Video Archives - Independent Investor

August 2021 – Reporting Season Insights

In this video, Dan Moradi, Portfolio Manager for Listed Products, provides an update on the Australian equity market following an interesting August reporting season and takes an in-depth look at how various sectors and companies performed.

The August reporting season was strong, highlighted by a very strong rebound in earnings as we cycled through the COVID affected numbers of FY20. Company dividends surprised to the upside, reflecting the relatively strong balance sheets across the market and improving conditions. Buybacks and special dividends were also a feature, with around $18 billion in buybacks announced alongside special dividends. The big banks, delivered on capital returns, CBA, ANZ and NAB have announced buybacks totalling $10bn, while retailers like Wesfarmers and Woolworths also rewarded investors. Telstra, Suncorp, Amcor and BlueScope also announced buybacks.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This document is published by Lonsec Investment Solutions Pty Ltd ACN 608 837 583, a Corporate Authorised Representative (CAR 1236821) (LIS) of Lonsec Research Pty Ltd ABN 11 151 658 561 AFSL 421 445 (Lonsec Research). LIS creates the model portfolios it distributes using the investment research provided by Lonsec Research but LIS has not had any involvement in the investment research process for Lonsec Research. LIS and Lonsec Research are owned by Lonsec Holdings Pty Ltd ACN 151 235 406. Please read the following before making any investment decision about any financial product mentioned in this document.

DISCLOSURE AT THE DATE OF PUBLICATION: Lonsec Research receives a fee from the relevant fund manager or product issuer(s) for researching financial products (using objective criteria) which may be referred to in this document. Lonsec Research may also receive a fee from the fund manager or product issuer(s) for subscribing to research content and other Lonsec Research services. LIS receives a fee for providing the model portfolios to financial services organisations and professionals. LIS’ and Lonsec Research’s fees are not linked to the financial product rating(s) outcome or the inclusion of the financial product(s) in model portfolios. LIS and Lonsec Research and their representatives and/or their associates may hold any financial product(s) referred to in this document, but details of these holdings are not known to the Lonsec Research analyst(s).

WARNINGS: Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Any express or implied rating or advice presented in this document is limited to general advice and based solely on consideration of the investment merits of the financial product(s) alone, without taking into account the investment objectives, financial situation and particular needs (“financial circumstances”) of any particular person. Before making an investment decision based on the rating or advice, the reader must consider whether it is personally appropriate in light of his or her financial circumstances or should seek independent financial advice on its appropriateness. If the financial advice relates to the acquisition or possible acquisition of a particular financial product, the reader should obtain and consider the Investment Statement or the Product Disclosure Statement for each financial product before making any decision about whether to acquire the financial product.

DISCLAIMER: No representation, warranty or undertaking is given or made in relation to the accuracy or completeness of the information presented in this document, which is drawn from public information not verified by LIS. The information contained in this document is current as at the date of publication. Financial conclusions, ratings and advice are reasonably held at the time of publication but subject to change without notice. LIS assumes no obligation to update this document following publication. Except for any liability which cannot be excluded, LIS and Lonsec Research, their directors, officers, employees and agents disclaim all liability for any error or inaccuracy in, misstatement or omission from, this document or any loss or damage suffered by the reader or any other person as a consequence of relying upon it.

Copyright © 2021 Lonsec Investment Solutions Pty Ltd ACN 608 837 583 (LIS). This document may also contain third party supplied material that is subject to copyright. The same restrictions that apply to LIS copyrighted material, apply to such third-party content.

September 15, 2021/by Danial Moradi

News & Insights, Video

Market Overview and Positioning Update

Following Lonsec’s Asset Allocation Investment Committee meeting in June, we asked Chief Investment Officer Lukasz de Pourbaix to give us an update on his views of the current market drivers and challenges, and how these impacted Lonsec’s latest dynamic asset allocation views.

