Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now: Thoughts of Saltydog Investor

Whilst we are living with the coronavirus epidemic, it is an opportune time to consider some quotes made by Cicero in the year 55BC.

The first three for when we are immersed in the epidemic, and the fourth is relevant as we emerge. (Mr Rishi Sunak, good luck with the final one.)

• The safety of the people shall be the highest law.
• Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.
• If you are fortunate enough to have a garden and a library, you have all you need.
• The budget should be balanced, and the treasury should be refilled. Public debt should be reduced, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed, lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.

At the beginning of the year, I asked the question as to whether the “boat had sailed” for making investments into businesses involved in the production and conversion of “waterfuel” into electricity.

Then in February I produced the following table showing the astronomical gains made by these hydrogen powercell and electrolysis stocks over the previous twelve months.

It seemed unlikely that this rate of gain could continue. Then along came the coronavirus and like the rest of the markets these stock prices dropped through the floor, only to resurface with varying degrees of success.

Since this collapse I have read little about this technology and its “Greta Green” attributes.

It seems to have fallen out of the news, although there is a steel mill in Sweden that has converted from petroleum gas to hydrogen gas, and they use vast volumes of energy.

The Orkneys have one island that is using tidal energy and electrolysis to convert seawater into liquid hydrogen and all the government vehicles and buildings now run on hydrogen.

This approach is being moved to the other islands and is now available for use in private housing.

An obsolete North Sea oil-rig has been converted to do a similar thing and the hydrogen is pumped ashore down an existing oil pipeline. Also the Australian National bus company is converting all its vehicles to run on hydrogen.

All of the above is just what I have read recently and have managed to retain in my failing grey cells, so there must be much more going on in the development of these technologies that I am not aware of.

To see what is now happening with their prices I have produced another table in a similar fashion to the one above. (Accurate as of the 27th May) The prices do move around dramatically and are a bit of a roller coaster ride, but the direction for the moment is still forward.

The three-month column shows the coronavirus hit but the one month shows (with the exception of Powercell Sweden) a general recovery with ITM powering ahead.

For my money this arena has lots of life left in it, and I have re-invested, although in truth I had never completely divested myself of these companies, but I have now added back what I originally sold three months ago.

For the moment, surely hydrogen generated electricity must be the way forward for the future ecology of the planet, and therefore would seem a good place for some investment money.

At Saltydog we do not invest into individual stocks in our portfolios, but stick to funds where the risk is spread amongst many companies.

I am sure that the technology funds that we report on are up to speed with the future changes to energy production, as we come towards the end of the era of oil and carbon-based fuels.

Also, we have not done any further checks on the companies listed above and this should not be seen as a recommendation.

Finally, I am finding these present times very tiring, so I am giving up drinking for a month.

Sorry, that came out wrong. It should have been … I am giving up. Drinking for a month!

Best wishes and good investing,

Douglas.

Founder & Chairman

Saltydog Investor Ltd is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and does not provide financial advice. Any information you use, or guidance you follow, is entirely at your own risk.