Friday, 8th November 2024:

Dear Fellow Shareholder,

U.S. stocks rallied to record highs this week on the back of Donald Trump’s presidential election victory. In our view, Trump's policies are broadly supportive of the U.S. economy, with a distinct focus on taxes, tariffs and deregulation. 

Donald Trump favours extending or potentially expanding his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which lowered the U.S. corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%. He has indicated a willingness to further reduce the corporate tax rate, preferentially lowering taxes for companies that manufacture locally. Under Trump’s previous administration, corporate tax cuts spurred significant growth in corporate earnings, contributing to an over 50% rally in the S&P 500 during the three years after his election.

Another key aspect of Trump’s economic plan is his proposal for sweeping tariffs ranging from 10 to 20% on all imported goods and a substantial 60% tariff on Chinese imports. If these are implemented, they will benefit U.S. domestic manufacturing and industry and negatively affect companies reliant on non-US manufacturing, including retailers and consumer goods companies.

On regulation, Trump believes that excessive government regulation is harmful. During his first term, Trump reduced regulation across the economy, most notably in the financial services and energy sectors and he has stated his intention of further reducing regulation in his second term. As well as benefiting a range of companies across the U.S., we believe deregulation should lead to a significant recovery in mergers & acquisitions (M&A) activity across both private and public markets. In recent years, M&A activity has been severely curtailed by the stronger regulatory approach taken by the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice under President Biden.

The WAM Global (ASX: WGB) investment portfolio has been proactively positioned to navigate these market conditions, including avoiding exposure to companies that would be impacted by tariff increases. The portfolio has exposure to areas such as critical assets, electronic marketplaces, digital enterprises and innovative healthcare, which we believe will remain resilient. Whilst we anticipated volatility around the election, we are prepared to seize opportunities as they arise.

Kind regards,

Catriona Burns

Lead Portfolio Manager

Disc: Held.

27-Aug-2024: WAM Global Investment Portfolio performance drives increased FF full year div (.PDF)

During the financial year, the WAM Global Limited (ASX: WGB) share price increased from $1.855 at 30 June 2023 to $2.21 as at 28 June 2024 and the share price discount to net tangible assets (NTA) narrowed to 7.7% at 30 June 2024 from 18.7% at the start of the financial year. The Company was trading at a 10.5% discount to NTA at 31 July 2024. 

We look forward to the share price trading at NTA or a premium to NTA again soon. The WAM Global investment portfolio performance during the year provided the Board with the confidence to announce an increased fully franked final dividend for shareholders.

The WAM Global investment portfolio increased 15.4%^{^} during the 2024 financial year, while the MSCI World SMID Cap Index (in AUD terms) rose 9.7% and the MSCI World Index (AUD) was up 19.8%. The returns for the MSCI World Index continued to be dominated by a small number of stocks known as the ‘Magnificent Seven’, which the investment portfolio is significantly underweight.  

Lead Portfolio Manager Catriona Burns said: “We remain focused on applying our proven investment process. The investment portfolio is made up of a selection of high quality and well-managed companies, purchased at attractive valuations. Overall, these companies grew earnings and performed fundamentally well throughout the year. 

“Our holdings have catalysts, often in the form of multi-year thematic tailwinds, that will drive above market earnings growth and allow for value to be unlocked over time. Companies that contributed to investment portfolio performance over the period are clear examples of this, including SAP (ETR: SAP), Tradeweb Markets (NASDAQ: TW), ICON (NASDAQ: ICLR) and Quanta Services (NYSE: PWR),” Catriona added. 

Fully franked dividends since inception

​​​​The WAM Global Board of Directors declared a fully franked final dividend of 6.0 cents per share, bringing the fully franked full year dividend to 12.0 cents per share and providing a fully franked dividend yield of 5.4%^* and a grossed-up dividend yield of 7.7%^**. 

Since inception in June 2018, WAM Global has paid 47.5 cents per share in fully franked dividends to shareholders and 67.9 cents per share when including the value of franking credits. This provides an average dividend yield on the initial public offering price of 3.9% and a grossed-up yield of 5.6%, when including the value of franking credits. The current dividend yield is significantly greater than both the average global equity market yield of 2.0%^{^^} and the average US equity market yield of 1.5%^{^^}.

