Launched June 2011, the Legg Mason Martin Currie Equity Income Fund has since been at the forefront of retirement income solutions in Australia. The objective of the strategy is to provide a sustainable and growing income stream and to deliver total returns with less volatility than the broader equity market.

Since inception, the Fund has exceeded its aim to provide a total income stream that is higher than that of the S&P/ASX 200 and has also delivered this income with lower volatility than the Australian share market^[1].

The Zenith report stated: “The Martin Currie Australian (MCA) equities team is headed by Chief Investment Officer, Reece Birtles. Birtles is an experienced portfolio manager, having managed equity portfolios both domestically and abroad. Birtles is supported by the broader MCA equity team which includes ten fundamental research analysts and two team members focused on quantitative research.

“The research effort is structured to identify companies that can deliver a sustainable, inflation protected income stream. The investment team typically adopts a more conservative approach when determining a company’s “through the cycle” dividend payment, with the forecasted dividend being reflective of the free cash flows the company is likely to generate at the bottom of the economic cycle. Zenith believes MCA’s research process is well established, appropriately blending the analysts’ fundamental insights with internal quantitative directional tools.”

Reece Birtles, lead Portfolio Manager for the strategy and key architect of Martin Currie’s retirement solutions, noted that the upgrade neatly coincided with the 10-year anniversary of Martin Currie’s focus on income oriented solutions.

He said: “Ten years ago we set a goal of helping our clients access a better income stream to facilitate a better standard of living. The objective was to offer lower income variability, provide inflation protection and to provide good income and capital growth for longevity. This rating upgrade represents an important recognition of both our results to date and perhaps more importantly, the process we’ve put in place to continue to provide for our clients for the future.”

Zenith also focused on the Fund’s flexibility as an important aspect of differentiation.

Zenith noted: “As a result of the Fund’s income target, it is not constructed with reference to a benchmark and is expected to hold between 40 and 60 companies. Consistent with the Fund’s inflation protection mandate, Birtles will seek to diversify the Fund’s revenue sources to companies whose revenues are more closely linked to domestic economic growth and the level of inflation.

“Overall, Zenith views the portfolio construction process to be complementary to the fundamental research process, which appropriately combines the stock research performed by the analysts and Birtles’ construction skills.”

Legg Mason Managing Director, Andy Sowerby, said: “The decision to upgrade the rating of the Legg Mason Martin Currie Equity Income Fund to ‘Highly Recommended’ recognises the strong product design underpinned by a world-class investment team and a proven investment process. It is pleasing to note Zenith views this Fund as their preferred option in the Equity Income sector.”

Overall assets in the Equity Income strategy are AUD $6bn with AUD $215.3 million in the local Fund (as of 30 June 2020.)

The Fund is also available as an Active ETF – the BetaShares Legg Mason Equity Income Fund (managed fund) (ASX: EINC).

Key features of the Fund include:

• Aims to deliver a growing income stream by investing in quality Australian listed companies
• Strong focus on income growth to protect purchasing power
• Seeks to extract the full benefits of franking credits for zero tax rate payers

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[1] Past performance is not a guide to future returns. Source: Legg Mason, Morningstar, as at 30 June 2020. Fund inception date is June 2011. This strategy is not constrained by a benchmark, however for comparison purposes is shown against the S&P/ASX 200 Accumulation Index.

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Andy Sowerby

Australia has entered a record low interest rate environment and may remain so for a prolonged period. Thus, investors, and their advisers, face a problem; how to generate sufficient income in a low interest rate world without taking on undue risk?

Andy Sowerby, Managing Director, Legg Mason Australia says: “In today’s challenging, low interest rate environment, searching for regular income sources requires both flexibility and creativity.

“In an uncertain world, investors must continue to diversify.  The Legg Mason Brandywine Global Income Optimiser Fund, launched in May 2017 in Australia, is designed to give investors access to the world’s most attractive fixed income opportunities with a strong focus on capital protection. This strategy is proving its worth and is ranked in the top decile of its peer group^ since its launch,” he notes.

