Words From The Wilds

I have written articles which some may find quite helpful. Other readers have found some of these useful and I thought I would post a few of the more popular links here in case some of my Opera readers are also interested.

Fix that plugged drain in minutes
Improve your dart game
Lawn mower repair (electrical)
Minor Poulan chain saw repair
Make an inexpensive bird-feeder

You may also want to have a look at some of the other writing I have at Triond.

From an investing point of view, much has happened in the last several months, although I am sticking with a few income trusts to weather the recent storms we have had in the investing community. Sentry Select Diversified Income Trust may be moving to a dividend-paying open-ended fund structure and, although there is concern from unit-holders, this is a change that I will ride out, having received many decent distributions in the last few years. The distribution rate has been reduced in the last few months but still manages C$0.026/unit which would be 11+% annual yield at recent market prices. Canwel Building Materials Income Fund has very recently reduced it's distribution as well, coming in at about 23% yield/year at today's prices. Looking at Rogers Sugar Income Fund, distribution rates are holding for now and yield about 13%/year at present market prices. Difficult times require difficult decisions and I trust that the manager's of these funds and trusts that I have been following have taken a logical and sensible approach to their responsibilities.

At today's market prices, the average yield for the income trusts/funds that I have listed previously in this blog is about 17% before taxes.

After some significant drops in market price over the several months since last fall, we see a small rebound for some of the trusts I have been following. Here is an update to 2008-Apr-15 showing gains/losses since 2006-June-13 (not including normal and special distributions):

Cominar Real Estate Income Trust (+9%)
Canwel Building Materials Income Fund (+22%)
Rogers Sugar Income Trust (+33%)
Sentry Select Diversified Income Trust (-24%)
Boston Pizza Royalty Income Trust (-35%)
Yellow Pages Income Trust (-28%)
Penn West Energy Trust (-29%)
Badger Income Fund (+20%)

I am still accumulating some of these as the price/distribution is still great (good income generators).

I have added another income trust to my portfolio. It has been operating as a royalty trust since July 2002 and so has a 44-month history of monthly distributions. The distributions have increased (8 increases so far) every six months or so since inception, are paid monthly, and return about 7% before taxes. The market value of the units has appreciated significantly since 2002, having started at $10 and gained to about $17 at present (that's 70% capital appreciation in 44 months or about 19%/year on average).

The trust is BOSTON PIZZA ROYALTY INCOME TRUST. Boston Pizza presently has 226 royalty-paying restaurants in Canada, and is still in expansion mode with an estimated 30 to 40 new restaurants to add this year.

To me, this looks like a well-run company and trust. Anyone interested in solid income performance and growth potential for at least a few more years, owes it to themselves to visit Boston Pizza's website and find out more. I have also added it to my list on my own website.

It looks like a great one!