Category: LICs

LICs are a great way to achieve market diversification or invest conservatively for those investors without the expertise or inclination to invest directly in other ASX listed companies. LICs in Australia primarily invest in Australian or international shares and offer investors exposure to the same universe of assets that can be accessed through many unlisted managed funds. LICs are bought and sold on the market just like an ordinary share and investors can decide whether the investment style and underlying investment portfolio of a particular LIC suits their own investment objective

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LICs LICs

Plato Income Maximiser Limited raises $139.5m

Plato Income is Financial Industry with sub- industry is Asset Management. Market Capitalization is 657.126m. Their 5 years Monthly Beta is 0.78. 

Plato Income’s NTA values shows below are before the dividend of $0.005 per share payable on 31 December 2021. The ex-date of the dividend is 16th December 2021. 

Plato Income Maximiser limited Pre – Tax NTA $1.101 while Post – tax NTA is 1.105. Per – tax NTA Includes tax on realised gains/losses and other earnings but excludes any provision from tax on unrealised gains/losses. Post – Tax NTA includes tax on realised and unrealised gains/losses and other earnings. 

During November, PL8 raised $139.5m in total through a Placement to wholesale investors and a Share Purchase Plan (SPP). The Placement to wholesale investors raised $71.3m with the issue of 64.3m fully paid ordinary shares at $1.11 per share. 

The SPP raised $68.2m through the issue of 62m new shares at $1.10 per share. The SPP was oversubscribed with the Company targeting $50m, however the Company decided not to scale back any applications.

The proceeds from the Placement and the SPP will be invested via the Plato Australian Shares Income Fund in accordance with the Company’s structure and investment strategy.

PL8 took the opportunity to raise capital when the Company was trading at a premium. The share price closed at $1.285 on 2 November, the day prior to the capital raising announcement, an 11.7% premium to the pre-tax NTA and a 15% premium to the post-tax NTA. 

The issue of new shares through the Placement and SPP has seen the share price decline to be trading closer to the pre-tax NTA at November-end.

Portfolio Performance as at 30th November 2021

PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE¹1M%3M%1YR% P.A.3YRS% P.A.INCEPTION% P.A.
Total return²-0.7-2.114.813.59.6
Income³0.61.66.08.37.4
Bench. total return²-0.4-2.017.014.010.1
Excess total return²-0.3-0.1-2.2-0.5-0.5
Excess Income³0.0-0.11.13.42.2
Excess franking³0.00.00.51.20.9

Company Profile 

Plato Income Maximiser Limited is a listed investment company incorporated in Australia. The Company has been established to provide investors with the opportunity to benefit from an investment in an actively managed, well-diversified portfolio of Australian listed equities by investing in an the unlisted scheme Plato Australian Shares Income Fund.

(Source: BanyanTree)

General Advice Warning

Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.

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LICs LICs

Twilio’s Software Building Blocks Are Constructing a Cloud Communications Empire

Business Strategy and Outlook

Twilio is a cloud-based communication-platform-as-a-service, or CPaaS, company offering communication application programming interfaces, or APIs, and prebuilt solution applications aimed at improving customer engagement. Through these APIs, Twilio’s platform allows developers to integrate messaging, voice, and video functionality into business applications. In a go-to-market model that focuses on empowering developers to utilize the APIs to build products in a highly customized fashion, Twilio has been able to expand into use-cases that would be difficult to penetrate otherwise. For widely sought after use-cases, Twilio has developed solution applications, like Flex Contact Center, which combine various channel APIs into a unified interface to create use-case-specific solutions.

The communication channel APIs are deployed through the Programmable Communications Cloud and then are combined and expanded into application platforms in the Engagement Cloud to offer higher level functionality for specific use-cases. In this view full stack as best-in-breed in the CPaaS space, enabling deeply integrated, sticky communication solutions. Twilio has stellar customer metrics, with churn consistently below 5% and net dollar expansion in excess of 130% in recent years.