“For over three years, this Fund has been providing Australian investors a flexible approach to sourcing global income and managing risk. The Fund combines Brandywine Global’s macro-economic analysis and deep sector expertise to build a portfolio that dynamically manages downside risk, while capturing attractive risk-adjusted return opportunities – all while preserving the diversification characteristics of a traditional global fixed income portfolio,” says Sowerby.

The Fund’s investable universe includes a broad mix of global securities including (but not limited to): sovereign, investment grade, high yield, structured credit and emerging market debt.

“This flexibility allows Income Optimiser to source income from areas where it is attractive and available while avoiding where it is not. As different asset class, sectors, industries, and parts of the capital structure come in, and out of favour, Income Optimiser seeks income from the market-sub-sectors with the most favourable income and risk/return profiles,” says Brian Kloss, Portfolio Manager, Brandywine Global.

“Notably, the Fund performance as at 31 May is 9.62 % (1yr), 6.98% (2yrs) and 5.10% (3yrs) and in addition is up 5.61% year-to-date (net of fees). It benefited from its significant exposure to U.S. investment-grade credit. Positions in banks and technology companies produced strong relative and absolute returns during the month. In general, U.S. financial institutions have been well capitalised since the Global Financial Crisis, and we remain constructive on the sector,” says Kloss

Kloss adds: “In late March, the Fund significantly increased its exposure to long-duration U.S. investment-grade corporate bonds. We continue to minimise exposure to lower-quality corporate credit, and believe the best opportunities are in the financial, consumer non-cyclical and technology sectors. While we continue to believe that value exists within emerging market debt, we are cautiously positioned in this space due to the increasingly uncertain macro backdrop. The Fund also continues to have exposure to U.S. housing securities, which offer solid fundamentals with minimal direct interest rate sensitivity.

“Looking forward, we continue to closely monitor for value opportunities across the corporate credit spectrum. For instance, while the G3 central banks have each provided a backstop for investment-grade corporate issuers, the high-yield credit has not received the same level of intervention to date. Therefore, high-yield corporate credit has not seen the same demand or spread compression as the investment-grade market and may offer compelling value as the economic backdrop improves. However, any additional exposure there will be taken carefully and with a keen eye on the progress of reopening across the relevant sectors,” adds Kloss.

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Launched in 2010, Legg Mason Martin Currie Real Income Fund has built a long-term record of success in delivering high, sustainable and growing income alongside capital growth. In pursuing its objectives, the Fund invests in a mix of Australian listed companies that own hard, physical assets, such as property, utilities and infrastructure.

Its Active ETF version – the Betashares Legg Mason Real Income Fund (managed fund) (ASX: RINC) has also been awarded ‘Highly Recommended’ rating and was listed on the ASX in February 2018.

Supporting the ratings is Lonsec’s “high regard for the Martin Currie Listed Real Assets investment team” and “the disciplined investment process”.

Lonsec notes that the “Real Assets team are very experienced, and the portfolio managers have good tenure of working together”.  Ashton Reid is the Lead Portfolio Manager of the Fund is supported by Andrew Chambers and the broader investment team based in Melbourne and led by CIO, Reece Birtles.

In its report, Lonsec made note of the ESG integration within the Fund stating: “The Manager has clearly articulated a strong commitment to the integration of ESG within their investment process with a strong policy framework and clear public positioning.”

“Overall Lonsec views the strength of this commitment to be well above peers.  Lonsec’s review of the overall level of disclosure with respect to the Manager’s proxy voting and engagement, policies and reporting are assessed as industry leading, with particular credit paid to the details and clarity provided in the Manager Proxy Voting Policy.”

They added: “The Portfolio Managers demonstrated an ability to engage on broad ESG topics, and that the Manager could demonstrate clear ESG based engagement outcomes. Importantly, there was clear evidence that ESG considerations were at the forefront of proxy voting decisions. The Manager had a well-structured approach to the collection and use of ESG specific data supported by a dedicated three person ESG team.

Overall, on a peer relative basis, Lonsec considers the overall level of ESG integration within this fund to be ‘High’.”

