Spheria Emerging Companies Limited (ASX:SEC)

Overview

Spheria Asset Management Pty Ltd (the Manager, Spheria), is the appointed investment manager and is a specialist team with a proven track record of navigating opportunities at the small end of the market.

Company Facts

Name	value
Investment Manager	Spheria Asset Mangement Pty Limited
ASX Code	SEC
Share Price	$2.29
Inception Date	30 November 2017
Listing Date	5 December 2017
Benchmark	S&P / ASX Small Ordinaries Accumulation Index
Dividends Paid	Quarterly
Management Fee	1.00% (plus GST) per annum¹
Performance Fee	20% (plus GST) of the Portfolio's outperformance²
Market Capitalisation	$137.7m

1 Calculated daily and paid at the end of each month in arrears
2 Against the Benchmark over each 6-month period subject to a high-water mark mechanism

Latest Monthly Report Download Prospectus

The Spheria Emerging Companies Limited (ASX: SEC) received a ‘Recommended’ rating from Zenith Investment Partners (February 2021)¹

March Monthly Report March Monthly Report March Monthly Report

The Spheria Global Microcap Fund received a ‘Recommended’ rating from Zenith Investment Partners (November 2020).

Latest News

SEC half-year 1HFY22 results including +8.1% Company performance¹ and 5.8% dividend yield (including franking)² .

¹Calculated as the Company’s investment portfolio performance after fees excluding tax on realised and unrealised gains/losses and other earnings, after Company expenses.
²Trailing dividend yield when combined with FY21 final dividend of 5.0 cents per share, calculated on share price as at 31 December 2021 of $2.50 using 30% tax rate.

Share Price

ASX:SEC

20 min delayed price

Pre-Tax NTA

24 February 2022

$2.478

ASX Announcements

All ASX Announcements

Latest Monthly Report Download Prospectus

The Spheria Emerging Companies Limited (ASX: SEC) received a ‘Recommended’ rating from Zenith Investment Partners (February 2021)¹

Latest Monthly Report Download Prospectus

The Spheria Emerging Companies Limited (ASX: SEC) received a ‘Recommended’ rating from Zenith Investment Partners (February 2022)¹

Investment Managers

Marcus Burns

Portfolio Manager

Marcus is a co-founder of Spheria and has been a Portfolio Manager since Spheria's inception in April 2016. He has managed Australian, European and global equity portfolios out of Australia and London through volatile market cycles for over 20 years. Marcus has an established track record generating strong investment portfolio returns for investors. He worked alongside his Co-Portfolio Manager Matthew Booker at Schroders since the beginning of 2013 and co-managed the Australian small and micro-cap portfolios with Matthew. These funds generated double digit returns above benchmark during this timeframe.

Matthew Booker

Portfolio Manager

Matthew is a co-founder of Spheria Asset Management and a portfolio manager with research responsibilities. He has managed small company portfolios through volatile market cycles for over 16 years and has established a significant track record for generating returns that have exceeded portfolio benchmarks. Prior to co-founding Spheria, Mr Booker worked at Concord Capital and then Schroders, managing the smaller companies fund as well as the micro-cap product at Schroders. Mr Booker is an Associate of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia and a Fellow of FINSIA. He has over 25 years of financial markets experience.

Adam Lund

Head of Trading / Analyst

Adam Lund is a co-founder of Spheria and is the Head of Trading with investment research and portfolio construction responsibilities. Adam has over 12 years experience in funds management and spent 5 years as an equities and derivatives trader at Schroders Investment Management Australia. At Schroders, Adam worked closely with Spheria co-founders, Matthew Booker and Marcus Burns.

Performance

Performance as at 31st March 2022

BLANK	1 Month	6 Months	1 Year	3 Years p.a.	Inception p.a³
Company¹	2.6	-1.0	13.2	12.6	10.4
Benchmark²	5.3	-2.3	9.7	9.6	8.1
Difference	-2.7	1.3	3.5	3.0	2.3

1 Calculated as the Company’s investment portfolio performance after fees excluding tax on realised and unrealised gains/losses and other earnings, and after company expenses.
2 Benchmark is the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries Accumulation Index.
3 Inception date is 30th November 2017. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. All p.a. returns are annualised.

Latest Monthly Report

Other Reports

Historical Monthly Reports Latest Results Presentation Latest Annual Report

Dividend History

Source: Spheria Emerging Companies

Dividend Reinvestment Plan

The Company has put in place a dividend reinvestment plan (DRP) which will be operative from the payment of the March 2022 quarterly dividend.

