• SEEK updates Growth Fund with new liquidity and fee arrangements

    A smiling businessman sits at a desk with bags of money, indicating a share price rise after funding has been approved

    The SEEK Ltd (ASX: SEK) share price is in focus today after the company provided an update on its SEEK Growth Fund, with new arrangements aimed at boosting liquidity for investors and reducing SEEK’s stake in the Fund over time.

    What did SEEK report?

    • The SEEK Growth Fund enters Stage 2 from 1 November 2026 with revised terms approved by unitholders.
    • Investments have been classified into Core Assets (valued at $1.25 billion) and Non-Core Assets ($499 million as of September 2026).
    • New incentive arrangements mean the Fund Manager’s carried interest is only payable if at least $840 million of liquidity is made available to investors, including approximately $700 million for SEEK.
    • Total management fees paid by SEEK to the Manager will drop to around $17 million per year, with $5 million in fees on SEEK-managed assets now removed.
    • Since 2021, the Fund has delivered a 12% return on investment, with distributions representing 13% of invested capital.

    What else do investors need to know?

    Stage 2’s arrangements focus on maximising long-term value and providing substantial liquidity to SEEK and other Fund investors, mainly through potential near-term sales of assets valued at over $1 billion. The revised structure also aims for a disciplined approach, incentivising the Manager to deliver liquidity by setting a clear threshold tied to carried interest payouts.

    SEEK will not contribute further capital to the Fund, aligning with its wider goal of gradually reducing its current 83.8% stake. The company also highlighted that future management fees are benchmarked to market rates, providing cost savings compared to the Fund’s earlier phase.

    What did SEEK management say?

    CEO and Managing Director Ian Narev said:

    Our priority is, and has always been, to maximise the value of our investment in the Fund and receive liquidity over time. Since the Fund was established, it has delivered a 12% return on investment, with distributions representing 13% of invested capital, despite challenging macro conditions and valuation pressure across the sector. This performance has been underpinned by revenue growth across the portfolio, particularly among the HR SaaS investments. SEEK and the Fund remain fully aligned on these objectives, and we are confident the revised arrangements provide a pathway to near-term liquidity. Linking the Fund Manager’s incentives to returning capital to investors and establishing a clear liquidity threshold for carried interest, supports a disciplined approach to realising value for all investors. We believe this provides an enhanced framework to pursue strong investment outcomes while delivering meaningful liquidity to SEEK.

    What’s next for SEEK?

    Looking ahead, SEEK’s focus is on supporting and realising value from its Core Assets, which remain central to the Fund’s strategy of generating returns above 20% per annum. With no further capital injections planned, SEEK expects its ownership in the Fund to decline progressively as asset sales occur.

    The company will keep evaluating its stake and participating in the evolving Fund arrangements, while continuing to manage key assets directly, including Zhaopin and JobAdder. Governance arrangements for the Fund remain unchanged.

    SEEK share price snapshot

    Over the past 12 months, Seek shares have declined 54%, trailing the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), which has declined 3% over the same period.

    View Original Announcement

    The post SEEK updates Growth Fund with new liquidity and fee arrangements appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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    Motley Fool contributor Laura Stewart has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips. This article was prepared with the assistance of Large Language Model (LLM) tools for the initial summary of the company announcement. Any content assisted by AI is subject to our robust human-in-the-loop quality control framework, involving thorough review, substantial editing, and fact-checking by our experienced writers and editors holding appropriate credentials. The Motley Fool Australia stands behind the work of our editorial team and takes ultimate responsibility for the content published by The Motley Fool Australia.

  • 80,450 shares of this ASX dividend stock pays an income equal to the Age Pension

    Australian dollar notes in the pocket of a man's jeans, symbolising dividends.

    Australia’s Age Pension is very generous and offers a number of positives, including protection against inflation. If I were relying on income, I’d rather receive payments from Argo Investments Ltd (ASX: ARG) and other ASX dividend stocks.

    Argo Investments is one of Australia’s oldest and largest listed investment companies (LICs). It was founded in 1946 and has clearly succeeded with its targets.

    It speaks volumes that cricketing legend Don Bradman joined the board in 1954 and served until 1984. Argo’s strategy has been steady, long-term investing, resulting in solid performance of the portfolio.

    Let’s run through why the business is so appealing today.

    Diversification

    The job of an LIC is to invest in other shares/assets to generate investment returns.

    Argo’s portfolio is focused on large ASX shares that enable the LIC to provide reliable fully-franked dividend income and capital growth.

    For pleasing diversification, Argo has invested across an array of ASX shares.

    At the end of September 2026, the businesses that were a weighting of more than 3% in the Argo portfolio, included BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP), Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG), Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: ANZ), Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES), Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC), CSL Ltd (ASX: CSL), Santos Ltd (ASX: STO), Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS), National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB), and Aristocrat Leisure Ltd (ASX: ALL).

    As you can see, it’s many of the ASX’s leading blue chips.

    Its performance has been solid – at 30 June 2026, its pre-tax net tangible assets (NTA) after costs was stronger than the S&P/ASX 200 Accumulation Index (ASX: XJOA) over the prior six months, 12 months, three years, and five years.

    That solid performance has been good enough for the ASX dividend stock to pay good passive income over the last few years.  

    Rising dividends

    After a difficult start to the 2020s following COVID-19 impacts, the LIC increased its payout in FY22 and FY23, maintained the payout in FY24, grew it in FY25, and hiked again in FY26.