The main topic of discussion at this meeting was inflation – is it transitory or are we seeing a structural shift up in inflation? Lonsec’s current view is that whilst inflation will continue to rise in the short-term, after that, it’s still questionable whether we will see a structural rise in inflation. One of the other matters we’re focused on is wage growth. We have not seen a material rise in wages, which is important in the context of looking at inflation.

As part of our dynamic asset allocation process, we also look at a number of key factors: valuation (are assets cheap or expensive), where we are in the business cycle, and policy (such as monetary policy) and liquidity. In this video, Lukasz looks into each of these factors and explains how these were considered to determine Lonsec’s current asset allocation

Transcript

Inflation and its implication for asset allocation

Hello, my name is Lukasz de Pourbaix, I’m the CIO of Lonsec Investment Solutions. Today, I’ll be providing an update on our latest takeouts from our asset allocation Investment Committee, which is responsible for our dynamic asset allocation views. Now we hold that committee every quarter.

The main topic, really this investment committee was inflation, and whether inflation is transitory in nature, or whether we are seeing a structural shift up in inflation. And certainly, we’ve seen CPI numbers go up, most recently in the US announced the significant jump in CPI to levels we haven’t seen since 2008. And so, as part of that discussion, part of the narrative was, is this driven by supply/demand issues as a result of COVID? Or is there genuinely an inflation increase? And it’s fair to say that the market at the moment does believe that it’s transitory in nature, we are seeing significant disruptions to supply chains, which has impacted a range of assets. If you look at things like some of the commodities, Lumber (LBS), the one that suddenly is sort of focused on, through the microchips to make computers, mobile phones, etc. We’ve seen prices certainly spike up in a lot of these areas. And our view would be that once we get spending come back to pre-COVID levels, inflation will continue to rise in the short term, but after that, it’s still questionable whether we will see structural rise inflation.

Our base case at the moment is that it is likely to be transitory in nature, but that it will rise in the shorter term. One of the other aspects that we’re certainly focused on in that context is wage growth. Today, we haven’t seen a material rise in wage growth. It is a lagging indicator. However, it is important in the context of looking at inflation and while we have seen pockets of rises in wage growth, if anyone’s been out to try to hire staff in places like cafes, restaurants, fruit pickers, we all know that there’s shortages there, but across the board, we haven’t seen wage growth right rise and certainly that would be an area that we would be keen to focus on.

What changes were made in June to Lonsec’s Asset Allocation positions?

As part of our dynamic asset allocation process, we look at a couple of key factors that we think determine the direction of where different asset prices will go into the future. And those are valuation – so are assets cheap or expensive. Where are we in the business cycle, and then policy and liquidity.

If we take those three metrics in isolation, from a valuation perspective, it’s probably fair to say that most assets from an absolute perspective look pretty expensive. However, we are in the game of allocating capital. And so we have to look at things from a relative perspective. If we look at asset classes, from a relative perspective, we’ve continued to think that risk assets such as equities are favorable compared to things like bonds and cash, where know there’s you’re getting little reward for that risk. From an equity perspective, we probably have a bias towards emerging markets and Australian equities over some developed markets, particularly the US, from a pure valuation perspective. So overall picture is that from a relative perspective, risk assets are still looking attractive, you’re still being rewarded for risk from a valuation perspective. If you look at other indicators, and one of those is cyclical indicators – so where are we in the cycle? Cyclical indicators continue to look positive. A lot of economic data that’s been coming out, whether it’s looking at PMIs, whether it’s looking at job growth, all of them pointing in the right direction.

From our economic perspective, we’ve clearly seen a recovery and continue to see a recovery, those indicators are looking positive. Finally, from a policy perspective, if we think about monetary policy, and my earlier reference to inflation, the two are obviously related. Policy, however, does remain supportive of risk assets, interest rates remain low. Central Banks, in our view, aren’t going to pull the trigger anytime soon. They will want to see evidence of growth, and more evidence that if this inflationary environment is transitory, they’ll probably be a bit more standoffish in pulling the trigger on rates. But as it is at the moment, that environment in terms of policy does remain supportive of risk assets. We are also seeing material fiscal support. So net net if you think about those longer-term indicators, such as valuation, which is very much longer term indicator is supportive of risk assets. The policy settings continue to be supportive of risk assets. And then obviously, liquidity is there supporting markets as well, all things pointing to risk assets from an overall directional perspective, we do like risk assets over some of the more defensive assets. Having said that, we do think we’re in an environment where we are seeing a lot more dispersion between returns within asset classes. We do think that being selective within asset classes, be it equities or bonds, is becoming much more important. And we do think that dispersion between winners and losers will be wider going forward than it has been in the past.