Commenting on the strong long-term performance record, Lonsec notes: “The Fund has delivered a three-year total return of 11.4% p.a. (all figures net of fees) to 31 December 2019. Relative to the reference index consisting of 50% A-REIT /40% Utilities /10% Infrastructure, the Fund out-performed by +3.17% p.a. over this period. Over the same period, the Fund outperformed the Lonsec peer group median by 1.4% p.a. For calendar year 2019, the Fund achieved a net total return of 21.85% outperforming the reference index by +3.75% (both figures net of fees). The income component of the gross return was 5.8%, in excess of the Fund’s objective of 120% of the yield of the Benchmark (approx 4.3%).”

Ashton Reid, Portfolio Manager, Legg Mason Martin Currie Real Income Fund said: “With record low bond yields and heightened equity market volatility, these are challenging times for investors looking for stable and growing income streams. In this environment, we believe that ‘Real Assets’ remain the tangible building blocks of the economy that are used every day (even in a recession) and can offer compelling lower-risk income exposure.  Loner-term growth continues to be underpinned by the strong population and urbanisation rather than being directly dependent on the business cycle.”

Andy Sowerby, Head of Australia for Legg Mason concluded: “The Legg Mason Martin Currie Real Income Fund is an innovative, differentiated and proven investment strategy with a track record dating back almost a decade. It has been designed to provide an attractive income stream that grows over time and this has never been more needed than today. We are delighted that Lonsec has recognised this Fund with their highest possible rating of ‘Highly Recommended’.”

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Andy Sowerby

Legg Mason has reduced the Management Cost for the Legg Mason Brandywine Global Income Optimiser Fund, by 10 basis points to 0.65% per annum, effective immediately.

The Legg Mason Brandywine Global Income Optimiser Fund is managed by Brandywine Global, a highly rated and awarded specialist in global fixed income with proven expertise over multiple investment cycles. The Fund, which has $45 million (as at 30 September 2019) in funds under management since being launched in the Australian market in May 2017, has had a 10% net return in the past year to 31 October 2019.

Andy Sowerby, Managing Director, Legg Mason Australia & New Zealand, says: “This Fund has the dual aims of maximising income while preserving capital and achieves this through investing globally across the full range of fixed income markets.

“In the current climate, with the cash rate at 0.75% and predicted to go lower, we believe an active fixed-income Fund that can access diverse sources of income in global fixed income markets to secure a competitive yield while making every effort to protect investors’ capital is a powerful investment option.

“We understand that investors, especially if they are transitioning to, or are in, retirement, place a high priority of capital preservation, which is why this Fund also aims to limit downside risk by rotating risk across different sectors and through tactical hedging of credit and interest rate risk.”

The Legg Mason Brandywine Global Income Optimiser Fund investable universe includes a broad mix of global securities including but not limited to; sovereign debt, emerging markets debt, global high yield or investment grade credit, structured credit, convertible securities, preferred or common stock and currencies.  This flexibility allows Income Optimiser to source income from areas where it is attractive and available while avoiding where it is not. As different asset class, sectors, industries, and parts of the capital structure come in, and out of favour, Income Optimiser seeks income from the market-sub-sectors with the most favourable income profiles.

Sowerby says the research houses Lonsec and Zenith have given the Fund ratings of “Investment Grade” and “Recommended”, respectively, reflecting its growing status among its peers in this asset class.

“With the Fund approaching its three-year anniversary in May 2020, we believe its track record to date, when coupled with a lower and competitive fee, make this a compelling investment opportunity, especially for those investors for whom both attractive regular income and capital security are paramount.”

Key facts

The table below shows net returns:

Objective: Seeks to provide attractive levels of income relative to the market, over a full market cycle, while reducing volatility through actively managed strategies.

Key Benefits:

• Systematic and disciplined approach
• Top down macro & valuation driven   research
• Strong focus on income stream remaining stable
• Seeks to limit downside risks through sector rotation

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Mr. Sowerby will continue his position as Country Head and Managing Director for Legg Mason Australia & New Zealand, a role he has held since August 2016.

In his new and expanded role, Mr. Sowerby will continue to report to Terry Johnson, Head of Global Distribution and a member of the company’s executive management group. Mr. Johnson said: “Andy has more than 25 years of experience in senior distribution roles, including Board level experience at both Investec Asset Management and Martin Currie, an investment affiliate of Legg Mason. His management experience, coupled with his strong track record over the past three years leading our Australasian business, has made him the ideal candidate to take on additional responsibilities in this region. Lennie has been instrumental in establishing many of our business relationships in Asia and we would like to thank him for his contribution.”

