Stuck in the bin
APW – Shareholder return needs to be the focus, not size through related party transactions.
I have made numerous posts on this, first being back in mid 2016 here.
FRUSTRATED HOLDER OF APW (AIMS PROPERTY SECURITIES FUND)
ALI – Fees could be cut; shareholder buyback should be more than token words. Where is the marketing boost promised a year ago?
Seeking Alpha Cohen & Steers and Argo Global Listed Infrastructure.
YBR – Perhaps someone needs to be fired there?
WQGO – I only hold options here in case US markets keep going up. “Supervisory” fee should be fairer, the board hardly owns any stock. (As of April 2 I have now sold nearly all my exposure here. I’ll be an interested observer mostly from the sidelines to see if they play any underwriting games like EAIO if the options finish barely in the money).
WTP – Should be more proactive selling the civil & mining business and a share buyback. (Reluctant seller into takeover, will be remembered as a sin bin stock.)
ALF – I demoted ALF in the categories here after initially being pleased with their strong share buyback and marketing attempts. (ALI are you watching there, noting how many shares you can buyback?). However poor performance even during the October slump makes the future here questionable. There used to be one Watermark LIC, broadly long based domestic with low drawdowns from doing some shorting. Now it has unsuccessfully tried offshore investing and always market neutral. Do we then need this with the 2 other market neutral LICs they have now? Interesting upcoming AGM November 30.
Potential Graduates
AIQ – Have taken a very long time to announce a restructure, awaiting further details. (update – I sold into buyback).
TGG – End of dilutive share issues. Effective buyback, very modest fees. Communications is finally improving so this can be a graduate if performance improves.
EAI – This used to be in the graduate section when they seemed to start to understand what it takes to run a LIC. E.g. strong buyback and improved marketing efforts amongst other things and even performance was improving a little for a while.
Now I think their underwriting of the options (admittedly minor extra supply and dilution) was still not the correct way to handle things. If they had of actually managed to perform in line with their benchmark (not even beat it), they would have seen most of the options exercised. That should have been the chance for them to lock in future guaranteed management fee income in the closed end structure.
Recent Graduates
PAI – Improved performance, strong communications on future dividends. The premium has got too rich in mid 2018 so now my holding is near zero.
REF & TBR- Credit to management of these companies for releasing significant franking credits from cash / gold sales respectively to shareholders. Reportedly the sudden announcements came after many months of deliberation.