Overall, the outcome of our dynamic asset allocation committee has been to make no change at this point. From our last quarter, we do remain positive on risk assets, underweight, Fixed Income, underweight Cash, we continue to have a neutral position to Alternatives. We are looking at if there are others? Potentially at some point, do we review that allocation to alternatives? Do we potentially increase that? From a portfolio perspective, we already have some exposure. Some of you will note will have we’ve had exposure to Gold, which has seen a significant increase in price over recent months. And if we do see that inflationary environment be more than just transitory those type of assets can contribute to helping protect the portfolio in that environment. So overall, there are some risks out there. Some inflation is probably the number one risk at the moment. But net net, we think that the environment is still conducive to risk assets.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This document is published by Lonsec Investment Solutions Pty Ltd ACN 608 837 583, a Corporate Authorised Representative (CAR 1236821) (LIS) of Lonsec Research Pty Ltd ABN 11 151 658 561 AFSL 421 445 (Lonsec Research). LIS creates the model portfolios it distributes using the investment research provided by Lonsec Research but LIS has not had any involvement in the investment research process for Lonsec Research. LIS and Lonsec Research are owned by Lonsec Holdings Pty Ltd ACN 151 235 406. Please read the following before making any investment decision about any financial product mentioned in this document.

DISCLOSURE AT THE DATE OF PUBLICATION: Lonsec Research receives a fee from the relevant fund manager or product issuer(s) for researching financial products (using objective criteria) which may be referred to in this document. Lonsec Research may also receive a fee from the fund manager or product issuer(s) for subscribing to research content and other Lonsec Research services. LIS receives a fee for providing the model portfolios to financial services organisations and professionals. LIS’ and Lonsec Research’s fees are not linked to the financial product rating(s) outcome or the inclusion of the financial product(s) in model portfolios. LIS and Lonsec Research and their representatives and/or their associates may hold any financial product(s) referred to in this document, but details of these holdings are not known to the Lonsec Research analyst(s).

WARNINGS: Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Any express or implied rating or advice presented in this document is limited to general advice and based solely on consideration of the investment merits of the financial product(s) alone, without taking into account the investment objectives, financial situation and particular needs (“financial circumstances”) of any particular person. Before making an investment decision based on the rating or advice, the reader must consider whether it is personally appropriate in light of his or her financial circumstances or should seek independent financial advice on its appropriateness. If the financial advice relates to the acquisition or possible acquisition of a particular financial product, the reader should obtain and consider the Investment Statement or the Product Disclosure Statement for each financial product before making any decision about whether to acquire the financial product.

DISCLAIMER: No representation, warranty or undertaking is given or made in relation to the accuracy or completeness of the information presented in this document, which is drawn from public information not verified by LIS. The information contained in this document is current as at the date of publication. Financial conclusions, ratings and advice are reasonably held at the time of publication but subject to change without notice. LIS assumes no obligation to update this document following publication. Except for any liability which cannot be excluded, LIS and Lonsec Research, their directors, officers, employees and agents disclaim all liability for any error or inaccuracy in, misstatement or omission from, this document or any loss or damage suffered by the reader or any other person as a consequence of relying upon it.

Copyright © 2021 Lonsec Investment Solutions Pty Ltd ACN 608 837 583 (LIS). This document may also contain third party supplied material that is subject to copyright. The same restrictions that apply to LIS copyrighted material, apply to such third-party content.