Financial Strength

Twilio is in a healthy financial position. Revenue is growing rapidly, and the company is beginning to scale, while the balance sheet is in good shape. As of September 2021, the company had cash and short-term investments of $5.4 billion and a debt balance of $985.5 million. In March 2021, Twilio issued $1.0 billion of senior notes, consisting of $500 million of 3.625% notes due 2029, and $500 million of 3.875% notes due 2031. In June 2021, the company redeemed its prior convertible notes, due March 2023, in their entirety. Since raising approximately $150 million in its IPO in 2016, Twilio has completed several secondary offerings, recently announcing a $1.8 billion offering of its Class A common stock in 2021. Twilio has yet to achieve GAAP profitability, as the company remains focused on reinvesting excess returns back into the company, both on an organic and inorganic basis, to build out the platform and enhance future growth prospects.

Our fair value estimate for Twilio is $356 per share, down from $388 as we model slightly more muted long-term growth. It is expected that Twilio to grow at a 38% CAGR through 2025 from the combination of an expanding customer base and increasing usage of the platform by existing customers, evidenced by a stellar 131% net dollar expansion rate in the third quarter. Investors are discouraged by the combination of the third-quarter slowdown in organic growth, which we still view as healthy at a 38% increase year over year, and the widening loss expected for full-year 2021 after management’s fourth-quarter guidance.

Bulls Say’s 

  • The addition of SI partnerships and solution APIs should lead to increasing success in winning enterprise customers, which not only offer a greater lifetime value for a proportionally smaller acquisition cost, but also tend to be stickier customers. 
  • Twilio has stellar user retention metrics, with churn consistently below 5% and net dollar retention north of 130% in recent years. 
  • As Twilio focuses on developing more solution APIs and growth shifts from usage-based messaging to SaaS-like priced solutions, there should be a natural uptick in both gross margins and recurring revenue.

Company Profile 

Twilio is a cloud-based communication platform-as-a-service company offering communication application programming interfaces, or APIs, and prebuilt solution applications aimed at improving customer engagement. Through these APIs, Twilio’s platform allows software developers to integrate messaging, voice, and video functionality into new or existing business applications. The company leverages its Super Network, Twilio’s global network of carrier relationships, to facilitate high speed cost-optimized global messaging and voice-based communications.

(Source: FN Arena)

General Advice Warning

Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.

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LICs LICs

Loomis Sayles Global Equity Fund: Concentrated portfolio of best global equities

The Responsible Entity (RE) is Investors Mutual Limited who has appointed Loomis, Sayles & Company, L.P as the Investment Manager of the Fund. Loomis Sayles is a global asset manager that was established in 1926 and had over US$350b AUM as at 30 June 2021 across fixed income and equity investment mandates.

The Fund has a long only investment strategy with a fundamental bottom-up investment approach with the portfolio representing the “best ideas” of the investment team. The Fund seeks to deliver a return (after fees and expenses but before taxes) in excess of the benchmark (MSCI All Country World Index) over a full market cycle, which is considered to be 3-5 years. The Manager has an unconstrained mandate with no sector, style or geographic limitations. Stock selection is driven by the fundamental bottom up analysis undertaken by the investment team. The portfolio is concentrated given the investable universe with 35-65 stocks. The Manager has a long-term investment horizon and as such typically has low levels of portfolio turnover. The portfolio is expected to be largely fully invested at all times, with the portfolio typically having a cash position of less than 5%.

Investment Team:

Eileen Riley and Lee Rosenbaum have managed the investment strategy behind the Loomis Sayles Global Equity Fund since 2013. They’re supported by a team of analysts and a solid foundation of interconnected firm-wide resources, enabling them to leverage extensive research capabilities across equity and debt. Collaboration helps ensure capital flows to the team’s best ideas.

Performance:

Global Equity Fund1 month1 yr2 yrs3 yrsSince Inception
Total Return2.70%27.20%19.00%20.00%20.00%
Benchmark*1.10%28.30%14.90%15.40%15.40%
Outperformance1.60%-1.10%4.10%4.60%4.60%

About the fund:

The Loomis Sayles Global Equity Fund seeks to provide a concentrated portfolio of best ideas in global equities. Using foresight and flexibility, the team behind the Loomis Sayles Global Equity Fund look far and wide to pursue attractive, sustainable potential returns. Their sound investment philosophy and disciplined process focus on uncovering drivers of long-term company performance. The research-driven approach is unconstrained by style, sector, or geography, with the flexibility to invest across market capitalisations, while risk management is integral to every investment decision.

