Among many announcements during its annual general meeting (AGM) last week, CML Group Ltd (ASX: CGR) voted to change its name. The debtor finance company is rebranding all of its disparate businesses to EarlyPay. Although not yet changed on the ASX, the company has already launched a rebranded software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform and website. By the end of the week, the EarlyPay share price had risen by 7.46%.

There were also many other structural changes announced during the AGM. For instance, a restructure of the company’s debt financing portfolio, a distribution agreement with a large scale brokerage network, and the formal launch of its SaaS platform.

What’s driving the EarlyPay share price?

EarlyPay is a non-bank lender in the commercial sector. Nonetheless, unlike non-bank lenders in the mortgage sector, its loans are not secured by real estate. Moreover, it specialises in debtor finance in the areas of invoice finance, asset finance and trade finance.

The company recently purchased a SaaS platform, moving its invoice financing operations onto a digital platform. The company believes this will increase its addressable market by 140%. 

Debt management

Like other non-bank lenders, EarlyPay does not have deposits. Nor does it have access to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) $200 billion term funding facility (TFF). This is a facility that provides banks access to funds at the very low current cash rate of 0.1%. As a result, the company must rely on other mechanisms to secure the capital it needs to provide its loans. 

The EarlyPay share price is benefitting, in part, by the restructure of its debt portfolio, shaving $1.5 million from its annual costs. This will include retirement of corporate bonds in December. In addition, it will move to warehouse funding, and tap the Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM) for $36 million of capital via COVID-19 initiatives. 

Distribution agreements

EarlyPay also announced a formal distribution agreement with COG Financial Services Ltd (ASX: COG), Australia’s largest asset finance broker and aggregator. This will provide EarlyPay with a much enlarged broker network through which the company can market to and educate potential customers. COG Financial Services currently holds a 16.3% stake in EarlyPay as a result of a FY20 aborted takeover attempt.

In addition, EarlyPay has appointed Mr Stephen White to the board. Mr White is also a current director of COG Financial Services. He has been appointed, in part, to facilitate the relationship between the two companies. 

Commenting on the opportunity with COG, Daniel Riley, CEO of CML said;

The agreement with COG facilitates access for CML to Australia’s largest distribution network for commercial finance. The CML team looks forward to working with COG brokers to offer its finance solutions to SME’s and anticipates an opportunity to expand business volumes across all products.

Foolish takeaway

EarlyPay believes it has significantly increased its addressable market by moving to a SaaS platform, and a distribution agreement. It has also dramatically reduced costs in its debt portfolio, along with cost reductions achieved during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

The EarlyPay share price is now enjoying a level of upward momentum. This was after falling substantially in May when the aforementioned takeover deal fell through.

More reading

• Ask a fund manager: Totus Capital’s Sam Granger reveals the methods behind his outperforming High Conviction Fund
• BlueScope (ASX:BSL) share price on watch as takeover rumours swirl
• Revealed: Shares that’ll shoot up with a COVID-19 recovery
• Tech shares could crash 40%, warns fundie
• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX continues to climb, despite outage

Motley Fool contributor Daryl Mather has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

The post Why the EarlyPay (ASX:CGR) share price rocketed up 7% last week appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

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Ask any group of market veterans the key to investing success, and some will inevitably say you need to regularly trade in and out of shares.

Ask Sam Granger, the fund manager for the Totus Capital High Conviction Fund, and he’ll readily refute that concept.

Sam has a long-term investing horizon, telling The Motley Fool he hopes to find investments his fund can buy and hold forever. And a look at his fund’s performance over the past 3 years adds significant weight to his words.

Since the High Conviction Fund’s inception in January 2017, it’s delivered 18.5% in annual returns, net of all fees (as at the end of October). That compares to the 5.4% annual return from the All Ordinaries Total Return Index (ASX: XAOA), which includes dividend payments.

The past 12 months has seen an even stronger outperformance, with the High Conviction Fund returning 26.0%. That compares to a loss of 6.5% for the All Ords Total Return Index.

The fund is ASX focused, investing in both small and large-cap businesses. It’s also able to invest globally in developed markets when opportunities present.

The Totus High Conviction Fund currently has $12.5 million of total assets under management.

Sam explains that the fund’s small size, relative it its peers, provides a key competitive advantage, saying, “It enables us to invest up and down the market cap spectrum without compromising our liquidity.”

Read on for the full interview as Sam Granger reveals the methods behind his fund’s stellar track record. 

What attributes do you look at before investing in a share?  

