Tag: Australian Market
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.
The benchmark is based on its parent index, the MSCI World ex Australia Index, which includes large and mid cap stocks across 22 developed countries. The top 300 ranked securities are chosen to constitute the quality index and cover around 30% to 40% total market capital as the portfolio tilts towards the large companies. No country or a sector constrains are implemented in the quality index, although a 5% limit is imposed for individual holdings.
Portfolio
The ETF fully mirrors the composition of the MSCI World ex Australia Quality Hedged Index its large holding is Microsoft account for 5.4% of assets, which is effectively diversifies firm-specific risk. Information technology has been the largest sector exposure 38.9%, reflecting the dominance of tech stocks over the developed markets quality growth spectrum. Financial Exposure 4.7% is discernibly underweight compared with the MSCI World ex Australia Index.
People
Chesler is an industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience across Sunstone partners, perpetual limited and liberty. Hannah joined VanEck investment in 2014 source ETF, where he was part of the investment management team.
Performance
QHAL has delivered superlative performance since its launch till August 2021. Its lack to exposure to small and mid-caps, paired with the quality growth orientation of the portfolio stemming from overweighting in information technology and healthcare, have been the drivers of outperformance since inception. However, currency hedging has been the prime contributor to robust performance as the AUD appreciated against the USD over the trailing two years till August 2021. Launched in early 2019, the ETF has outperformed the category index and category average rival by 4.8% and 6.6% till 31 July 2021, ranking in the in the first quintile of its category.
About the Fund
QHAL gives investors exposure to a diversified portfolio of quality international companies from developed markets (ex Australia) with returns hedged into Australian dollars. QHAL aims to provide investment returns before fees and other costs which track the performance of the Index.
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.
Investment Thesis
- Broader economic recovery and cashed up consumer.
- Under normal trading conditions, CWN has quality mature assets, which are highly cash generative and difficult to replicate.
- New Sydney casino (if allowed to retain the casino license) could offer a significant step change in earnings for CWN.
- CWN is leveraged to growth in Australian tourism.
- Corporate activity given the stronghold of a cornerstone investor is slowly eroding.
- Capital management initiatives – additional special dividends or share buy-backs.
Key Risks
- Competitive pressures, including international (for VIP play) and domestic competitors.
- Return of international tourists to Australia ahead of expectations.
- Credit-rating risk (given our expectation of significant capital expenditure over the next five years).
- Regulatory risk – several inquiries are being held against various Crown casinos. Adverse outcomes to materially alter the outlook.
- Capital expenditure fails to deliver adequate returns
FY21 Result Summary
- Statutory revenue of $1,536.8m declined -31.3%, theoretical EBITDA before closure cand significant items) of $241.7m was down -52% (reported EBITDA of $114.1m down -77.4%) and theoretical NPAT attributable to the parent (before closure costs and significant items) a loss of $84.2m vs $161m profit in pcp (reported NPAT attributable to the parent a loss of $261.6m vs $79.5m profit in pcp).
- Net significant items expense of $54.6m (net of tax) relating to Crown Sydney pre-opening costs, one-off allowance for expected credit losses, restructuring costs, asset impairments, and underpayments of casino tax by Crown Melbourne, offset by profit on disposal of Crown Sydney apartments which settled during the period.
- The Board scrapped the final dividend.
- Net operating cash outflow of $14m (vs net operating cash flow of $326.9m in pcp), reflecting severe impacts on the operations from the Covid-19 pandemic. Capex of $559.1m was down -25% over pcp, primarily relating to the continued construction of Crown Sydney.
- Total liquidity (excluding working capital cash) was $560.8m comprising $390.1m in available cash and $170.7m in committed undrawn facilities. Net debt position of $892.9m remained almost flat over pcp (though declined – 28% over 1H21).