Lennie Lim, Regional Head for Asia ex-Japan, will retire on 31 Mar 2020. Mr. Lim has been with Legg Mason for over 12 years and will be transitioning his duties to Mr. Sowerby over the course of the next few months.

Legg Mason is a diversified global asset management firm with nine investment affiliates spanning fixed income, equity, alternative and liquidity asset classes.

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Andy Sowerby

The Legg Mason Western Asset Australian Bond Fund, with more than A$1 billion in funds under management, has been added to the Zenith Investment Partners’ Elite Blend portfolios.

David Wright, Managing Partner and joint founder of Zenith Investment Partners said: “We are pleased to include this Fund in our managed portfolios, the Elite Blends portfolios, as our preferred Australian Fixed Income strategy. It provides exposure to an actively managed portfolio of Australian bonds by Legg Mason affiliate Western Asset.

“Western Asset is one of the world’s leading fixed income managers, recognised for its approach that emphasises team-based decision making, and intensive proprietary research supported by robust risk management.

“We place this Fund in the ‘highly recommended’ rating category. We believe it is well positioned to generate returns through a range of active strategies including sector rotation, credit selection and, to a lesser extent, interest-rate and yield-curve positioning.

“Bonds form a key component of an investor’s portfolio and more specifically their exposure to the fixed interest asset class due to the defensive characteristics they exhibit. The Fund is considered appropriate for those seeking exposure to domestic fixed interest and for blending with international fixed interest strategies to produce a more balanced set of investment outcomes.

“Zenith continues to have high regard for the Fund’s Melbourne-based team and the leadership qualities of Anthony Kirkham, Head of Investment Management. Further, with a demonstrated track record with respect to the achievement of targeted objectives, Zenith considers the Fund to be among the strongest propositions within our rated Australian Fixed Income ‘Bonds’ peer group,”  said Mr Wright.

Andy Sowerby, Managing Director, Legg Mason Australia and New Zealand said: “We are proud to partner with the Zenith Consulting team who have recognised the strong investment capabilities of Western Asset alongside the diversification and defensive characteristics that this Fund brings to a portfolio, especially in today’s volatile market conditions.

“The Legg Mason Western Asset Australian Bond fund is 20-years old and has been awarded the Zenith Fixed Income Manager of the Year in its category for the past three years, and has consistently delivered returns for investors since inception,” said Mr Sowerby.

The Fund recently surpassed A$1 billion in funds under management and is also available as an Active ETF (ASX: BNDS) which debuted on the ASX in November last year.

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Andy Sowerby

Two market-leading Legg Mason Fixed Income Funds, the Legg Mason Brandywine Global Opportunistic Fixed Income Fund and the Legg Mason Western Asset Australian Bond Fund are now available to financial advisers via the Colonial First State FirstWrap platform.

The Legg Mason Brandywine Global Opportunistic Fixed Income Fund currently manages over A$635 million for Australian investors and offers an unconstrained, high conviction global fixed income strategy with a ‘go-anywhere’ opportunistic style.^[1] Managed by Brandywine Global, the fund targets investment in markets offering the highest real yields and employs active currency management to help protect capital and enhance returns.

The Legg Mason Western Asset Australian Bond Fund, managing over A$1 billion in funds under management, is an actively managed fund against the Bloomberg AusBond Composite 0+ Year Index.^[1] Typically, it invests in Australian dollar-denominated debt securities paying fixed or floating rate coupons issued by governments, supra-national bodies and Australian and foreign corporates.  The fund is headed by veteran fixed income investor and Portfolio Manager Anthony Kirkham and is well supported by Western Asset’s deep global resources.

Legg Mason Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand, Andy Sowerby, notes: “We are very pleased to have these funds included on the Colonial First State FirstWrap platform. We have purposefully developed a full range of fixed income solutions that draw upon the world-class capabilities of our two leading specialist managers in this asset class – Western Asset and Brandywine Global.