We have a rigorous due diligence process that we put prospective investments through before they can be included in the Totus High Conviction Fund. The three key attributes we are looking for are:

1. Deep and sustainable competitive advantage – we are looking for great businesses that have unique characteristics that allow them to earn high returns on capital for long periods in to the future. 
2. Runway for growth ­– we are looking for businesses that have opportunities to grow their earnings through time with high returns on incremental capital deployed.
3. Excellent management team – we are looking for management teams that have a track record of outstanding operational performance and shareholder focused capital allocation. 

Once you have found these three characteristics, the fourth consideration is price. Overpaying for good assets can lead to poor investment outcomes.

How important is broader macro analysis in your decisions? 

We place no emphasis in our research process on macro forecasts of interest rates, exchange rates, commodity prices, etc. These variables are important but unknowable, in our view. We instead focus on building a portfolio of companies with robust business models and strong balance sheets that can thrive under a variety of macroeconomic outcomes. 

Whilst we are not interested in macroeconomic forecasts, we are interested in structural shifts in consumer and business behaviour and how that impacts businesses. We generally favour companies that are benefitting from structural tailwinds that can aid future earnings growth.

ESG (environmental, social, and governance) investing continues to be a growing trend. Does this impact your investing decisions? 

We have no specific ESG mandate in the Totus High Conviction Fund. That said, we think it makes good investment sense to look for businesses which are creating value for all of their stakeholders. Unsustainable relationships within the business value chain are a good sign of a management team too focused on the short term.  

Knowing when to sell can mean the difference between a profit and a loss. How do you determine when it’s time to sell?  

It’s a good question and one that I think about a lot. Unfortunately, there is no rule of thumb here which will enable you to make good sell decisions all the time.

One thing I would say is that if you read the letters of the investment greats, one of the recurring lessons is that selling a truly great business because it has gotten expensive on near term earnings is a mistake. My own experience selling great businesses too early suggests that this is a valuable piece of advice.  

Do you use stop-losses of any variety? What types of risk management do you employ? 

No, we do not use stop losses. The key piece of risk management for external investors is alignment. The Totus High Conviction Fund is by far my largest personal investment and for that reason we are focused on risk as well as return. We have also set ourselves a limit of no position being larger than 20% of the fund at cost.

What was your top investment over the past year? Why did you choose to invest in it? And what is your outlook for this share? 

The top investment for the Fund over the past year was Objective Corporation Limited (ASX: OCL), which delivered a 186% return.

We chose to invest in this business because it met the 3 criteria I mentioned earlier – deep moat, runway for growth and excellent management. Objective sells mission critical software into government, which is very sticky once implemented. It has been undertaking a transition to recurring revenue, which has greatly improved the earnings quality of the business.

We think earnings and cash flow growth from here will be strong and it remains one of the largest positions in the Totus High Conviction Fund.

Flipping that, can you share your worst performer with us?

Our worst performer has been Gentrack Group Ltd (ASX: GTK), which sells customer billing software to energy retailers. Our key error was overestimating the stability of Gentrack’s end markets.

Energy retailers operate on thin margins in a highly competitive market. Regulatory changes in Australia and the UK impaired retailer profitability, which subsequently stymied their investment in software systems like Gentrack’s. We were too slow to recognise this business model pressure and then underestimated its impact on Gentrack. We also failed to act aggressively enough in cutting the position when we discovered some accounting red flags.

What’s the average holding period for shares in the High Conviction Fund? 

We are long-term investors and hope to find investments we can buy and hold forever. We subscribe to Charlie Munger’s belief that “the big money isn’t made in the buying and selling, but in the waiting”. We have owned Objective Corp for 3½ years and many of our other largest investments for a number of years. 

When we are entering new positions, we tend to start small and slowly build the position as our knowledge and conviction grows. Sometimes you quite quickly discover you have made a mistake and need to exit a position after a short period of time because the business or management are not what you thought they were. 

How did COVID-19 impact your investment decisions? How do you see that moving forward over the next 12 months? 

Financial history teaches us that unanticipated shocks such as credit crunches, wars and pandemics will inevitably rear their head over an investing life time.

Our view was that COVID-19, whilst devastating to some communities and businesses in the short-term, would not impair the long-term earnings power of the businesses we owned. For that reason, we used the COVID-19 sell off as a buying opportunity, deploying our cash reserves into existing holdings at very attractive prices. Cash levels in the Fund fell from 21% in January 2020 to 11% in March as equity markets sold off.  

Ideally, we would have all our cash deployed in great businesses at fair prices. The movement in our cash holdings from here will be a function of how successfully we find new investment opportunities and more broadly whether equity prices become attractive. We can’t predict this in advance.

What do you see as the biggest opportunity for retail investors in year ahead?

We continue to like Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) as an investment proposition. It’s got two huge growth businesses in Office365 and Azure, both of which look to have significant runway for future growth.