This delivers a distinctive yet disciplined approach to global equities investing which looks different to other funds while seeking to deliver potential returns above the benchmark over the long term.

(Source: FNArena, loomissayles.com.au)

General Advice Warning

Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.

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LICs LICs

Regal Investment Fund raises $212m through placement and entitlement offers

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Cash Flow TTM is 16.72%. Regal Investment Fund is a Closed Ended Fund Type. Its dividend in July 2021 is 1.0111%. In June 2021, their revenue was AUD$ 262.81 Million and Net Profit is 174.87 Million.

Price Earnings TTM is 2.4% while Earnings per Share is 1.637. Their Year-to date Return is 34.17% and Premium/Discount percent is almost 1.03%. Regal Investment Fund Dividend Indicated Gross Yield is 25.78%.

On 6 October 2021, RF1 announced it was conducting a Placement and Accelerated Entitlement Offer to institutional and wholesale investors and a General Entitlement Offer to eligible unit holders. Combined the Fund was seeking to raise up to $212m.

RF1 successfully completed the Placement and Entitlement Offers during the month, raising $212m. All units issued under the Placement and Entitlement Offers were issued at a price of $3.79 per unit, representing the NAV of the Fund at 1 October 2021 and a substantial discount to the unit price at the time the capital raising was announced.

Capital raised under the Offer will be allocated to existing strategies in line with the Fund’s investment objective with the aim of further diversifying RF1’s portfolio across both private and public alternative investments. The Manager is covering all fees and expenses associated with the Offer.

Asset Allocation

Asset ClassNet Allocation

Australian EquitiesInternational EquitiesCash & Cash EquivalentsOver the Counter DerivativesUnlisted Unit Trusts
52.8%7.7%25.2%0.6%13.7%

Company Profile 

Regal Investment Fund is a listed investment trust incorporated in Australia. The Fund’s Investment Objective is to provide investors with exposure to a selection of alternative investment strategies managed by Regal, with the aim of producing attractive risk adjusted absolute returns over a period of more than five years with limited correlation to equity markets.

(Source: Bloomberg)

General Advice Warning

Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.

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LICs LICs

Future Generation Investment Company Announces Bonus Options Issue

Smiling young social worker sitting at table with senior lady and explaining document content to her

Their Fully Franked Full Year dividend is 3.0%. The value of the management and performance fees forgone by the fund managers for the period totalled $3.9 million (June 2020: $3.4 million) and the value of the service providers, including the Board and Investment Committee working on a pro bono basis, totalled $0.7 million (June 2020: $0.5 million).

On 3 September 2021, FGX announced the issue of Bonus Options to shareholders on a one-for-one basis. The options will have an exercise price of $1.48 and can be exercised at any time up until the maturity date of 28 April 2023. The options will be listed under the code FGXOA. 

The options are intended to be issued on 4 October and commence trading on the ASX on 5 October 2021. Options that are exercised on or before 17 November 2021 and shares held at the dividend record date of 22 November 2021 will receive the fully franked interim dividend of 3cps. 

The exercise price is in line with the pre-tax NTA of the Company at the time of the announcement and represents a premium of 3.5% to the closing price at the close of the trading day before the announcement. 

Assuming 100% of shares on issue are held by eligible shareholders on the Record Date (1 October 2021), the maximum number of options that may be issued is 401.26m and if all options are exercised the Company would raise $593.9m.

Investment Portfolio Performance 

investment portfolio performance .png

Company Profile 

Future Generation Investment Company Limited is an investment company incorporated in Australia. The objective of the Fund is to provide exposure to a group of prominent Australian fund managers in a single investment vehicle. The Fund will invest in funds managed by a number of Australian fund managers with diversified exposure to Australian equities.

(Source: Morningstar)

General Advice Warning

Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.

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LICs LICs

Argo Global provides capital growth, dividend income and diversified portfolio to investors

Smiling young social worker sitting at table with senior lady and explaining document content to her

Being an LIC, it is a close-ended fund with liquidity as it is traded in the secondary market. The total market capitalization is $328.3m and dividend yield is 3.7%.

The Company provides access to a portfolio which is managed by Cohen & Steers; it is a well-regarded asset management firm with a stable, experienced and well-resourced investment team.

