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#Portfolio
Added 4 months ago

Comprehensive history of Visa and just payments in general- Visa: The Complete History and Strategy (acquired.fm)

Obviously big holdings in Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Bank of America in MFF which are all discussed.

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#Trading
Added a month ago

A bit of dumb buying this morning - traded up to $3.65 at one point. Wonder who did that.

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Valuation of $3.46
Added a month ago

Weekly NTA

January Update

Key Points

  • 3% PF value sales
  • 1% PF value buys
  • Many portfolio companies exceeded expectations for the December reporting period


Buy-back extended to a further 30,000,000 shares over the period of 1/2/24 to 31/1/25.

Note: Previous buy-back was 16,010,920 of 30,000,000.

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#Bull Case
stale
Last edited 4 years ago

This looks like a strong long term investment. Fund is performing and a great way to gain  international exposure? Lots of cash and yet still a strong NAV

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#Business Model/Strategy
stale
Added 4 years ago

More and more funds are talking of the holding of more cash. MFF has been ahead of its time. For their NAV to have stayed relatively high given only being 54% invested is quite an achievement but you can't help but think an opportunity was missed. That can't be changed but I'm happy to keep holding the stock should the expected 2nd drop materialise. Their cash is my cash. 

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#Director trade
stale
Added 2 years ago

Chris Mackay bought $517k today

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#NTA Update
stale
Added one year ago

Chris Mackay on currency and some political comments.


"We continued to move some liquidity to AUD. Most MFF expenses, taxes, dividends, and buybacks are paid in AUD, and we regarded this as prudent matching. In addition, the AUD has been rising in the short term with China’s COVID policy reversal being an important factor. Notwithstanding these changes, we remain very cautious about all currencies, and retain our negative views on the AUD over extended periods. Australia in January saw disproportionate anti-business, anti- growth activity and sentiment from politicians, state governments, regulators and in voter sentiment. Australia’s inflationary vulnerability is higher than many countries, including because the centralised wage and benefit fixing system (which has operated for decades) is no longer offset by fiscal and other policy conservatism at Federal or State levels. The Senate is not the policy/spending constraint it was for parts of the last century, and states decided in COVID that central taxation gives repeated scope to pressure the Federal Government for funding with the support of voters. High corporate and personal taxation takes, inflated uncompetitively by bracket creeps, and automatic excise and toll increases, are headwinds which help embed inflation, and are no longer as benign as they might have been when imposed by Treasury during the long period of imported consumer products deflation/disinflation. Centralisation and red tape increases are inevitable from politicians boasting about the broad-spectrum of legislative changes passed, along with growing unfunded commitments, and the impacts upon businesses, employers and entrepreneurs are rarely reversed. Australian businesses realistically do not have the opportunities that US businesses are exercising, to move from high tax, anti-business states to the business and population growth states with alternative policies."