Office365 has the opportunity to further penetrate the office installed base and increase price through time. We are users of the software and derive a huge amount of value from it relative to what we pay in monthly subscription fees.

On Azure, as recently as last quarter, CEO Satya Nadella estimated cloud infrastructure is only 20% penetrated for existing applications. In addition to these 2 large growth assets, Microsoft owns a collection of high-quality businesses such as Windows, Xbox and LinkedIn.

And what do you believe is the biggest threat to share investors? 

The biggest threat to investors is always their own emotions and behaviours. Trying to time markets, using leverage and over trading are just a few examples of perennial threats to long-term wealth creation in the share market.

As Warren Buffett says, “The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.”

More reading

• I have too many tech shares: Do I sell, buy or hold?
• 3 little-known ASX shares rated as buys by fundie
• Here are the US shares that CommSec customers are buying
• What COVID-19? World’s 5 most valuable brands are up 54%
• Here are the shares Magellan has been buying recently

Teresa Kersten, an employee of LinkedIn, a Microsoft subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Bernd Struben has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and recommends Microsoft. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Objective Limited and recommends the following options: long January 2021 $85 calls on Microsoft and short January 2021 $115 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

The post Ask a fund manager: Totus Capital’s Sam Granger reveals the methods behind his outperforming High Conviction Fund appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

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The market is expected to rise this morning but the BlueScope Steel Limited (ASX: BSL) share price could get an extra lift on takeover rumours.

There’s speculation that private equity groups are running the ruler over the global steel products manufacturer, reported the Australian Financial Review.

If a bid is lobbed, it could value the BlueScope share price at $25 a pop!

Why the BlueScope share price looks attractive to suitors

Buyout firms are reported attracted to the group due to expectations of a huge US stimulus boost and its exposure to infrastructure construction.

US house prices are zooming higher even as COVID‐19 is crippling its economy. A large cash injection to get people spending again could create a second tailwind for home construction.

That’s good news for BlueScope’s Colourbond division, but the good news doesn’t stop there. The group also serves the infrastructure sector and governments around the world are turning to such projects to get their economies moving again.

Attentive investors won’t have to be reminded that BlueScope only recently issued a profit upgrade.

What is the BlueScope share price really worth?

The question is whether these trends are worth $25 a share to would-be buyers of the BSL share price. This lofty figure may be based on a break-up value of BlueScope as the group is split along geographical markets.

The AFR also speculates that any bidder would need to offer up that amount to win over BlueScope shareholders. I am a shareholder and I know I will be throwing my hat into the ring at that price!

But don’t get overexcited. It’s still too early to say if the rumours have any legs, although it comes at a time when several high-profile ASX stocks are under the merger and acquisition (M&A) spotlight.

Recent ASX stocks under the M&A spotlight

Some examples of S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index:^AXJO) that have received a bid or are suspected of being pursued include the AMP Ltd (ASX: AMP) share price, Tabcorp Holdings Limited (ASX: TAB) share price and Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd (ASX: CCL) share price – just to name a few.

Nothing like a bit of FOMO to get the M&A ball rolling. Record low interest rates and the desperate hunt for growth is tempting cashed-up buyers to seek out targets before they miss out.

But treat M&A rumours with caution. There is always a reason why such news is leaked to the media.

BlueScope share price may also get divestment boost

On the other hand, even if the BlueScope takeover turns out to be hot air from a blast furnace, it may put the BSL share price in the “divestment basket”.

One bigger trend than the M&A theme is for ASX companies to sell or spin-off non-core assets. As I have explained before, divesting assets is a surer way of creating shareholder value than takeovers.

The takeover talk may put pressure on BSL to consider such a move in 2021, although its outperforming share price will give management breathing space.

More reading

• Why ALS, BlueScope, FlexiGroup, & Perpetual shares are charging higher
• Why the BlueScope (ASX:BSL) share price is surging 6%
• Why the Downer (ASX:DOW) share price is outperforming today
• Aussie companies blast ‘knee-jerk’ COVID-19 border closures
• 3 shares that have strongly outperformed their sectors this month

Motley Fool contributor Brendon Lau owns shares of AMP Limited and BlueScope Steel Limited. Connect with me on Twitter @brenlau.

The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

The post BlueScope (ASX:BSL) share price on watch as takeover rumours swirl appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

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Two fund managers who look after WAM Leaders Ltd (ASX: WLE) have revealed which sectors they’re expecting to rise as the globe moves on from COVID-19.

WAM Leaders lead portfolio manager, Matthew Haupt, said gross domestic product would jump once a vaccine or treatment came along.

And there has to be businesses to provide that output.

“You’ve got to be positioned for anything linked to economic activity or recovery,” he said in a Wilson Asset Management video.