At 30 June 2024, the Company had 5.3 years of dividend coverage, based on 63.9 cents per share available in the profits reserve, before the payment of the fully franked final dividend of 6.0 cents per share. The franking account balance of WAM Global enabled the Company to declare a fully franked final dividend for shareholders. As an Australian company, WAM Global generates franking credits through the payment of tax on realised profits and does not receive franking credits from global investee companies. 

The investment portfolio performance contributed to the operating profit before tax of $107.3 million (FY2023: $119.6 million) and the operating profit after tax of $73.9 million (FY2023: $84.8 million). 

Total shareholder return (TSR) for the period was 26.2%, or 29.3% when including the value of franking credits. This was driven by the strong share price increase, together with the FY2023 fully franked final dividend of 5.75 cents per share paid in October 2023, the FY2024 fully franked interim dividend of 6.0 cents per share paid in April 2024 and the narrowing of the share price discount to NTA over the year. 

Key dividend dates

FY2024 Full Year Results Q&A Webinar

On Wednesday 4 September 2024 at 10:00am (AEST), we will be hosting a WAM Global Q&A Webinar discussing our Full Year Results. Please register to join the investment team as they provide you with an update on the WAM Global investment portfolio.

We are looking forward to engaging with our shareholders in an extended Q&A session. Please respond directly to this email with any question you would like to ask.

Thank you to our shareholders for your continued support. As always, if you have any questions, please contact me on (02) 9247 6755, or email Bridget Thelander at [email protected].

 Kind regards,

Geoff Wilson AO

Chairman

^*Based on the 26 August 2024 share price of $2.22 per share.

^**Grossed-up dividend yield includes the benefits of franking credits and is based on a tax rate of 30.0%.

^{^}Investment portfolio performance is before expenses, fees, taxes and the impact of capital management to compare to the relevant index which are before expenses, fees and taxes. 

^{^^}Based on the MSCI World Index and S&P 500 Index dividend yield at 31 July 2024.

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Here's Page 1 & 3 of today's ASX announcement of WAM Global's (WGB's) FY24 Full Year Results:

Source: https://wilsonassetmanagement.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/WGB-FY24-result.pdf

Disclosure: I hold WAM Global (WGB) shares both here and in my largest real-money portfolio.

https://www.livewiremarkets.com/contributors/catriona-burns

Catriona Burns

Lead Portfolio Manager

BCom (Lib Studies) MApp Fin CFA

Catriona has more than 20 years’ global and Australian investment experience. Catriona began her career with Wilson Asset Management in 2003 before relocating to London to work with Hunter Hall Investment Management as a Portfolio Manager responsible for global equities with a bias to small-to-mid cap companies. In 2012, Catriona joined John Sevior and David Cooper at the inception of Airlie Funds Management, which was later bought by Magellan Asset Management. In 2018, Catriona returned to Wilson Asset Management to launch the WAM Global fund. Catriona is the Lead Portfolio Manager responsible for WAM Global.

30-Jan-2020:  WGB - interim profit up 186% and 50% increase in FF div

Highlights:

• 185.7% increase in operating profit before tax
• 3.0c inaugural fully franked interim dividend, a 50% increase
• 28.2% investment portfolio performance  in CY2019

Excerpt (from page 1):

WAM Global achieved a 185.7% increase in operating profit before tax to $38.8 million and a 186.3% increase in operating profit after tax to $27.2 million in its FY2020 half year results*. The operating profit is reflective of the sound investment portfolio performance and the growth in assets over the period.

The Board of Directors is pleased to declare an inaugural fully franked interim dividend of 3.0 cents per share, representing a 50% increase on the FY2019 inaugural fully franked final dividend. The fully franked dividend has been achieved through the performance of the investment portfolio since inception and the profits reserve available and is consistent with the Company’s investment objective of delivering investors a stream of fully franked dividends.