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Valuation of $3.45
stale
Added 3 years ago
22-Feb-2021: MFF advises that its approximate weekly NTA per share as at Friday 19 February 2021 was $2.798 pre-tax (cum 3.0 cents per share fully franked interim dividend)² (30 June 2020 $2.809), and $2.470 post-tax¹. Notes: 1. Net tax liabilities are current tax liabilities and deferred tax liabilities, less tax assets. 2. Figures are cum interim dividend 3.0 cents per share fully franked, dividend ex-date 23 April 2021 and payable 14 May 2021. Net cash shown as a percentage of investment assets and net cash, was approximately 2.1% at 19 February 2021. --- ends --- That's a LOT less cash than they were holding last year! I note that a week earlier, their 12-Feb-2021 pre-tax NTA was $2.854, so I can see why you might value them at $2.85, but I tend to go with the last reported NTA, which in this case is a smidge under $2.80. Also, virtually all of the globally-focussed LICs we have to choose from on the ASX are all trading at NTA discounts currently. Some are closer to their NTA than others, but it's not uncommon to have 10% to 20% discounts (to NTA) in their share prices. The LICs with good premiums (to NTA) in their SPs all have a domestic (Australian) focus as well as strong histories of paying good dividends (like WAX). We have a wide range of choices in the globally-focussed LIC space, and they are almost all trading at various discounts to their respective pre-tax NTA. Except for WAM Global (WGB) which has recently moved to an NTA-premium. There might be one or two others, but I am not aware of them. MGF, MHH, PIA, PAI, EAI, VG1, VG8, AIB, TGG, WQG, TGF, RF1, PAF, PGF, PMC, GFL, GVF, FGG, FPC, LSF and APL are ALL trading at various discounts to their last reported pre-tax NTA. Some of the discounts are quite large. MFF closed on Friday 26-Feb-2021 at $2.55, being 8.86% below their last reported pre-tax NTA, being $2.798 on 19-Feb-2021. That's one of the smaller discounts. I don't mind MFF's top portfolio positions. I'll post a straw on those in a minute. However, I'm not holding MFF currently. My preferred pics in this space (for global exposure via ASX-listed LICs) are FGG, WQG, WGB, MGF & MHH, and for purely Asian exposure, EAI. I hold all of those except FGG currently. I also hold CDM which has a blend of Australian and international shares in their portfolio. I don't mind MFF, and I do follow Chris Mackay (the PM of MFF), but I rate his ex-business partner Hamish Douglass a lot more highly, hence I'm invested in two of the funds Douglass manages (MGF and MHH). With tech stocks being on the nose a little lately, perhaps Chris's MFF could outperform Hamish's tech-heavy Magellan funds, at least in the short term. However, looking longer-term, I'd back Hamish (and I do). He's usually the smartest guy in the room - any room. 30-Aug-2021: Update: MFF's NTA per share as at Friday 27 August 2021 was $3.445 pre-tax (cum 3.5 cents per share fully franked final dividend)¹ (30 June 2021 $3.279), and $2.921 post-tax². Net borrowings shown as a percentage of investment assets, was approximately 3.8% at 27 August 2021. Notes: 1. Figures are cum final dividend 3.5 cents per share fully franked, dividend ex-date 8 October 2021 and payable 5 November 2021. 2. Net tax liabilities are current tax liabilities and deferred tax liabilities, less tax assets. Pre-tax NTA (after accounting provision for dividend): $3.410 Post-tax NTA (after accounting provision for dividend): $2.886 Share Price (27 August 2021): $3.00 (30-Aug-2021: $2.97) The Post-tax NTA of MFF is a lot lower - like around 52.4 cps lower - than their Pre-tax NTA, because they have a lot of unrealised capital gains from positions they have held for a long time, like in Visa and Mastercard, however we usually look at Pre-tax NTA with most LICs because the post-tax NTA only becomes relevant if they have high portfolio turnover or the fund is being wound up and everything will be sold. Based on their $3.445 pre-tax (cum-div) NTA on Friday, they closed the day with a 12.9% NTA-discount (@ $3.00/share), and they closed today at 13.8% below Friday's NTA ($2.97). MFF's top 30 positions at 31-July-2021 were: 1. Visa 15.7% 2. MasterCard 14.6% 3. Amazon 9.3% 4. Home Depot 8.7% 5. Facebook 7.1% 6. Alphabet Class C 6.0% 7. Microsoft 3.7% 8. CVS Health 3.5% 9. Bank of America 3.1% 10. Prosus 2.2% 11. Flutter Entertainment 1.9% 12. Procter & Gamble 1.8% 13. Intercontinental Exchange 1.7% 14. Morgan Stanley 1.7% 15. CK Hutchison 1.6% 16. Alphabet Class A 1.6% 17. L'Oreal 1.4% 18. JP Morgan Chase 1.4% 19. Lloyds Banking Group 1.3% 20. Mitsubishi 1.2% 21. US Bancorp 1.1% 22. Asahi Group 1.1% 23. Allianz 0.9% 24. Mitsui & Co 0.9% 25. Itochu 0.9% 26. Sumitomo Corp 0.8% 27. DBS Group 0.8% 28. Oversea - Chinese Banking 0.7% 29. Lowe's 0.7% 30. United Overseas Bank 0.6% It is rather unusual and refreshing to find a LIC that not only gives you their top 30 (instead of their top 20, or just their top 10) but also gives them to you in order, with all their weightings. MFF is one of the most transparent LICs available on the ASX IMHO. You certainly know what you're buying when you buy MFF shares. That said, I do not currently own any MFF.
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