“These flexible bond strategies are designed to help investors build more resilient and diversified portfolios. They increasingly appeal to investors due to the long-term strength of the propositions, competitive pricing and high independent ratings.

“We continue to ensure these award-winning funds are accessible via effective partners in structures that appeal to a variety of investors, be it financial advisers, self-directed investors or institutional clients,” said Mr Sowerby.

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 [1] Funds under management as at 14/08/2019

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Andy Sowerby

The Legg Mason Western Asset Australian Bond Fund has passed A$1 billion in funds under management, cementing its position as one of the leading Active Australian bond funds in the market.

This actively managed Fund is designed to outperform the Bloomberg AusBond Composite 0+ Year Index and is ranked top quartile in its peer group* over 3, 5, and 10. The Fund is designed to be a core holding in the defensive part of a well-diversified total portfolio and typically invests in Australian dollar-denominated debt securities paying fixed or floating rate coupons issued by governments, supranational bodies and Australian and foreign corporates. The Fund is headed by veteran fixed income investor and Portfolio Manager, Anthony Kirkham and is well supported by Western Asset’s extensive local and global resources.

A listed version of the Fund was launched in November 2018 as an Active ETF – the BetaShares Legg Mason Australian Bond Fund (managed fund) (ASX: BNDS). This is Australia’s first fixed income Active ETF.

Legg Mason Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand, Andy Sowerby, notes: “We have long argued that investors hold too little fixed income in portfolios and felt this had to change driven by two factors – a continued fall in the RBA cash rate allied to increasing concerns around the future returns of risk assets.

“To help investors deal with these forces we have purposefully developed a broad range of Fixed Income solutions and have seen strong interest and growth across the entire set. The Legg Mason Western Asset Bond Fund is one of the flagship offerings with a proven investment team, a compelling track record, and a highly rated and multi-award winning strategy.”

Anthony Kirkham, Head of Investment Management and Australian Operations at Western Asset, adds: “With equity market volatility increasing, as well as broader concerns around global growth and political outcomes, the defensive qualities of a well-constructed bond fund can add much-needed diversification and protection to an overall portfolio.  The Fund favours higher quality assets and currently has an average ‘AA’ credit rating.”

Mr Sowerby concluded: “The strong support for this Fund means it is now accessible across all the major platforms and can also be accessed on the ASX as an Active ETF-ASX ticker BNDS.

“Both the unlisted fund and BNDS are also very competitively priced with management costs of just 0.42% pa.”

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Western Asset, a leading fixed income investment manager affiliate of Legg Mason, in its recent midyear market outlook notes: “Trade negotiations have caused a substantial drag on sentiment, particularly over the past year. This has been feeding into softer trade figures and economic data, particularly manufacturing data, to the point where the US Federal Reserve (Fed) now has a dovish bent and markets expect more than one rate cut before the end of this year.”

The Western Asset investment team writes: The fear has long been that the ever expanding tit-for-tat on tariffs would lead to a major slowdown in trade, investment and activity globally, alongside possible geopolitical tension. Conversely, a resolution of trade tensions would be a welcome development for confidence and global economic activity. Most investment theses probably had not anticipated such a protracted standoff and there appears to be no resolution in sight.

Domestically, although inflation has consistently undershot the target in recent years, it is jobs growth, and the economic activity that follows, that is most likely to shape policy over the remainder of the year for the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the government. It would be positive if the government can be convinced to ease the fiscal purse strings, particularly now that traditional monetary policy has basically run its course and the Government is returning to budget surpluses.

A drop off in jobs growth, while the participation rate remains at or near record levels, would lead to a higher unemployment rate, hence the urgency by the RBA to keep activity high. A greater concern for policy makers is if the economy fails to return to moderate GDP growth by the end of the year after the past three lacklustre quarters.

Australian Rates – RBA likely on hold to assess recent cuts

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cut rates by 25 bps to 1% at its July meeting. This is not only the record low for the RBA, but the first consecutive cut in interest rates in Australia since 2012. Looking forward, the main question is whether the RBA will cut again in the short-term. We believe that they have bought some time, but employment growth is the key now.

Chart 1: RBA cash rate

Source: Reserve Bank of Australia, as at 5 July 2019.