The DRP has been designed so that participants will always receive the lowest reinvestment price possible, without their reinvestment diluting the post-tax NTA of those shareholders who choose not to participate in the DRP.

When the Company’s share price is greater than or equal to its post-tax NTA per share, dividends are paid as newly issued shares in the Company. If the Company’s share price is above its post-tax NTA per share on the dividend ex-date, participating shareholders will be issued new shares at the greater of the share price (less such discount as the Board may determine for the relevant dividend) or the post-tax NTA value per share of the Company on dividend ex-date.

If the Company’s share price is less than its post-tax NTA per share on the ex-date, cash available for distribution as dividends on shares subject to the DRP will be used to acquire the Company’s shares on-market in accordance with the terms set out in the DRP. These acquired shares will be distributed to shareholders participating in the DRP.

Shareholders who would like to participate in the DRP can enrol at: https://investor.automic.com.au or alternatively please contact the Company’s share registry, Automic, for assistance on 1300 902 587 (in Australia) / +61 2 7208 4521 (International).

Dividend Reinvestment Plan Booklet and Rules

Latest Updates

Half-Year 1HFY22 Results Presentation

View the Half-Year 2022 Results Presentation.

SEC dividend announcements

Jarrad Brevi | Company Updates (ASX: SEC) | No Comments

View the latest dividend announcement.

Full-Year 2021 Results presentation

Linn Harju | Company Updates (ASX: SEC) | No Comments

View the Full-Year 2021 Results presentation.

Latest Insights from the Manager

Latest Insights

Board & Governance

Board of Directors

Jonathan Trollip

Chairman

Jonathan Trollip is a non-executive director with over 34 years of commercial, corporate, governance, legal and transaction experience. Prior to becoming a professional non-executive director, he worked as a principal of Meridian International Capital Limited for over 20 years, and before that, he was a Partner with law firm Herbert Smith Freehills. In the philanthropy area, he is chairman of Science for Wildlife Limited and a director of The Watarrka Foundation and the Pinnacle Charitable Foundation. Jonathan has a B.Arts, post graduate degrees in Economics and Law and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Lorraine Berends

Independent Director

Lorraine Berends has worked in the financial services industry for over 40 years and possesses extensive experience in both investment management and superannuation. Before moving to a non-executive career in 2014, she worked for 15 years with US-based investment manager Marvin & Palmer Associates. Lorraine contributed extensively to industry associations throughout her executive career, serving on the boards of the Investment Management Consultants Association (IMCA australia, now the CIMA Society of Australia) for 13 years (7 as Chair) and the Association of Superannuation Funds Australia (ASFA) for 12 years (3 as Chair). Lorraine has been awarded Life Membership of both IMCA australia and ASFA. Lorraine holds a BSc from Monash University, is a Fellow of the Actuaries Institute and a Fellow of ASFA.

Matthew Booker

Director

Chris Meyer

Alternate Director

Chris is Director of Listed Products at Pinnacle Investment Management Group Limited (Pinnacle) and responsible for driving the listed products business including in excess of $5bn of funds under management (FUM) across active ETFs and listed closed end funds (LICs and LITs). He is also a director of the Australian Listed Investment Companies and Trust Association.

Prior to joining Pinnacle in 2018, Chris was the CEO of RMI Investment Managers since 2015 where he built an asset management business by partnering with ten independent boutique asset management businesses in South Africa, collectively managing $10bn of FUM.

Chris was also previously the founder and CEO of RMB Morgan Stanley since 2006, successfully leading the company to be the number one institutional equity business in South Africa and an Executive Director in Morgan Stanley’s US equity research team where he analysed the US brokerage, asset management and stock exchange industries.

Chris is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Business Science honours graduate of the University of Cape Town.

Corporate Governance

Corporate Governance Statement

Corporate Governance Charter

Whistleblower Policy

How to Invest

Spheria Emerging Companies Limited is an investment company listed on the ASX under ticker: SEC.

This means you can buy and sell shares in SEC through your online trading account or via your broker or licensed adviser in the same way that you trade shares in other ASX-listed companies.

You can view your SEC shareholding alongside any other direct shareholding you have.

Platform Availability

You can also invest in SEC on the below Platforms. Platforms provide investors with consolidated and centralised reporting (including administration, tax, and distribution) by bundling together a range of managed funds as one single product. If the Company is not available on your preferred platform, please contact us. Please check with your platform for minimum investment requirements and fees.