The downside of the LIC is that the company has traded primarily at a discount to pre-tax NTA since listing in July 2015. Their management fees are at the higher end in comparison to the listed peer group.

The opportunities offered by this LIC is that it helps investors to diversify their existing portfolio with an infrastructure as an asset class as the returns generated by it are less volatile than the equities market. Investments in infrastructure generally acts as an inflation-hedged income stream.

The portfolio is actively managed and typically hold 50-100 securities. At least 80% of the portfolio will be invested in global listed infrastructure securities, up to 20% can be invested in global infrastructure fixed income securities and up to 5% of the portfolio can be held in cash.

ALI seeks to provide investors a total return, consisting of capital growth and dividend income, from a diversified long-only portfolio of global listed infrastructure securities that outperforms the Benchmark (FTSE Global Core Infrastructure 50/50 Index, net total return, AUD) over the long-term.

About the company:

Argo Global Listed Infrastructure Limited is a Listed Investment Company (LIC) that listed on the ASX in July 2015. Argo Service Company Pty Ltd (ASCO), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Argo Investments Limited (ARG), is the Manager of the Company and has appointed Cohen & Steers as the Portfolio Manager. Cohen & Steers is a global investment manager in long-life assets, including infrastructure, real estate securities, natural resource companies, commodity futures and fixed-income securities.

General Advice Warning

Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.

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LICs LICs

PGF Dividend Uplift Offers Attractive Yield

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Last trade price of PM Capital is A$ 1.49. Their Outstanding shares is 390.11 Million. PGF’s provides Public Float which is 279.25 Million. PM Capital Global Earnings Per Share (EPS) is $0.415 while the Price Earning ratio is 3.59 percent. 

Currently, PM Capital’s Annual Yield is 5.03 percent while their Annual revenue TTM is $218.56 Million.

On 24th September 2021, Net Tangible Asset backing per ordinary share before tax accruals is $1.63 while NTA after tax is $1.47. Gross Dividend yield per annum is 9.6 percent.  

The Company also announced that due to its strong profits reserve position, it intends to maintain a minimum dividend of 5.0cps for both the interim and final dividend for FY22, representing a full year FY22 dividend of at least 10cps. As at 30 June 2021, the Company has 5 years dividend coverage at 10cps.

On 12 August 2021, PM Capital Global Opportunities Fund ((PGF)) announced a final dividend for FY21 of 5.0cps, fully franked, a 100% increase on the FY20 final dividend.

The increased dividend announcement represents a significant uplift in yield. Based on the share price at the close of 19 August 2021, the full year dividend declared for FY21 represented a dividend yield of 4.8%. The forecast FY22 dividend would represent a yield of 6.4%, fully franked, which is strong for a global equity focused LIC.

Company Profile 

PM Capital Global Opportunities Fund Ltd. engages in investing in a portfolio of listed securities across global securities markets. Its investment objective is to increase the value of its portfolio by providing long term capital growth. The company was founded on October 1, 2013 and is headquartered in Sydney, Australia.

General Advice Warning

Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.

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LICs LICs

Metrics Income Seeks to Raise up to $152m through Institutional Placement and Unit Purchase Plan

Currently, their Annual Yield is 6.98 percent and their dividend amount is 0.009. Metrics Income’s P/E Ratio is 13.8 percent. 

Metrics Income Opportunities Trust’s Revenue is 30.70 million till June 2021. Their last traded price is $2.05. The trust targets a cash yield of 7 percent p.a. which is intended to be paid monthly with a total target return of 8 percent p.a to 10 percent p.a in each case net of fees and expenses.

Their Net Asset Value is $407,156,629. Metrics Income Opportunities Trust ((MOT)) announced on August 26, 2021, that they intend to raise $52.86 million by issuing 26.04 million new fully paid ordinary MOT units to wholesale investors at a price of $2.03 per unit. 

Furthermore, the Trust announced a Unit Purchase Plan (UPP) for existing eligible unit holders to purchase up to $30,000 in new units at a price of $2.03. The Trust hopes to raise up to $100 million through the UPP. Excessive applications may be scaled back on a pro rata basis. The UPP is set to open on September 6, 2021, and close on September 30, 2021.