June 24, 2021/by Lukasz de Pourbaix

News & Insights, Video

Redesigning your practice with Managed Accounts

Lonsec works closely with advisers to build solutions that enhance a practices ability to serve clients, while building greater operational efficiencies. As innovators in managed accounts, we’ve always believed in their power to transform an advice business. Research indicates that practices using managed accounts see a noticeable uplift in revenue, and profitability per adviser, by up to 32% and most importantly facilitates increased engagement with clients.

The potential for improved business outcomes is clear, however change can be hard so we’ve asked Tim Scott, small business owner, co-founder and adviser at Ford + Scott Financial Planning (Tasmania), to share his experience, thoughts and the process he went through, to re-imagine business.

Watch the video below

Get in touch with us to discuss how we can help you redesign your practice with Lonsec Managed Accounts

Steven Jessop
Good morning, everybody. And welcome to Tim Scott, Principal from Ford Scott financial planning really pleased you could join us today. I’m Steven Jessop. I look after licensees and IFA’s nationally for Lonsec, and Tim has very kindly agreed to join us today to share some of the journey that he’s been on over the last number of years that we’ve known each other, where I’ve seen his business grow from strength to strength, and let’s take our audience through some of the big decisions that he’s had to make in a really tough regulatory environment.

Tim Scott
Yeah, so we’ll try to run a core of managed funds and have a good good quality managed funds. And with direct equities as a satellite around the side. And, it worked. And it was certainly no disrespect to the fund managers, they’re terrific. And we’re still partnering with these guys in other ways. But the issue we had was the time the blending, the construction side, was just taking us away from what our core skill was. And by having a Lonsec in our core, who actually do that for you, you can’t put a dollar figure on the benefit of business has been, there’s no doubt in my mind, and I’m sure, Luke and Mark, and the guys back at the office would understand it’s been a significant part of what we’ve had revenue growth, because we’ve been out of focus on working with existing clients and attracting new clients. As a business, we had a lot of direct equity exposure to the business, we loved bespoke portfolios and working closely with our clients. Ultimately, that was a value add, but it wasn’t the key value to providing advice. Scalability was an issue for us. And Mark Ford, my founding partner and I were wanting to expand the business. But we couldn’t do so with a laborious approach to portfolio construction, then with our clients it’s all about education and for them to understand what we were as a core financial planning business, so we weren’t stockbrokers. And we weren’t there to pick the eyes out of the market. Obviously, where the reforms have gone, that’s becoming harder and harder to do that. But it’s just a time aspect to act on research. We’re in a fast moving society. Technical analysis flies by the screen every 30 seconds or so it seems. And for financial planning business, how do you actually react to that? And how do you communicate that with the clients. And so it’s all about education with our clients to explain that we are working with investment professionals that are going to be able to do that, on our behalf on your behalf. And that’s going to free us up to actually work more with you about what’s important for you. Yeah, I think from a client’s perspective, they have been able to get their advisor back to advise on what their goals and objectives are. Rather than being the stockbroker and the fund manager or the portfolio constructor per se, we still position ourselves and our portfolio construction process, and we explain to clients how our investment committee works, and how our approach to philosophy to Investment Management is. So, it’s really key to have that belief and ability to articulate that to your clients. But I think, the feedback we’ve been getting from our clients is, all of a sudden we in our reviews are more efficient, we’re actually going in and whether the review was a zoom or a call or an email or face to face, it’s more pertinent to what they’re trying to achieve, and we’re able to spend more time on changes that might be coming up for them. And that allows us to, you know, focus on potentially the planning benefits are of things they need to consider or the you know, the trips and traps that might be involved with what they’re next do. It allows us to actually prepare reports as slide decks around our portfolio construction. And quite often that we go through that at their own leisure, without having to sit in a meeting and go through it. So we finding our meet. From a review perspective, we’re more thorough, you know, the Safe Harbor provisions, which are so important in financial advice now, always have been, but even some more so from a regulatory perspective, we are able to actually focus on that, and deliver that for the client and get better achieve those better outcomes. One of the great and I think my staff would reaffirm as well, if we have a query, we have all segments of the business that can support us right away whereas the direct equities analyst, the person who is in charge of managed portfolios or whatever it will be, and they will give us a reason and answer to any query, but also their communications are very timely and onpoint, which is really good. And I think it’s important. The updates when there’s a portfolio change, it’s a using the technology that we have in the business and I think it’s available to all all players, practices, that would use a Lonsec iRate or a good administration platform, we have the ability to distribute the portfolio changes, run by the manager in an educational email and the clients are feel like they’ve got a really, tangible benefit by being back in touch and feel the portfolio

