The Year in Review

In the end, 2013 looked like this (I have scaled the numbers to a beginning net asset value of US$100,000):

Security	Value	Gain	Return	Days held
Precia	6,819	1,609	23.6%	202
XPO Logistics	15,063	(183)	-1.2%	38
Northgate Plc	9,013	540	6.0%	120
Hawaiian Holdings (equity)	24,530	11,104	45.3%	364
GEA	12,020	1,063	8.8%	13
Northgate	14,636	11,992	81.9%	337
Cybergun	3,290	(1,086)	-33.0%	343
Lamprell	13,695	2,767	20.2%	213
Conrad	6,195	2,604	42.0%	177
Cybergun 8% bonds	14,007	18,075	129.0%	45
Hawaiian Holdings (equity)	10,018	1,374	13.7%	114
Consciencefood	7,521	69	0.9%	132
Epicentre Holding	9,001	(222)	-2.5%	201
Emeco	5,065	675	13.3%	104
Emeco	4,174	2,969	71.1%	62
Emeco	14,777	1,613	10.9%	124
Unitek Global Services	2,897	602	20.8%	13
Axia Net Media	11,052	1,103	10.0%	6
Hawaiian Holdings (calls)*	6,561	8,103	123.5%	134
Alaska Comm Sys	8,515	(1,282)	-15.1%	104
Republic Airways Holdings	5,143	303	5.9%	22
The Dolan Company	5,773	110	1.9%	72
Mayur Uniquoters	13,483	9,986	74.1%	104
Zytronic Plc	7,117	1,416	19.9%	21
Lombard Risk Management	9,040	616	6.8%	65
Republic Airways Holdings	11,697	303	2.6%	54
"Reserved"	15,038	1,666	11.1%	22
Lamprell	11,112	681	6.1%	4
		78,573
Tax Liability		(15,189)
After-tax Gain		63,384	63.4%
Average Cash		22,589	16.3%
S&P 500			31.9%
Performance relative to S&P 500		+	31.5%

and was experienced in this way:

Much of the year was spent trying to undo mistakes made in the back half of 2012. My posture on January 1, 2013 was not up to the task of keeping up with a bull market and, absent some fixes, would have resulted in a disappointing performance (again, the values are scaled to a start of year net asset value of $100,000):  

	Cost ($USD)	Gain ($USD)	Return
GEA	11,376	1,415	12.4%
XPO Logistics	17,349	9,046	52.1%
Northgate Plc	17,058	11,943	70.0%
Hawaiian	26,912	12,534	46.6%
Cybergun	2,949	(1,182)	-40.1%
Precia	6,383	1,808	28.3%
		35,564
Tax Liability		(5,335)
After-Tax Gain		30,230	30.2%
Average Cash		17,973
S&P 500			31.9%
Relative Performance			-1.7%

In any case, I've shifted things around enough that I am reasonably satisfied with how I am currently positioned:

The best laid schemes of mice and men / often go awry. Still, I suspect that there's enough wiggle room in there to see me through to a doubling of NAV within two years. Being explicit about the risks, catalysts and price targets of the portfolio-as-a-whole is a useful exercise that I should have engaged in this time last year but didn't.

And I'm still holding too many names but I hope to reduce the number down to four or five within a few months.

Happy New Year.

EDIT (January 3): It has been suggested to me that the "tracking portfolio" page is not particularly illuminating, not least since it doesn't correspond to calendar years. I agree & I've adjusted it accordingly. Also, I've taken the opportunity to reduce the number of holdings by selling out of Republic and Alaska Comm Systems.