Transcription of Finance News Network Interview, Hunter Hall Global Value Limited (ASX:HHV). Carolyn Herbert: Hello I’m Carolyn Herbert from the Finance News Network and joining me for an update on its listed investment company, Hunter Hall Global Value Limited
(ASX:HHV) is its CEO, David Deverall. David, welcome back.
David Deverall: Great to be here Carolyn.
Carolyn Herbert: Can you start by telling us how the Fund has performed over the year?
David Deverall: Hunter Hall Global Value Limited had a really good year in 2015. After tax, profits were up 29 per cent and total shareholder return, was up 26 per cent.
Carolyn Herbert: What is the dividend for the half and the full year?
David Deverall: Good dividend for the year, four cent half year dividend, a final dividend of four cents per share. And also, a special dividend announced of four cents per share, which we pay at the same time as the final dividend. So all up, 12 cents per share, a good year.
Carolyn Herbert: Now to the Fund, what’s driven the performance?
David Deverall: The Fund’s performance has been driven by good stock selection. We have a range of really useful stocks in the portfolio, such as Sirtex Medical Limited
(ASX:SRX) which is a liver cancer treatment company - done very well over the year. M2 Telecommunications Limited
(ASX:MTU) an Australian Telco provider - done extremely well too. Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO), which is a US based company that produces interactive games for video usage. LeoPalace21 Corporation (TYO:8848), which is a Japanese company which manufactures and markets, and manages one bedroom apartments in the Japanese market. So a wide variety of very good performance, across quite a diverse selection of stocks.
Carolyn Herbert: What are your largest holdings and have you added to them in recent times?
David Deverall: Our largest holding for a number of years has been Sirtex Medical, which is a liver cancer treatment company, based here in Australia. It’s done fabulously well and we have been selling our position in Sirtex, for much of 2015.
Then what happened in March of 2015, the Sirtex share price more than halved. And we used that opportunity, to immediately swoop in and buy a lot more shares in Sirtex, probably many of the shares that we sold at much higher prices, earlier in the year. We bought a lot of those shares at $17. As we sit here today, the share price is well north of $30, so we think that was a very very good deal.
Carolyn Herbert: For people that are new to the Fund, what is the Hunter Hall approach to stock selection?
David Deverall: Hunter Hall stocks really have three main characteristics. Firstly, they must be value stocks, in other words they have to look pretty cheap. Secondly, we have a really strong preference towards stocks that are called small to midcap stocks. And that is stocks with market capitalisations less than $10 billion. And thirdly, all stocks must pass our ethical screen. And the Hunter Hall ethical screen is really focused on those stocks that don’t do any harm to people, the environment or society.
Carolyn Herbert: Finally David, how do your fund managers respond to the kind of market volatility we’ve seen in equites markets recently?
David Deverall: Yes the volatility in recent times in the market has been quite extreme. And I think generally, the life of a fund manager is one that doesn’t involve a heck of a lot of sleep, or at least a lot of disjointed sleep. But our team is very experienced in this. And this volatility we’re experiencing now, is no different to the episodes of volatility that have popped up, in courses of time over the last 10 to 20 years, which is where most of our fund managers have been working.
Their focus today and what really has always been the case, is to focus on picking really good stocks. And if you can deliver good performance from a portfolio of really good stocks, your clients are happy. And that’s really what we want to be continuing to deliver, great investment returns.
Carolyn Herbert: David Deverall, thank you for the update.
David Deverall: Thank you Carolyn.
Ends
