey curry puff.

Asked my colleague to help me buy a curry puff from Old Chang Kee earlier as I didn't want to leave the office. Weather is too warm!

No, I didn't take a bite before I took these photos. You can tell that the exposed egg white and potato chunks are rather burnt. This is a holey curry puff...

This is proof that every curry puff is hand made and each one is different. ;-p

Related posts:
1. Old Chang Kee: Filling not enough.
2. Old Chang Kee: Initiated a long position at 26c.

Old Chang Kee: Initiated a long position at 26c.

If we go out in the evenings or on weekends, we will see most of the restaurants packed and some of the more popular ones even have long queues. 

A friend of mine invested in Soup Restaurant which gives its shareholders a card that gives a 15% discount off the total bill for dining at their outlets.

Personally, I like going to Soup Restaurant too. However, I think of it as more upmarket, similar to Lao Beijing. 

In a recession, their businesses could take a hit. In this respect, I find Old Chang Kee to be a more attractive proposition.

Old Chang Kee's food kiosks are ubiquitous and always seem to be doing good business. Well, at least for those I see. 

I doubt very much that, in a recession, we will see people cutting back on their favourite curry puffs, sotong sticks or yam cakes in a big way.

Old Chang Kee's shares are thinly traded and it is rather risky to put in overnight buy orders.  

I look at it from time to time but did not do so recently for a few days when it touched a low of 22.5c a share. Less than 200 lots changed hands in 4 sessions at under 26c a share.

When it was trading at 38c and higher just a few months ago, I found it too expensive for my taste (pardon the pun). 

Now, at 26c, I decided to take a nibble (sorry, another pun) as it is definitely more attractive.

Six months basic EPS improved from 1.03c to 1.28c, year on year. 

However, as the company issued warrants in August last year, on a fully diluted basis, EPS improved from 1.03c to 1.07c year on year. 

It is quite obvious to me that this is a growth company.





Warrant holders are also in the money since they paid only 5c per warrant which has an exercise price of 10c. 

A good investment they made in Old Chang Kee, no doubt.

Gross profit improved 11.6% while net profit improved 25.9%, year on year. 

A pro forma full year EPS of 2.14c would give a PE ratio of 12.15x for the company. 

The company's balance sheet has also strengthened with lower outstanding bank loan balances. 

Cash and cash equivalents also increased almost 50%, year on year. Strong cash flow from operations has been cited as being the main reason for this.





The company could continue to pay a dividend of 1.5c per share which means a dividend yield of 5.77% at 26c a share.

The only other blog post I had on Old Chang Kee was rather tongue in cheek, if you remember. 

Now that I am a shareholder of the company, eating a curry puff will be a somewhat more savoury experience. I hope so, anyway. ;)





Read the Half Year 2011 report here.

Related post:
Old Chang Kee: Filling not enough.

Old Chang Kee: Filling not enough.

We do not have to be housewives shopping for the family to know that prices of foodstuff are going up. I like buying the occasional curry puff from Old Chang Kee and today I found out that the curry puff is S$1.30 each! I thought it was still S$1.20 each. Anyway, I had a craving. What to do?

Back in the office, I happily took a bite and I bit into a cavity! Looking into the curry puff, I found it half empty! Really, I am not kidding. I took photos of the errant curry puff:

I was somewhat unhappy and amused as well. The price went up and the amount of filling reduced at the same time! What a combination! Maybe, I should buy Old Chang Kee's shares? Perhaps, this experience is an important part of FA. ;-p