Company Profile
Crown Resorts Ltd (CWN) is Australia’s largest operator of casinos along with hotels and conference centre facilities. In Australia, CWN owns and operates Crown Melbourne Entertainment Complex and Crown Perth Entertainment Complex which services mass market and VIP segments. Overseas, CWN also owns and operates Crown Aspinall’s in London. CWN also has a portfolio of other gaming investments. CWN’s wagering and on-line social gaming operations include Betfair Australasia (a 100% owned, on-line betting exchange) and DGN Games (a 70% owned, on-line social gaming business based in Austin, Texas).
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.
Investment Thesis:
- Ageing Australian population and increased age of mothers (especially with the trend of more females choosing career over family until their early thirties) will provide favorable demographic tailwinds
- Potential accretive acquisitions domestically and internationally
- Domestic acquisition of other laboratories will consolidate VRT geographic expansion strategy along the eastern seaboard of Australia
- Earnings increasingly become diversified as international segments are expected to become a larger contributor
- Solid balance sheet with flexibility to execute expansion strategies
- New management for Victorian business to turn results around
- Market-leading position with ~40% of domestic market share
Key Risks:
- Regulatory risk as changes in government funding may increase patient’s out-of-pocket expenses and thereby decrease volume demand
- Fluctuations in the availability and size of Medicare rebates may negatively influence the number of IVF cycles administered and overall industry revenue
- Weakening cycle activity continues to adversely impact revenues
- Increased competition from low-cost providers
- Weakening economic activity resulting in increased unemployment leading to less disposable income to be spent in IVF treatment
- Execution of international forays goes poorly
- Population of males and females with fertility problems decline
Key highlights:
- Total market capitalization of Virtus Health Ltd. is A$538.9m
- Relative to the pcp, revenue was up +25.4%, adjusted EBITDA up +44.2%, and adjusted NPAT up more than 100%, driven by global fresh IVF cycles of 23,994, up +26.4%
- Separate to FY21 results, VRT announced the acquisition of Adora Fertility and 3 day hospitals from Healius Ltd (ASX: HLS) for $45.0m.
- Revenue $324.6m was up +25.4%
- Reported EBITDA of $93.4m, was up significantly from $46.2m in FY20
- Reported NPAT of $43.1m improved significantly from $0.5m in FY20
- VRT’s leverage ratio (Net Debt / Adjusted EBITDA) declined to 1.5x (vs 2.2x in FY20)
- Total dividends of 24.0cps vs 12cps in pcp. Forward dividend payout guidance was reduced to 45-55% (from 60-70% historically)
- By segments, financials are as follows:
- Australia: Revenue of $259.5m was up +24.4%, which drove segment EBITDA up +30.1% to $97.6m
- International: EBITDA of $15.3m was up +68.1%
Company Description:
Virtus Health Ltd (ASX: VRT) is a global provider of assisted reproductive services. The group’s main activity is providing patients with Assisted Reproductive Services such as specialized diagnostics, fertility clinics and day hospital services. It has 116 fertility specialists who are supported by over 1100 professional staff and is the largest network and provider of fertility services in Australia and Ireland, with a growing presence in Singapore. Virtus is one of three major players which collectively control more than 80% of market share and was the first infertility treatment company in the world to float on the stock market.
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.
Investment Thesis
- Operates in a large addressable market – B2C furniture and homewares category is approx. $16bn.
- Structural tailwinds – ongoing migration to online in Australia in the homewares and furniture segment. At the moment less than 10% of TPW’s core market is sold online versus the U.S. market where the penetration rate is around 25%.
- Strong revenue growth suggests TPW can continue to win market share and become the leader in its core markets.
- Active customer growth remains strong, with revenue per customer also increasing at a solid rate.
- Management is very focused on reinvesting in the business to grow top line growth and capture as much market share as possible. Whilst this comes at the expense of margins in the short term, the scale benefits mean rapid margin expansion could be easily achieved.
- Strong balance sheet to take advantage of any in-organic (M&A) growth opportunities, however management is likely to be very disciplined.
- Ongoing focus on using technology to improve the customer experience – TPW has invested in merging the online with the offline experience through augmented reality (AR).
Key Risk
- Rising competitive pressures.