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This document is published by Lonsec Investment Solutions Pty Ltd ACN 608 837 583, a Corporate Authorised Representative (CAR 1236821) (LIS) of Lonsec Research Pty Ltd ABN 11 151 658 561 AFSL 421 445 (Lonsec Research). LIS creates the model portfolios it distributes using the investment research provided by Lonsec Research but LIS has not had any involvement in the investment research process for Lonsec Research. LIS and Lonsec Research are owned by Lonsec Holdings Pty Ltd ACN 151 235 406. Please read the following before making any investment decision about any financial product mentioned in this document.

DISCLOSURE AT THE DATE OF PUBLICATION: Lonsec Research receives a fee from the relevant fund manager or product issuer(s) for researching financial products (using objective criteria) which may be referred to in this document. Lonsec Research may also receive a fee from the fund manager or product issuer(s) for subscribing to research content and other Lonsec Research services. LIS receives a fee for providing the model portfolios to financial services organisations and professionals. LIS’ and Lonsec Research’s fees are not linked to the financial product rating(s) outcome or the inclusion of the financial product(s) in model portfolios. LIS and Lonsec Research and their representatives and/or their associates may hold any financial product(s) referred to in this document, but details of these holdings are not known to the Lonsec Research analyst(s).

WARNINGS: Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Any express or implied rating or advice presented in this document is limited to general advice and based solely on consideration of the investment merits of the financial product(s) alone, without taking into account the investment objectives, financial situation and particular needs (“financial circumstances”) of any particular person. Before making an investment decision based on the rating or advice, the reader must consider whether it is personally appropriate in light of his or her financial circumstances or should seek independent financial advice on its appropriateness. If the financial advice relates to the acquisition or possible acquisition of a particular financial product, the reader should obtain and consider the Investment Statement or the Product Disclosure Statement for each financial product before making any decision about whether to acquire the financial product.

DISCLAIMER: No representation, warranty or undertaking is given or made in relation to the accuracy or completeness of the information presented in this document, which is drawn from public information not verified by LIS. The information contained in this document is current as at the date of publication. Financial conclusions, ratings and advice are reasonably held at the time of publication but subject to change without notice. LIS assumes no obligation to update this document following publication. Except for any liability which cannot be excluded, LIS and Lonsec Research, their directors, officers, employees and agents disclaim all liability for any error or inaccuracy in, misstatement or omission from, this document or any loss or damage suffered by the reader or any other person as a consequence of relying upon it.

Copyright © 2021 Lonsec Investment Solutions Pty Ltd ACN 608 837 583 (LIS). This document may also contain third party supplied material that is subject to copyright. The same restrictions that apply to LIS copyrighted material, apply to such third-party content.

June 3, 2021/by Lonsec

Lonsec Sustainability Insights, News & Insights, Video

Introducing Lonsec Sustainable Managed Portfolios

Watch the recording.

Many of you will be aware that your clients are increasingly seeking out investments that align with their personal values.

Further to the launch of the Lonsec Sustainability Score, the Lonsec Sustainable Managed Portfolios will utilise Lonsec’s extensive portfolio construction experience, together with detailed sustainable investing (and ESG) research, to provide a solution that genuinely caters to the needs of investors.

Listen to the key members of the Lonsec investment team to find out more about how the portfolios are formulated and how they can help deliver what your clients really need.