The offer price of $2.03 corresponds to the NAV at the time of the announcement, with the UPP allowing unit holders to acquire units at a 1.9 percent discount to the unit price at the close of the trading day preceding the announcement (25 August 2021).

The proceeds from the institutional placement and the UPP will be invested in accordance with MOT’s investment mandate and target return.

Company Profile 

Metrics Income Opportunities Trust seeks to provide investors exposure to a portfolio of private credit investments. The Investment Objective of the Trust is to provide monthly cash income, preserve investor capital and manage investment risks, while seeking to provide potential for upside gains through investments in private credit and other assets such as Warrants, Options, Preference Shares and Equity.

General Advice Warning

Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.

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LICs LICs

Sandon Capital Declares Special Dividend and Further Aligns Interest with Shareholders

Market Capitalisation of Sandon Capital Investments Limited $111.99 Million. Their last trade was 1.01 on 22nd September 2021.

Net profit is 37.3 Million. Their Annual Revenue is 56.5 Million. 

Sandon Capital Investments Limited (SCN) has declared a fully franked special dividend of 1cps in addition to the full franked FY21 final dividend of 2.75cps. 

The Board anticipates paying an interim FY22 dividend of 2.75cps, fully franked, subject to the Company having sufficient profit reserves, franking credits and it is within prudent business practices. 

This would represent a 10% increase on the FY21 interim dividend. SNC currently has 32.1cps in profits reserves and more than 9cps in franking credits.

In addition to this, the Manager announced that from FY22 onwards, the Manager intends to invest at least 50% of the after-tax proceeds of performance fees earned from SNC in SNC shares. 

Shares will be purchased on-market and will be acquired after the payment of the relevant performance fee where SNC’s share price is trading at a discount to its after-tax NTA. 

The Manager and entities associated with its directors and shareholders currently have in excess of $7.3m invested in funds managed by Sandon Capital Pty Ltd, including 2.1m SNC shares.

Company Profile 

Sandon Capital Investments Limited is an investment company. The Company is engaged in investing activities, including tangible assets, marketable securities or cash. The Company will seek to invest in securities, which Sandon Capital Pty Ltd (the Manager) considers to be under-valued and where the Manager considers there to be opportunity to encourage changes to unlock what the Manager has identified as intrinsic value. The Manager may also invest, from time to time, in market-based investment opportunities, such as placements, merger arbitrage and other investments it considers appropriate. Sandon Capital Pty Ltd is the investment manager of the Company.

General Advice Warning

Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.

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LICs LICs

WCM Global Growth Increases Final Dividend 25%

Recently, WAM Global Growth provides 2.5 percent per share. 

WCM Global Growth Limited ((WQG)) reported a net operating profit after tax of $48.4 million for fiscal year 21. For FY21, the investment portfolio returned 26.8 percent, with total shareholder returns of 35.6 percent.

The Company declared a final dividend of 2.5cps for FY21, fully franked, a 25% increase over the FY20 final dividend. This represents a 4.5cps full-year dividend, a 12.5 percent increase over the FY20 full-year dividend.

The Board has announced that the next two dividend payments will be increased, with an FY22 interim dividend of 2.75cps and a final FY22 dividend of 3.0cps. These dividends will most likely be fully franked. The increased dividends will be subject to corporate, legal, and regulatory considerations, as well as the Company having sufficient profit reserves and franking credits.

WQG issued Bonus Options on a one-for-three basis in February 2021. The options have an exercise price of $1.50, which represents a 7.4 percent discount to the closing share price on August 19, 2021. The exercise period for the options is until August 31, 2022. 

Shareholders who exercise their options by COB 17 September 2021 and continue to hold the shares on the relevant record date will be eligible for all of the dividends listed above.

Company Profile 

WCM Global Growth Limited (WQG or the Company) is a listed investment company investing in global equities. The Company provides investors with access to an actively managed portfolio of quality global companies found primarily in the high growth consumer, technology and healthcare sectors. The portfolio is managed by WCM Investment Management (WCM), a California-based specialist global equity firm with an outstanding long-term investment track record. WCM’s investment process is based on the belief that corporate culture is the biggest influence on a company’s ability to grow its competitive advantage or ‘moat’. 

General Advice Warning

Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.