Pendal Monthly Commentary Pendal Sustainable Future Australian Shares Portfolio December 2020
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Pendal Monthly Commentary Pendal Sustainable Future Australian Shares Portfolio December 2020 Market commentary Portfolio overview Sustainable Future Australian Shares Portfolio The S&P/ASX 200 rose +1.2% in December, taking the year Investment To deliver outperformance relative to the to a +1.4% return. strategy benchmark before fees over a rolling five year period by investing in companies Covid cases continued to rise in the northern hemisphere, which Pendal has identified as having prompting further lockdowns. In the US, this has seen job leading financial, ethical and sustainability growth stall, although strong industrial production is likely to characteristics. have driven decent GDP growth. There is increasing Benchmark S&P/ASX 300 (TR) Index evidence of pressure on health care systems both there and Number of stocks 15-40 (26 as at 31 December 2020) in Europe. Sector limits Cash 2-10% We experienced an outbreak in Sydney at the end of # December, leading to border closures and local lockdowns. Dividend Yield 3.31% Nevertheless, a combination of optimism over vaccines and Top 10 holdings the extraordinary degree of monetary and fiscal policy support was enough to support the local equity market. Code Name Weight Broader economic and sentiment data is also supportive. CSL CSL Limited 9.58% CBA Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd 7.89% Retail sales momentum remains good, while the unemployment rate fell from 7% to 6.8% — better than FMG Fortescue Metals Group Limited 6.66% consensus expectations. Consumer and business ANZ ANZ Banking Group Limited 6.14% confidence indicators remain strong. XRO Xero Limited 5.44% Value style has continued to do well in Australia, helped by TLS Telstra Corporation Limited 4.88% strong returns from the miners, which led the 8.8% gain in Materials (+8.8%). AMC Amcor Limited 4.74% Commodity prices rose on a combination of expected MQG Macquarie Group Limited 4.57% normalisation of growth and continued Covid-related impact NAB National Australia Bank Limited 4.30% on supply in some markets. A weaker USD is also JBH JB Hi-Fi Limited 4.25% supportive for commodity prices. Source: Pendal as at 31 December 2020 That said, this has not been accompanied by a broad-based sell-off in growth-style stocks. Top 5 overweights versus S&P/ASX 300 The Health Care (-4.7%) sector did drop off, but Technology Code Name Weight (+9.5%) was the strongest sector, propelled by a 24.2% gain FMG Fortescue Metals Group Limited 4.62% in Afterpay (APT) as it joined the ASX20. XRO Xero Limited 4.53% Value outperformed growth in the Australian market by a NEC Nine Entertainment Co Ltd 4.05% wide margin in 4Q, but the valuation differential between the two remains at historical levels. AMC Amcor Limited 4.04% Defensives such as Utilities (-5.4%) underperformed. JBH JB Hi-Fi Limited 3.96% Top 5 underweights versus S&P/ASX 300 Code Name Weight BHP BHP Billiton Limited (not held) -6.56% WBC Westpac Banking Corporation (not held) -3.67% WES Wesfarmers Limited (not held) -3.00% WOW Woolworths Group Limited (not held) -2.61% RIO Rio Tinto Limited (not held) -2.22% Source: Pendal as at 31 December 2020 #The Portfolio’s dividend yield represents the weighted average 12-month forward-looking dividend yield of the portfolio holdings (excluding cash), as at the date of the Factsheet. Each individual security’s dividend yield is calculated using market consensus Dividend Per Share (DPS) before tax and franking credits, collated by Pendal and divided by the closing market price of the security as at the date of the Factsheet. The portfolio dividend yield therefore is only an estimate, and does not reflect the actual returns of the Fund, which will be affected by market movements in the price of individual securities, the returns on other assets such as cash holdings and variances of individual security's actual dividends from the forecasted DPS. pendalgroup.com 2 Performance 1 month 3 month 6 month 1 year Since Inception (p.a.)* Pendal Sustainable Future Australian Shares Portfolio 0.99% 14.29% 16.37% 9.40% 10.33% S&P/ASX 300 (TR) Index 1.32% 13.79% 13.73% 1.73% 7.12% Active return -0.33% 0.50% 2.64% 7.66% 3.21% Source: Pendal as at 31 December 2020 *Since Inception – 16 June 2018 Performance returns are pre-fee. Investors should contact their platform provider for applicable fee rates. