Wilson Asset Management-managed WAM Leaders reached $17.8 million in operating profit after tax at the halfway point in the financial year and is positioning itself with the aim of closing 2016-2017 with strong results,
The firm was focusing in on investment objectives including the improvement of risk mitigation.
Wilson Asset Management portfolio manager, Matthew Haupt, said WAM had posted strong results since its $394.3 million capital raising in May last year, and had positioned itself well despite the turbulence which had plagued the equity market in the first six months of the financial year.
The WAM investment portfolio had increased 7.1 per cent since inception and would now work to provide a stream of fully franked dividends to shareholders concurrent with the preservation of investor capital and expected capital growth.
“Following the $394.3 million capital raising in May 2016, we commenced deploying the capital under our research and market-driven investment processes, achieving full investment in August,” Haupt said.
“Towards the end of 2016 we made significant changes to the portfolio, reducing our exposure to mid-cap holdings and consolidating our large-cap positions.
“Increasing global bond yields saw us focus on other diversified financial and insurance companies.”
WAM had also established positions in BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto over the course of the financial year to focus on the development of the resources sector in China as a stable investment option.
Moving forward, Haupt said that expectations for the 2017 calendar year were uncertain and highly reliant on geopolitical factors.
“Potential hazards for global growth in 2017 include the execution of the Trump administration’s policies, the French general and presidential elections, Italian elections and the triggering of Article 50 in the UK,” he said.
“For the Australian equity market to continue to rise, we need to see stronger company earnings growth and the continuation of improvement in the global economic environment.”
“We are in the mature stages of an eight-year bull market that is showing signs of fatigue.”
