Alongside our Randgold recommendation in mid January, we accepted the bid for electronic components distributor Abacus. While we were disappointed that a rival offer didn’t emerge this was to be expected given the depressed state of equity markets at the time. As such the final performance of the recommendation was disappointing with a loss of 48% including dividends.

Our original buy note on the stock was in March 2005 and for the electronics distributor Deltron. At the time we were attracted by a successfully completed restructuring operation as well as a recovery in the group’s core markets. In October of the same year Abacus made an all-share offer for the group, which was accepted, and our holding became one in Abacus shares.

Initially Abacus performed well but an update in early 2007 pointed to weakening markets and saw investor confidence disappear. As such the group was easily taken off shareholders’ hands in a low-priced bid from a US rival. We suggested holding out but when over 90% of shareholders accepted the writing was on the wall. Although not performing as planned the high dividend yield on the stock helped reduce the overall loss.

Our next recommendation backed the resilient British drinker in their quest to remain well lubricated throughout the recession. As such we selected JD Wetherspoon which has a strong value proposition in the land of over-priced beer. The food side of the business has also been highly successful as office workers keep the pubs busy during weekday lunchtimes.

We recommended buying the stock at £2.82 and less than three months later recommended selling half at £4.51 - an impressive 57.8% gain including dividends. We took money off the table in this way as the valuation had, in our view, caught up with the recently announced results and threats to the share price remained. These threats included the recent dividend cut and the prospects of higher taxes falling on the sector.

Later on in the year we reflected on the pub giant again as the prospects for economic weakness in the UK, and a fall-back in equities, increased. Indicators for the company also looked toppy as directors had sold shares, the P/E was full at 15X and analysts were mostly bullish (often a negative sign). We therefore recommended selling half, again, in August at a price of £4.61 - a gain of 64.1% inclusive of dividends. To date this has been the right move as the stock has fallen back to £4.36.

Back in the world of commodities, a bid produced a small profit for our position in Sibir Energy. We originally recommended the stock at £4.70 in June 2006 as we were eager to obtain exposure to higher oil prices. Our view was that oil, which at that time was yet to cross $60, would break above $100 in the coming years.

While this thesis proved correct Sibir Energy didn’t prove to be an ideal conduit for higher energy prices. Management shenanigans at the company knocked investor confidence for six and the stock price suffered. As such when Russian energy giant Gazprom made a knock-out bid at £5 a share stockholders were only too eager to accept.

Another recommendation originally made in 2006 was the German residential real estate investment company Puma Brandenburg. As cautious investors we were sceptical about the more frothy real estate markets and believed Germany offered better value. Prices in Germany had been depressed for over a decade and with the economy starting to improve the prospects for real estate price gains looked strong.

In the event the global economic slowdown hit Germany as well as those exposed to boom-to-bust economies like Ireland and Eastern Europe. Changing economic conditions meant investors focused on Puma Brandenburg’s loan covenants and the stock fell back.

A bid vehicle eventually came forward to buy the whole company for 60p which was disappointing against our original buy price of £1.06. It should be noted that the group actually held its value better than the bulk of listed property vehicles. In our view, this shows that German exposure was the right economy to go for as many other property markets - Eastern Europe, the US and some emerging markets - have imploded due to high debt levels.

Returning to the global economy’s crude oil addiction we recommended oil and gas services firm Petrofac as a play on high energy prices. Our buy price in November 2007 was £5 and at the time we noted that, although the P/E of 20X was high, earnings estimates were conservative.

This proved to be the case and after a solid performance for the stock we recommended selling half in August 2009 for £8.29 - a gain of 69.2% inclusive of dividends. Our sale was motivated by an increasingly full valuation for the group although we remain confident the solid order book will see the company continue to do well.

A further energy play was the US gas producer Encana. We recommended the stock in March 2006 at $42.50 and were attracted by its expertise in oil sand bitumen - an energy source which is only economic when prices are high. Furthermore, at that time strong financial results had coincided with a weak stock price making it an opportunistic investment.

Subsequent economic weakness, caused by the credit crunch, served to dampen US gas prices and so in the interests of caution (as well as an imminent company restructure) we recommended selling half the holding in October 2009. The sale price of $57.40 produced a respectable 58.3% gain including dividends.

Alongside our second ‘half sell’ of Randgold Resources, our final sell recommendation for the year was gold miner Lihir. Originally recommended in May 2005 for $16.20, the group offered exposure to a rising gold price and had yet to rally as much as its peers. Investor caution was driven by operational issues but we felt these would resolve themselves in time. In any event the low valuation ($65 per ounce) on the group’s assets provided a strong margin of safety.

The strong gold advance to new highs in late 2009 provided, in our view, an opportune time to sell half of the position. Our sale price of $26.56 generated an impressive return of 110.2% including dividends. Returns in terms of sterling were boosted for both Lihir and Encana as the US dollar strengthened against the pound in the periods they were held for.