Highlights from the quarterly (incorporating FY23 performance):
- The first signs that Small Cap Industrials are starting to outperform the large caps
- We answer the question: Is the Ethical Partner investment approach closer in style to the England cricket team’s Bazball style or Australia’s wicket dependent approach?
- We show why the “expensive defensives”(TLS, BXB, TCL et al) now show asymetrical risk to the downside… the more reasonably priced defensives such as ASX and Ramsay offer much better opportunities
- Over 30% of the Fund positions by weight are at or approaching net cash…. We also touch on the big miners (in particular BHP) where we believe the market is too high on their dividend expectations
- We update the carbon footprint of the Fund which sits at just 10% of the broader market level, dollar for dollar
- We include information on biggest under and over weights and largest buys and sells throughout the period
- In all things sustainability we provide details on the plethora of initiatives undertaken by the team including:
o Our attendance at the Finance roundtable at the Circular Economy Forum and the Australia Pacific Climate Change and Circular Economy Dialogue and the Australian Government Modern Slavery Conference in Melbourne
- Additionally, Ethical Partners was pleased to make a submission to the Australian Parliament on enacting a National Human Rights Act, as well as publish the results of our recent analysis on human rights protections across the ASX 300, as well as our concerns regarding the lack of attention to a broad and deep definition of human rights across ASX companies in general, and upcoming subsequent engagements on this with portfolio companies.
- We were also pleased to publish a comprehensive ESG shareholder voting policy this month which is available on our website under our ESG policies tab