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Top 5 contributors – monthly Top 5 detractors – monthly Value Value Code Name Code Name Added Added FMG Fortescue Metals Group Limited 1.07% BHP BHP Billiton Limited (not held) -0.60% XRO Xero Limited 0.39% QAN Qantas Airways Limited -0.38% WBC Westpac Banking Corporation (not held) 0.20% COH Cochlear Limited -0.33% JBH JB Hi-Fi Limited 0.19% QBE QBE Insurance Group Limited -0.31% A2M The A2 Milk Company Limited (not held) 0.10% APT Afterpay Limited (not held) -0.27% Top 5 contributors – 1 year Top 5 detractors – 1 year Value Value Code Name Code Name Added Added FMG Fortescue Metals Group Limited 3.25% QAN Qantas Airways Limited -1.71% XRO Xero Limited 2.37% IAG Insurance Group Australia -1.11% MTS Metcash Trading Limited (not held) 1.61% APT Afterpay Limited (not held) -1.09% NEC Nine Entertainment Co Ltd 1.44% BHP BHP Billiton Limited (not held) -0.79% JBH JB Hi-Fi Limited 1.17% WES Wesfarmers Limited (not held) -0.64% Source: Pendal as at 31 December 2020. Underweight positions are in italics. Stock-specific drivers of monthly performance relative to benchmark Three largest contributors Three largest detractors Overweight Fortescue Metals (FMG, +28.52%) Underweight BHP (BHP, +11.45%) The iron ore price rose 20.4% in December. While stimulus- BHP benefited from the same surge in iron ore that helped driven Chinese steel production drove the iron ore price in Fortescue. Fortescue is a more concentrated play on iron 2020, the expectation of normalised demand in the rest of the ore, while BHP has additional exposure to copper and to world has added another leg to this trend. We continue to see the oil portfolio that excludes it from this strategy. FMG as well-positioned to capitalise on this, both in terms of Overweight Qantas (QAN, -9.85%) operational performance and capital allocation. The stock is currently on 7.4% dividend yield. The mid-December Sydney Covid outbreak brought back domestic travel restrictions and state border closures. Overweight Xero (XRO, +10.8%) This delayed expectations around the return of domestic Our preferred tech growth name XRO continued to do well in travel. There was also some profit-taking following QAN’s the wake of its earlier result, confirming that underlying trends recent strong run. The medium-term story remains intact remain supportive and government policy has reduced the risk in our view. QAN is well-positioned in terms of capital and of widespread business closures. Data suggests Covid has liquidity to endure this delay, while its strategic response prompted a surge in cloud-based accounting subscriptions to Covid should see it return in a more cost-effective form. even in relatively mature markets such as Australia and NZ. Overweight Cochlear (COH, -14.25%) Underweight Westpac (WBC, -3.8%) The broader healthcare sector sold off amid some rotation In December Westpac lagged the market — and the bank to cyclical and value stocks on increased optimism of sector average — and the portfolio’s underweight was economic recovery. However COH also announced that beneficial. APRA loosened its rules around dividends for the US Supreme Court had denied its request for a review banks, which was welcome news. The regulator also agreed of a lower court’s judgement against them in a US$280 to a court-enforceable undertaking with WBC to revamp its million patent dispute. COH has already paid the amount, risk management systems. Late in the month ASIC so this will not impact future earnings. announced it would take no further action against WBC in relation to issues identified by AUSTRAC. 3 Market outlook The rate of Covid infection continues to deteriorate in the northern hemisphere, leading to lockdowns. Jobs have stalled well below pre Covid-levels in the US as restrictions hit sectors such as leisure and hospitality. Healthcare systems are under pressure in several countries and regions. Meanwhile, a Covid outbreak in NSW led to localised restrictions and state border closures. Nevertheless, the market remains relatively positive, driven by the twin beacons of vaccines and policy support. Vaccination programs are ramping up at differing rates across many countries. This is giving hope of rolled back restrictions and demand growth. This is encouraging, but remains a key risk to watch. Any disappointment here could hit markets and the recovery sectors that have recently run hard. Policy remains a key bulwark of market support. Victory in the Georgia run-off hands the Democrats control of the Senate along with Congress. This means more fiscal stimulus against the backdrop of already extremely accommodative monetary policy. The current policy settings are extraordinary. In short, we could see stimulus worth near 9% of US annual GDP channelled into the first quarters of 2021. Even if only a fraction gets spent in that period, it means growth and earnings are likely to be a lot higher than consensus expectations. We don’t believe the Georgia win leads to legislation of some of the more radical Democrat policies, given their majority remains thin in both Houses. The markets concerns are centred on the potential for tax increases.