November 6, 2020/by Lonsec

Industry Retirement Insights, News & Insights, Video

SuperRatings 2020 Financial Year Superannuation Update

SuperRatings Executive Director Kirby Rappell shares the latest performance results for superannuation funds and the future outlook for the industry.

Members should be prepared for more ups and downs. However, a patient approach has paid off for members over the long term with the median balanced style fund returning 7.0% per annum since the introduction of superannuation in 1992.

View Superannuation product ratings

Any advice that SuperRatings provides is of a general nature and does not take into account an individual’s financial situation, objectives or needs. Because the information that SuperRatings receives about superannuation and pension financial products is from a number of sources, it is not guaranteed to be completely accurate. Because of this, individuals should, before acting on the information, consider its appropriateness having regard to their own financial objectives, situation and needs and if appropriate, obtain personal financial advice on the matter from a financial adviser. Before making a decision regarding any financial product, individuals should obtain and consider a copy of the relevant Product Disclosure Statement from the financial product issue.

July 8, 2020/by Lonsec

News & Insights, Video

Getting back to basics in uncertain times

April 7, 2020/by Lukasz de Pourbaix

News & Insights, Video

The impact of COVID-19 on ASX200 listed equities

Our Head of Listed Equities, Peter Green, takes a look at the impact of COVID-19 on equity markets, and highlights some of the companies that have benefited from the COVID-19 outbreak, as well as the ones that have been most adversely affected.

Copyright © 2020 Lonsec Research Pty Ltd ABN 11 151 658 561 AFSL 421 445 (Lonsec). Lonsec receives fees from fund managers and financial product issuers for rating financial products using objective criteria and for services including research subscriptions. Lonsec’s fee and analyst remuneration are not linked to the rating outcome. Lonsec, its representatives and their associates may hold the financial product(s) rated. Warning: Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Any advice is General Advice based on the investment merits of the financial product(s) alone, without considering the objectives, financial situation and needs of any person. It is not a recommendation to purchase, redeem or sell the relevant financial product(s). Before making a decision read the PDS and consider your financial circumstances or seek personal advice. Disclaimer: Except for ratings, Lonsec gives no warranty of accuracy or completeness of information in this document, which is compiled from information from public and third-party sources. Opinions and ratings are reasonably held by Lonsec at compilation. Lonsec assumes no obligation to update this document after publication. Except for liability which can’t be excluded, Lonsec, its directors, officers, employees and agents disclaim all liability for any error, inaccuracy, misstatement or omission, or any loss suffered through relying on the document or any information. All rights reserved. This report may also contain third party material that is subject to copyright. To the extent that copyright subsists in a third party it remains with the original owner and permission may be required to reuse the material. Any unauthorised reproduction of this information is prohibited.

March 30, 2020/by Peter Green

News & Insights, Video

Reporting Season Update – 24-28 February 2020

The coronavirus has had a major impact on equity markets in the past few days, and the uncertainty surrounding looks set to continue for some time. Peter Green, our Head of Listed Products, looks at the stocks that have been directly and indirectly affected, as well as some of the reporting season’s best and worst performers.

February 26, 2020/by Peter Green

News & Insights, Video

Reporting Season Update, 17-21 February 2020

The strength of equity markets during 2019 and the start of 2020 saw an increase in valuation premiums in the market resulting in a number of sectors trading at record highs. But the reporting season outlook has been impacted by a slowing global economy, the devastating bushfires across Australia and the coronavirus, elevating the risk profile of the market.

In this first video of our Reporting season series, Lonsec’s Listed Products Portfolio Manager, Danial Moradi, takes an in-depth look at how companies performed over the first two weeks of the reporting season.

February 20, 2020/by Danial Moradi

Video

[VIDEO] What will markets bring in 2020?

Hear from Lukasz de Pourbaix, Chief Investment Officer – Lonsec Investment Solutions, on some of the key themes that are set to dominate markets in 2020, and the implications they could have on your clients’ portfolios.

January 28, 2020/by Lukasz de Pourbaix