September 2016
The S&P/ASX 300 Accumulation Index decreased 1.56% in August, retracing part of July's gain. Information Technology was the strongest sector, followed by Energy, with most sectors in negative territory. Defensive sectors, such as Telecommunications and Utilities, were the key negatives. Reporting season key driver for Ralton's holdings Reporting season was the key driver for many…
August 2016
August 2016 Shares in global toll road developer and operator, Macquarie Atlas Roads (MQA), rose in July, as did many other ‘bond-sensitive’ stocks. This was driven by lower long rates (global bond yields for 10-year sovereign bonds) following the Brexit vote and speculation of further easing in monetary policy globally. MQA announced its traffic volume…
August 2016
Markets started the 2016/17 financial year strongly with the S&P/ASX 300 Accumulation Index recording a 6.4% gain. All market sectors were positive with Consumer Staples and Consumer Discretionary both adding more than 8%. Across Ralton's portfolios, Aristocrat Leisure again added material value as share price momentum continued into July. This followed the company's profit upgrade…
August 2016
August 2016 Following a 20% upgrade to profit guidance for the 2016 financial year, Aristocrat Leisure (ASX:ALL) added significant value to the Ralton Australian Shares portfolio. The profit uplift was driven by a number of factors including market share gains in Australia and North America, continued growth in participation gaming machine installations (annuity-style income) and…
July 2016
August 2016 Shares in Pact Group (ASX:PGH) were boosted by two significant announcements during the June quarter both of which focused on ‘crate washing’, which involves end-to-end management of a customer’s container network. While the ‘pooling’ network is similar to Brambles (CHEP pallets), whereby PGH controls the logistics, maintenance, repair and resupply of new containers…
July 2016
July 2016 Boral (ASX:BLD) Managing Director, Mike Kane, has done a good job restructuring the group and the business is positioned to benefit from: a) the coming east coast rail and road infrastructure spending surge, b) the ongoing recovery in the US market, and c) the growth from a low base in its Asian business…
July 2016
Despite Brexit-driven market volatility causing a market fall near the end of June, the S&P/ASX 300 Accumulation Index finished the quarter up 3.98%. The Healthcare and Materials sectors (largely resources) were the top performers for the period (both adding more than 10%), while the Consumer Staples sector was the only one to record a negative…
July 2016
July 2016 Following Computershare’s (CPU) investor day, we added CPU to the Ralton High Yield Australian Shares portfolio. Investor concerns in recent times have focused on low growth from CPU’s traditional registries business, together with a mixed track record on acquisitions and finally, the threat of new technology, such as ‘Blockchain’ to CPU’s core business.…
June 2016
June 2016 In a somewhat unusual outcome, Sonic Healthcare (ASX:SHL) was a beneficiary of regulatory change in Australia in May. Your local GP, if they have a pathology lab on site, has likely been receiving rent for its pathology room well above the going market rate for similar space. The Federal Government has proposed to…
June 2016
June 2016 Ralton acquired a small position in Steadfast Group (ASX:SDF), Australia’s largest general insurance broker – a service provider and equity investor for insurance brokers in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. SDF’s broker network distributes general insurance products and related services to the SME segment of the market. SDF also operates a number of specialist…