Driven by accommodative monetary policies, global equity markets rallied as corporate earnings stagnated during the period. The MSCI World Index (AUD) rose 9.0% and the MSCI World SMID (Small/Mid) Cap Index increased 8.1% in AUD terms.

Against this background, the WAM Global team demonstrated excellent stock selection and delivered solid risk-adjusted returns. WAM Global increased 8.8% with an average cash level of 8.3% during the period and ended the 2019 calendar year up 28.2%.

WAM Global has grown its assets from the $465.5 million raised following its initial public offering in May 2018 to $523.1 million after the payment of the FY2019 fully franked final dividend of 2.0 cents per share in October 2019.

WAM Global shares are currently trading at an attractive discount to net tangible assets (NTA) of 11.3%** which is in the process of narrowing as the Company continues to deliver a track record of performance, increasing fully franked dividends and the share register tightens. The Company’s profits reserve is currently 19.6 cents per share and forms part of the NTA.

We look forward to providing an update at our Investor Conference Call on Thursday, 12 March 2020 at 4.00pm – 5.00pm (Sydney time) and seeing you at our Shareholder Presentations in May 2020.

*The HY2020 profit figures are unaudited. Audited half year results will be announced to the market in February 2020.

**Based on the 29 January 2020 share price of $2.18 per share. 

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Disclosure:  I hold WAM Global (WGB) shares.  I also hold WLE and WAM shares and occasionally do also hold WMI, WAX &/or WAA shares - although not at this point in time. 

I do also hold BAF shares, and BAF will soon be managed by Wilson Asset Management Group (WAMG) also.  It will become the 7th LIC managed by the group and will likely be renamed to something like WAM Alternative Assets.  Geoff Wilson has already recruited his new lead portfolio manager (to manage BAF or whatever they're going to call it) with a lot of experience in managing alternative assets.  BAF's board have also confirmed that the fund will soon transition to WAMG management.  It would not be unreasonable to expect some sort of positive market re-rating of BAF once they do officially move under the management umbrella of WAMG.  A number of Wilson's LICs usually trade at premiums to NTA (although not WGB or WLE at this point) and BAF has been trading at an NTA-discount of around 20%.  BAF's current 88c SP is 22.4% below their most recently published (Dec 31) pre-tax NTA of $1.1344. 

One of the more attractive alternative assets that BAF own are substantial water rights - which have been a very succesful investment for them, as explained by BAF's Chairman, Michael Cottier in this interview with the Eureka Report's Alan Kohler:

https://omny.fm/shows/ceo-interviews/michael-cottier-blue-sky-alternatives-access-fund

28th June 2019:  From this AFR article:

Where cautious fundies are hunting in 2020

Source: The Australian Financial Review Published June 28, 2019

by James Thomson

The international investor
Catriona Burns is blunt on the conundrum of falling interest rates and surging equity markets.

“I don’t think that disconnect can continue for much longer. The question is: Are bond markets or equity markets reading the future correctly?”

As the lead portfolio manager for Wilson Asset Management’s listed investment company WAM Global, Burns is watching data points from the US economy closely, and trying to get a sense of the state of the economy from on the ground. She says the test for markets could come as early as next month.

“If the Fed does not cut rates in July, and the data coming out of the US continues to deteriorate, it’s very hard to see equity markets moving higher,” she says.

The challenge for WAM Global is finding decent returns in markets where cyclical stocks are unloved, but money is pouring into high-tech growth stocks.

“We are trying to sit in the middle of those extremes. While we are not trying to call whether a recession is imminent, it does feel prudent to be wary of deep cyclicals … nor are we playing companies trading on crazy multiples of revenue without any earnings. We are focused on the opportunities that exist in between.”

“You’ve got to do some digging, get on the ground and go out and meet management.”

Part of this is being willing to look outside the US.

For example, one of Burns’ picks for 2020 is Japanese supermarket operator Kobe Bussan. Unlike in Australia, where the grocery sector is relatively concentrated, the top 10 players in Japan have a total market share of about 15 per cent.

Burns says Kobe Bussan, which has seen its shares rise 61 per cent since the start of the year, looms as the equivalent of Aldi in the Japanese market.

