February 2022 portfolio update

I didn't believe Putin would invade Ukraine. Utter madness. Can only hope for a swift end to the fighting and support where we can.

I bought a slice of Schroders during February, their C class or non-voting shares, as these were at a significantly lower price than the voting shares and therefore offered a higher dividend. Schroders is a large financial services business, but also 48% family owned. They have been shrewdly snaffling smaller finance businesses for a while, but it was their purchase of 75% of Greencoat that caught me attention. Not their first ESG investment by a long stretch but since I'd been following Greencoat for a while it prompted further investigation into Schroders.

Impact Healthcare was  also topped up again as I took advanced of a placing to raise funds.

Markets were understandably volatile and I was surprised not be be down more during the month. Defence stocks were up, as were those of a defensive nature. The portfolio has it's fair share of lower volatility holdings, so it's doing what it's supposed to.

Portfolio performance

The portfolio was down -1.4% in January, behind my chosen benchmark (Vanguard FTSE All Share Accumulation) which was flat  over the same period.

Rolling 12 month portfolio dividend yield: 3.2%

Benchmark dividend yield: 3.06%

Best performers this month:

QinetiQ +9%

Nichols +7%

National Grid +5%

Worst performers this month:
AB Dynamics -24%

Hargreaves Lansdown -15%

Lancashire Holdings -13%