    Pleasingly, the company has guided that it plans to hike the dividend again in FY27 to 40 cents per share with four quarterly dividends of 10 cents per share.

    The FY27 payout would represent a year-over-year increase of 3.9%, so it essentially matches the current elevated rate of inflation.

    Good dividend yield

    Argo can provide investors with a solid dividend yield, which I think is appealing. I’d rather have a mixture of yield and long-term growth rather than a big yield and no growth (or declines).

    At the time of writing, and based on the guided annual dividend of 40 cents per share, it translates into a forward dividend yield of 4.4% excluding franking credits and 6.3% including franking credits.

    This is much more appealing passive income than what’s on offer from Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF (ASX: VAS).

    How much of the ASX dividend stock it would take to match the Australian Age Pension

    Currently, the maximum annualised Age Pension that a single person can receive is approximately $32,180.

    To receive that much from Argo in relation to its FY27 dividend, an investor would need to buy 80,450 shares. Considering (at the time of writing) it’s trading at a discount of 17% to its pre-tax net tangible assets (NTA) at 16 October 2026, I think it’s a good time to buy. But, I’d also want to invest in other ASX dividend stocks too for dividend diversification.

    The post 80,450 shares of this ASX dividend stock pays an income equal to the Age Pension appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

    Wondering where to invest $1,000 right now?

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    Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended CSL, Macquarie Group, and Wesfarmers. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Telstra Group. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended BHP Group, CSL, Macquarie Group, and Wesfarmers. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

  • Morgans names 3 ASX shares to buy now

    A man holding a cup of coffee puts his thumb up and smiles with a laptop open.

    The team at Morgans has been busy running the rule over a number of ASX shares.

    Three that have fared well and been given buy ratings are listed below. Here’s why the broker is bullish on them:

    ARB Corporation Ltd (ASX: ARB)

    Morgans was a touch disappointed with this 4×4 parts manufacturer’s performance during the first quarter.

    However, it remains positive on the future and has retained its buy rating with a $25.90 price target. This implies potential upside of over 50% for investors.

    Commenting on ARB, Morgans said:

    ARB’s 1Q27 update was disappointing: sales -6.1% (1Q26 +3.8%) as Aftermarket and Export weakness (single-digit declines) outweighed strong OEM growth. Positively, PBT grew despite weaker sales amid steady gross margins (FX-driven). While a softer Aftermarket result was largely expected (ARB’s core vehicle volumes -16% in 1Q27), Export was a negative surprise, as slower US OEM sales, softer UK vehicle volumes and weak NZ demand offset growth in the US Aftermarket, Africa, Europe and SE Asia. 

    Positively, new OEM contract wins and early indications of recovering OEM sales support the division’s outlook. Despite softer near-term sales, resilient margins should continue to underpin the earnings base, with improving vehicle supply and various network and growth initiatives driving the earnings recovery. BUY maintained, A$25.90ps target price.

    Navigator Global Investments Ltd (ASX: NGI)

    The broker highlights that this global investment company delivered a mixed quarter.

    Nevertheless, it remains positive and has retained its buy rating and $3.04 price target. This suggests that the ASX share could rise around 46% from current levels.

    The broker commented:

    NGI has released its September 2026 (1Q27) AUM update. We saw this as a bit of a mixed quarter. Group ownership-adjusted AUM rose +9% (or a solid ~+3% excluding Stable Growth), led by the NGI Strategic Portfolio (+9%). 

    However, Lighthouse was softer, with net flows slowing to +US$280m (4Q26: +US$690m), being mostly into lower-margin managed accounts, and largely offset by negative performance (-US$240m). We make no changes to our forecasts or our A$3.04 price target. With >20% upside remaining to our PT, we maintain our BUY recommendation.

    Netwealth Group Ltd (ASX: NWL)

    A third ASX share that has been given the thumbs up from Morgans is investment platform provider Netwealth.

    Once again, although Netwealth’s quarterly performance fell short of expectations, Morgans still sees plenty of value in its shares. 

    As a result, it has retained its buy rating with a $22.90 price target. It said:

    NWL’s 1Q27 net flows of A$2.6bn were below VA consensus (A$3.5bn), with elevated gross outflows persisting (incl. two institutional client exits totalling A$0.6bn). Group FUA grew +2.5% QoQ to a record A$139.2bn, ~1.3% shy of VA consensus (A$141.0bn), with markets a slight +A$0.8bn tailwind. FY27 net flows guidance was lowered to A$17-19bn, with NWL flagging budget impacts & market volatility as current headwinds to adviser/investor behaviour. 

    We trim our FY27-29F NPAT forecasts by -5-6% reflecting a modest miss vs MorgF, and the addition of Paradino into MorgansF. NWL is trading on a FY27 P/E of ~30x (a -35% discount to its 5yr avg). Our BUY rating is retained with a PT of A$22.90/sh.

    The post Morgans names 3 ASX shares to buy now appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

    Wondering where to invest $1,000 right now?

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    Scott just revealed what he believes could be the ‘five best ASX stocks’ for investors to buy right now. We believe these stocks are trading at attractive prices and Scott thinks they could be great buys right now…

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    * Returns as of 6 March 2025

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    Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended ARB Corporation and Netwealth Group. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Netwealth Group. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended ARB Corporation. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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