AMP North

Asgard

BT Panorama

CFS FirstWrap

HUB24

IOOF eXpand

Macquarie Wrap

MLC Wrap

MLC Navigator

Netwealth

Disclaimer

Spheria Emerging Companies Limited (the Company, ASX: SEC) is a listed investment company (LIC) that provides investors with access to an actively managed, Australian and New Zealand small and micro companies portfolio, designed for investors seeking capital growth and portfolio diversification.It is a confined capacity investment strategy that identifies smaller companies where the present value of cash flows can be reasonably determined and they are assessed to be trading at a discount to their intrinsic value.The smaller companies universe is more volatile and higher risk. An experienced investment manager in the small company end of the market is paramount to success, for this reason there are only a small number of listed investment companies offering access to a diversified small companies investment portfolio.Spheria Asset Management Pty Ltd (the Manager, Spheria), is the appointed investment manager and is a specialist team with a track record of navigating the higher risk opportunities at the small end of the market.

¹ The Zenith Investment Partners (ABN 27 103 132 672, AFS Licence 226872) (“Zenith”) rating (assigned February 2022) referred to in this piece is limited to “General Advice” (s766B Corporations Act 2001) for Wholesale clients only. This advice has been prepared without taking into account the objectives, financial situation or needs of any individual, including target markets of financial products, where applicable, and is subject to change at any time without prior notice. It is not a specific recommendation to purchase, sell or hold the relevant product(s). Investors should seek independent financial advice before making an investment decision and should consider the appropriateness of this advice in light of their own objectives, financial situation and needs. Investors should obtain a copy of, and consider the PDS or offer document before making any decision and refer to the full Zenith Product Assessment available on the Zenith website. Past performance is not an indication of future performance. Zenith usually charges the product issuer, fund manager or related party to conduct Product Assessments. Full details regarding Zenith’s methodology, ratings definitions and regulatory compliance are available on our Product Assessments and at Fund Research Regulatory Guidelines.

Disclaimer

This communication is prepared by Spheria Asset Management Pty Limited ABN 42 611 081 326 AFSL 1240979 as the investment manager of the Spheria Emerging Companies Limited ABN 84 621 402 588 ('SEC', 'Company') and Spheria Australian Microcap Fund (ARSN 611 819 651), Spheria Australian Smaller Companies Fund (ARSN 117 083 762), Spheria Global Microcap Fund (ARSN 627 330 287) and Spheria Opportunities Fund (ARSN 144 032 431) (‘the Funds’). Pinnacle Fund Services Limited ABN 29 082 494 362 AFSL 238371 ('PFSL') is the product issuer of the Fund. PFSL is not licensed to provide financial product advice. PFSL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Pinnacle Investment Management Group Limited (‘Pinnacle’) ABN 22 100 325 184. The Product Disclosure Statement (‘PDS’) of the Fund is available at spheria.com.au. Any potential investor should consider the PDS before deciding whether to acquire, or continue to hold units in, the Fund.

This communication is for general information only. It is not intended as a securities recommendation or statement of opinion intended to influence a person or persons in making a decision in relation to investment. It has been prepared without taking account of any person’s objectives, financial situation or needs. Any persons relying on this information should obtain professional advice before doing so. Past performance is for illustrative purposes only and is not indicative of future performance.

Whilst Spheria, PFSL and Pinnacle believe the information contained in this communication is reliable, no warranty is given as to its accuracy, reliability or completeness and persons relying on this information do so at their own risk. Subject to any liability which cannot be excluded under the relevant laws, Spheria, PFSL and Pinnacle disclaim all liability to any person relying on the information contained in this communication in respect of any loss or damage (including consequential loss or damage), however caused, which may be suffered or arise directly or indirectly in respect of such information. This disclaimer extends to any entity that may distribute this communication.

Any opinions and forecasts reflect the judgment and assumptions of Spheria and its representatives on the basis of information available as at the date of publication and may later change without notice. Any projections contained in this presentation are estimates only and may not be realised in the future.

Unauthorised use, copying, distribution, replication, posting, transmitting, publication, display, or reproduction in whole or in part of the information contained in this communication is prohibited without obtaining prior written permission from Spheria. Pinnacle and its associates may have interests in financial products and may receive fees from companies referred to during this communication.

This may contain the trade names or trademarks of various third parties, and if so, any such use is solely for illustrative purposes only. All product and company names are trademarks™ or registered® trademarks of their respective holders. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with, endorsement by, or association of any kind between them and Spheria.

Spheria Emerging Companies Limited (ASX:SEC)

Overview