“They’ve got a really compelling private label offering, at prices that are 50 per cent to 70 per cent below other players in the market, because they’ve got a vertically integrated model.

“Japan has some exciting opportunities, but you’ve got to do some digging, get on the ground and go out and meet management.”

Burns is also looking to Europe for value.

“Sometimes it does get overlooked in favour of the US, but there are some high quality companies that we still find are well placed to grow despite the difficult macro environment.”

Her pick there is German company CTS Eventim, which is similar to Australia’s Ticketek.

The business has delivered consistent earnings growth, has a net cash position on its balance sheet and is 43 per cent controlled by the founding family, meaning there is plenty of skin in the game.

But Burns is particularly attracted by the margin boost the company should continue to enjoy as it migrates more of its customers online. The stock is up 24 per cent year-to-date.

--- click on the link above for more ---

Disclosure:  I hold WGB shares.

http://www.livewiremarkets.com/wires/wilson-the-return-of-global-growth

That's a link to a 23rd May 2019 article published this week on Livewiremarkets.com (Livewire) in which Geoff talks about what has happened over the past 6 months to turn him from being ultra-bearish to now moderately bullish ("My prognosis was wrong"). 

Each of Geoff's lead PMs (portfolio managers) also talk about their own views and discuss some individual holdings that they have within their own portfolios and why they like them (and why they hold them).  Those PMs are Catriona Burns (responsible for WAM Global, WGB), Matt Haupt (WAM Leaders, WLE), Oscar Oberg (WAM, WAX & WMI) and Martin Hickson (WAM, WAA & WMI).  [Note: Oscar is the PM of WAX - WAM Research, Marty is the PM of WAA - WAM Active, and they jointly manage WAM & WMI - WAM Capital and WAM Microcap]. 

Geoff is the CIO (chief investment officer) with the overall responsibility for the performance of the 6 LICs that they manage, but Geoff's role is more hands-off nowadays, having set up the investing framework, philosophy and rules, he sits in on the weekly meetings and monitors their progress, but he mostly leaves the stockpicking to those 4 now.  He has other things that keep him busy, like media and takeovers.

Their previous CIO, Chris Stott, has recently retired, but is still a director on the board of a couple of those LICs.

This Livewire article is mostly distilled from the presentations given at the recent WAM Roadshow that has been happening over the past fortnight around Australia's largest cities, but it's presented in a nice, easy-to-follow way, and does contain a couple of additional bits that have been added in.

Disclosure:  I currently hold WAM, WAA, WAX, WLE and WGB.  I have also held WMI in the past, and may well do so again in the future.  I've become a little concerned with the performance of Oscar and Marty since Chris left, especially over the December-January period when they seriously underperformed, especially with WAM & WAX.  I'm happy enough with Catriona and the WGB portfolio, and I think Matt is doing a good job with WLE, which is my largest holding currently.  It's interesting that the two Wilson LICs that I'm most bullish about (WLE & WGB) are both trading at NTA-discounts, while the ones trading at NTA-premiums are the ones that have performed the worst (WAX & WAM) more recently - and the ones I hold the least amount of shares in currently.  I sold most of my WAM & WAX - and all of my WMI - earlier last year when they were still trading at NTA-premiums of over 20% in the case of both WAX & WAM and I can't remember what WMI's NTA-premium was, but it was significant.  Those premiums have all since reduced significantly.  Ideally, buy good quality LICs when their outlook is bright, they have tailwinds, and they are trading at NTA discounts.  I would argue that only two of Wilson's six LICs tick all those boxes currently.

19-Nov-2019:  November 2019 Shareholder Presentation

Note: This Presentation is related to the WAM Group (WAM Funds) + FG (Future Generation) Funds November 2019 Australian Roadshow (which I'll be attending here in Adelaide next Wednesday) and covers all of WAM Group's 6 LICs:  WAM Global (WGB), WAM Leaders (WLE), WAM Capital (WAM), WAM Research (WAX), WAM Microcap (WMI) and WAM Active (WAA).

This one is for the Sydney leg of the roadshow, which includes their AGMs, but similar Presentations will be made at all of the venues they attend during the roadshow over the next couple of weeks.