- Any issues with supply chain, especially because of the impact of Covid-19 on logistics, which affects earnings / expenses.
- Rising cost pressures eroding margins (e.g., more brand or marketing investment required due to competitive pressures).
- Disappointing earnings update or failing to achieve growth rates expected by the market could see the stock price significantly re-rate lower.
- Trading on high PE-multiples / valuations means the Company is more prone to share price volatility.
FY21 results highlights.
- Group revenue was up +85% to $326.2, with 4Q21 revenue up +26% YoY despite cycling a period which saw growth of +130%.
- Gross profit was up +88% to $148m, with gross profit margin increasing to 45.4% from 44.6%. This was primarily driven by increasing private label penetration, which increased to 26% of group sales vs 19% in the prior year. Private labels had higher margin vs drop-ship sales (i.e., drop-ship means TPW takes no inventory risk and works with their >500 local distributors), given TPW source directly from the factory.
- Delivered margin increased +87% to $100.7m, however was impacted by one-off distribution costs in the 2H21 due to some local shortages in 3PL space and TPW had to store product in more expensive alternate sites.
- Contribution margin after one-off distribution came in at 14.6% as percentage of revenue vs 15.5% in pcp. Management is aiming to keep the contribution margin in the range of 12 – 15% over the short to medium term to support their reinvestment strategy to aggressively target market share via improved pricing, tactical promotional activity, and higher investment in brand building initiatives.
- Group adjusted EBITDA of $20.5m was significantly higher (up +141%) than $8.5m in the pcp, with a margin of 6.3% (vs 4.8% in pcp).
- Balance sheet is solid, with cash balance of $97.5m
Trending Update:“The year got off to a fantastic start with a 39 percent increase in income from July 1 to July 24. TPW benefit from tailwinds, such as the adoption of online shopping as a result of these structural and demographic developments, as well as the acceleration of transitive Covid. Following that, an increase in discretionary spending due to travel constraints and, as we all know, the housing market’s continuous resurgence. As Mark stated, “we will continue to engage in growth there as a business, vastly increasing our online market leadership and driving market share.”
Company Profile
Temple & Webster Group (TPW) is a leading online retailer in Australia, which offers consumers access to furniture, homewares, home décor, arts, gifts, and lifestyle products.
(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.
of stocks within a range of real estate sectors across developed markets (North America, U.K, Europe, and Asia Pacific). The Fund’s objective is to exceed the total returns of the Benchmark (FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Developed Index (AUD) Net TRI) after fees on a rolling 3-year basis.
Approach
Resolution mixes top-down thematic and bottom-up fundamental research to arrive at a relatively
concentrated 40- to 60-stock portfolio with little resemblance to the benchmark. The first step filters the 450- plus stock universe down to a manageable size. Macroeconomic drivers play a part, based on the team’s company visitation schedule. Resolution also uses its proprietary screening database to filter out stocks with undesirable characteristics such as high debt/EBIT ratios and balance-sheet risk.
Portfolio
Resolution has managed global property since 2006, but this vehicle was founded in 2008 during the depths of the global financial crisis, when some low-quality REITs flirted with bankruptcy. Resolution didn’t avoid all the underperformers, but it did better than rivals at avoiding the worst offenders. Its focus on sustainability and corporate governance helped, as did the chosen UBS Global Investors Index, which focused more on rent collectors and less on risky development. Being brand new gave Resolution a clean slate, helping the team to buy quality REITs at bargain prices. The quality preference also keeps a lid on portfolio turnover, which oscillates between 30% and 55%–not as low as an index fund but lower than the average active strategy. However, Resolution has been willing to make occasional substantial portfolio shifts. In the first half of 2019, Resolution saw some industrial property such as Goodman as expensive and was underweight in this name, favouring industrial exposure through ProLogis and Segro. During the following 12 months (to 30 April 2021), Resolution preferred residential, data centre, and tower exposure, specifically in the US. The strategy managed AUD 14.4 billion as at 30 April 2021.
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.