With the major banks having passed through between 40 and 45 basis points (bps) of the 50 bp rate cut and with parliament passing the personal income tax cuts, consumers will have considerably more disposable income. Add to this the loosening of prudential settings for banks in the testing of new borrowers’ ability to service a mortgage and you have three measures that are providing a considerable economic stimulus. With house prices appearing to have found some support recently post the election and the “no change” result to the tax treatment of property, we should see an improvement in sentiment in the second half of the year.

Our base case is that the RBA will sit tight for a few months at least, and quite possibly for the remainder of 2019. This should enable the RBA to assess the impact of the cuts, as well as any contribution from fiscal policy towards improving economic growth, employment and ultimately inflation.

Domestic investment 0pportunities – credit still a focus

Monetary conditions globally remain extraordinarily accommodative, particularly as more recent pricing indicates expectations that the Fed will cut the funds rate more than once by the end of the year. Most other major central banks have also become increasingly dovish.

We believe such conditions will continue to favour spread sectors and in our opinion, these sectors should be the best-performing fixed-income assets and remain our major theme. Nonetheless, we are highly critical in our assessments of credit, deal structures and pricing.

We maintain an overweight to corporate bonds with a concentration in large financials, property trusts and utilities, focused at shorter maturities to manage spread risk. We may seek to add selectively where market volatility has forced spreads wider than credit fundamentals would justify or as new opportunities present.

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Ashton Reid

For investors who are focused on income, real income continues to provide an attractive yield and income growth from defensive assets which benefit from population growth, employment growth and infrastructure spending in the Australian domestic economy.

The return of market volatility, along with continued uncertainty regarding the status of cash refunds on franking credits, is sending a strong signal to income-oriented investors to consider weighting their portfolios more heavily towards real assets, says BetaShares Legg Mason Real Income Fund (managed fund) (ASX: RINC) Portfolio Manager, Ashton Reid.

“We saw bond yields rise in early 2018 in response to strong global economic growth and higher inflation expectations that caused central banks, especially the US Federal Reserve, to start to tighten monetary policy and unwind quantitative easing policies, with the top in yields around June.”

“But as the year progressed, signs of moderation in US growth, and heightened risks, including US-China trade tensions, Brexit uncertainty and geopolitical tensions, fueled investor uncertainty. This caused bond yields to fall again, a situation acknowledged by the US Federal Reserve’s decision to signal the cancelling of any more interest rate rises this year.”

“In this environment, investors are understandably looking for more stable equity investment options – and real assets (companies that own hard physical assets such as property, utilities and infrastructure) can help provide a defensive shield.”

Reid says these companies typically have strong market positions and growing demand driven by population growth, giving them the capacity to raise prices, in some cases above the inflation rate, regardless of the business cycle.

“These companies form part of everyday life and often are monopolistic in nature. Their demand profile is therefore relatively inelastic and not pegged to the business cycle, and consequently these companies have more predictable free cash flows and dividends,” he says.

Since its launch in February 2018, the Betashares Legg Mason Real Income Fund (managed fund) (ASX: RINC) has experienced steady demand from investors seeking out a defensive, income-focused equity fund providing investors with a combination of solid income and a lower volatility target in difficult market conditions.

RINC’s total return since inception^[1] (net of fees) has been a strong 18.25%.  The Fund is currently forecast to provide a dividend yield of 5.5% (excluding any franking credits) over the next 12 months on a forward-looking basis^[2]. RINC is “Recommended” by Lonsec and Zenith^[3].

“We believe the outlook for RINC is positive as key drivers of the income stream will continue to be population growth and the pricing ability of the businesses held.”

Current top holdings include Transurban Group, Stockland, Vicinity Centres and AGL Energy. Other stock holdings that significantly contributed to the recent performance of the Fund include a number of New Zealand energy companies such as Meridian Energy (GNE), Contact Energy (CEN) Genesis Energy (GNE) and Mercury New Zealand (MCY). Other good performers were Charter Hall Group (CHC) and APA Group (APA) while Stockland (SGP), Aveo Group (AOG) and  Unibail Rodamco Westfield (URW) were notable detractors^[4].

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