At the close of the market on Monday 17th of February, the ASX All Ordinaries closed at 5,394.8. The Hypothetical Ethical Share Portfolio has slipped against the benchmark since the last update, as the market has risen strongly. Bentham IMF remains the problem child, as shares have been sold off because the company has lost some cases recently. This is part and parcel of the business, and does not represent any degradation of the company. It's also worth noting that so far the portfolio has spun off only 5 cents in dividends, but many of the companies will pay dividends soon, so I will probably have a dividends column in the next update.

Please note: this report is very old to the point where it is useless. You must not consider it to be current. Many things may have changed, and it may well be that I no longer believe this company to be an attractive option. Please consider it an archive only.

“Well I think I've been in the top 5% of my age cohort all my life in understanding the power of incentives, and all my life I've underestimated it.”

My Net Fone Limited (ASX:MNF) this morning released its first half results for 2014. In the half to 31 December 2013, the company generated Net Profit After Tax of $2.37 million, and Operating Cashflow of $2.9 million. Cash sat at $3.6 million there was approximately $1.6 million more payables than receivables on the balance sheet. The company has no debt, and has paid off all its deferred consideration for past acquisitions.

The ASX All Ordinaries closed at 5,184.506 on Friday the 7th of February, 2014. Bentham IMF Limited has at times traded at a bit less than the purchase price, possibly because the company semi-lost its case against ANZ Banking Group. However, this is simply the business they're in, and it would be foolish to overreact to individual case results.

Fair warning to anyone considering buying Vmoto shares - I don't consider this company of the same class as the other companies on this website.

Tassal has had a remarkable year. The shareprice increased over 2013 from $1.43 to $3.30, an increase of 130%. Profit after tax and dividends over FY 2013 were up over 18%, despite revenue being flat. This was mainly because of the significant reduction in borrowings. A few years ago borrowings were over 60%, with the funds used to develop the salmon farm at Macquarie Harbour in western Tasmania. At the beginning of FY 2013, borrowings were an already respectable 25% of equity and reduced over the year to 18%.

I'll have to keep this note quite short, because I'm writing from Strahan in Tasmania, about to go for a walk to see the local platypus (fingers crossed). Tomorrow we'll be trekking in the Wild Rivers National Park, a place environmentalists fought hard to protect from destruction.

So I thought I should share my thoughts on the recent announcement by Energy Action (ASX: EAX).

Subscribers will know that when Codan announced their original profit downgrade, I took the opportunity to buy shares from panic sellers. At the time, I described the position as a "research position" and subsequently, I did my research. One disturbing piece of information that I found was that the Chinese may have had access to Codan's secure radio codes.