Investor Insights

Suddenly we’re all talking about inflation – particularly food inflation, which has been spurred on by the recent floods. This ‘new normal’ should play well for the value end of food retailing, where the likes of Coles, Woolworths and Aldi are likely to grow market share at the expense of pricier retailers like Metcash.

We have been asked by clients whether the $234m acquisition by Aeris Resources (ASX:AIS) for Washington H Soul Pattinson’s (ASX:SOL) Round Oak Minerals is a good deal? Prior to the transaction Aeris Resources had 2. 26b shares on issue, and with a $0.

The inflationary data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics this week came as no surprise. After months of supply and demand imbalances and geopolitical issues at play, the significant inflationary pressures are validated with 5. 1% annualised rate. The next question is, how soon will the rate rise come?

Computershare (ASX:CPU) is a global leader in the provision of shareholder registry services, employee equity plans, proxy solicitation, stakeholder communications and other diversified financial services including loan and mortgage servicing. As a recent addition to the portfolio of The Montgomery Fund and The Montgomery [Private] Fund, let’s take a closer look into the business.

The focal point for the last week for the investment team has been on interest rates and credit spreads. From a credit spread standpoint, we have seen a widening in the rated segment of the market in the last 2 months as banks reengage with funding markets.

The March 2022 quarter has been a challenging environment for The Montgomery Fund’s core philosophy of investing in quality businesses diversified across the growth spectrum. We observed significant divergence in relative share price performance across our holdings despite our investee companies delivering solid financial results in a difficult environment.

Formed by the merger of Galaxy Resources and Orocobre in August 2021, Allkem Limited (ASX: AKE) has an audacious objective of producing at least 10 per cent of global lithium, whilst being a top three global lithium supplier. Its assets include: A 66.

There is an auction process (of sorts) happening for Uniti Wireless (ASX:UWL), and it appears contested with two interested parties emerging to date.   Should there be more? The current contenders First up was Morrison & Co. initially pitching a $4. 50 proposal and UWL’s board awarded Morrison an exclusive due diligence period of four weeks for its efforts.

  In this video extract from our recent webinar, Polen Capital’s Damon Ficklin shares how the Polen Capital team construct their portfolios using the strategy of investing across the growth spectrum. To achieve a mid-teens earnings per share growth target, they look at a range of different types of growth companies across this spectrum.

The Treasurer delivered the annual Federal Budget this week, largely supportive of SMEs and individuals in the wake of inflationary pressures now hitting businesses and consumers across a multitude of goods and services.

  In this week’s video insight David discusses how the current confusing market conditions have most investors sitting on their hands watching it play out, although domestic and international super-funds, infrastructure funds and private equity groups will be using this market confusion to make proposals and takeovers bids for more interesting relatively secure cashflow plays.

With COVID-19 travel restrictions beginning to ease, the Montgomery Small Companies Fund has been adding to its investments in ASX listed travel businesses.   In particular, we like the look of Alliance Aviation Services, Corporate Travel Management, Flight Centre and Webjet, which should all do well as travel rebounds.