“Balance sheets will be rewarded finally. They were punished before.” 

Haupt picked out the insurance industry as ready for a big recovery.

“That’s very much out of favour at the moment. But that’s a sector that will benefit from rising yields.”

The sector was rocked last week when a court ruled that insurance companies could not refuse to pay out COVID-related business interruption claims. It remains to be seen how much this will cost the industry.

WAM Leaders portfolio manager, John Ayoub, specifically called out Insurance Australia Group Ltd (ASX: IAG) and QBE Insurance Group Ltd (ASX: QBE) as insurance providers to watch.

He also liked the look of companies that benefit from government spending.

“Stocks like Lendlease Group (ASX: LLC) and Downer EDI Limited (ASX: DOW) will continue to do well over the next 12 to 24 months.”

Mature companies took a broom to their operations

The coronavirus pandemic has given companies an excuse to restructure their business, according to Ayoub.

“What we’re going to see when we come out the other side is more profitability in corporate Australia.”

He took Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) as an example of a company that executed reforms that would not have been possible pre-COVID.

“They were able to redress their cost base… As you come out the other side, their domestic earnings will probably be greater than their peak earnings for the group in totality from 2018.”

Dividend vs growth shares

Haupt predicted a roaring comeback by dividend shares.

“Dividend payers have been punished in this environment, which is quite bizarre. They will be the next beneficiaries as well.”

He believes that much of the money that flowed this year from dividend shares into fast-growth shares would reverse flow post-COVID.

In fact, Haupt went as far as to forecast share prices of technology shares could crash as much as 40%.

This is because the prospect of ultra-low interest rates would dissipate once a vaccine or treatment is mass-distributed.

“That transition will be quite painful for a lot of people,” said Haupt.

Investors who thought this year brought a permanent and fundamental shift in the way the world operates could get burnt, according to Ayoub.

“Although people have suggested structural change has happened rapidly, as we know from the past, things don’t happen that quickly.”

Earlier this month, IG Group Holdings plc (LON: IGG) surveyed 253 fund managers and economic experts on the sectors they thought would do the best during the recovery period.

Pharmaceuticals was the most popular pick, with 73% thinking it would increase in value over the next 12 months.

But the second most popular answer was a surprise, with technology chosen by 66% of the experts.

“Companies with interests in digital technology and remote working should prove to be strong performers over the next 5 years,” stated the IG report.

“Also, digital companies with fewer physical assets, or ones that are able to embrace the new socially distant, tech-first culture will survive the crisis.”

More reading

• Tech shares could crash 40%, warns fundie
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday
• Landlease (ASX:LLC) share price falls on subdued earnings
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Friday
• ASX 200 down 0.3%: Altium FY 2021 guidance, Crown drops, insurance shares sink

Motley Fool contributor Tony Yoo owns shares of Qantas Airways Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

The post Revealed: Shares that’ll shoot up with a COVID-19 recovery appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

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A prominent fund manager has warned over-inflated technology shares could sink 40% as the world recovers from COVID-19.

United States and ASX tech shares have staged a remarkable rally since the world was first struck hard by the virus at the start of the year.

The S&P/ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX) is up more than 120% since it hit the bottom in March. 

Investors have climbed over each other to buy up shares like Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) and Temple & Webster Group Ltd (ASX: TPW). That’s multiplied their prices 11-fold and 6-fold respectively since March.

The rally has come as governments and central banks around the globe have lowered interest rates and introduced stimulus to prevent an economic disaster.

WAM Leaders Ltd (ASX: WLE) lead portfolio manager, Matthew Haupt, said this pumps up the attractiveness of companies currently scaling up. But it can’t last forever.

“The rate environment is incredibly low, and everyone’s extrapolating this out for a long period of time,” he said in a Wilson Asset Management video.

“We look at the tech sector as overvalued… Prices could fall 30%, 40%.”

What will make the market turn against tech?

For Haupt, the mass deployment of a coronavirus vaccine will be a turning point.

This is because that will provide governments and central banks confidence to pull back stimulus and ultra-low interest rates.

He said economic crises are normally caused by a bubble, but 2020 is different.

“Everything’s been put on hold, but there is no central bubble to deflate,” he said.

“So if we can get fiscal policy kicking things along and monetary [policy] holding up asset prices, and we can recover out of this… ‘low rate environment forever’ will be proven to be wrong.”

This disjoint will cause “big shocks” to the share market, according to Haupt.

Already the promise of two vaccines mean that the world is moving on from phase 1 (pandemic) to phase 2 (recovery).

“We are in phase 2 if the vaccine is here. But everyone’s caught in phase 1 still,” Haupt said.

“That transition will be quite painful for a lot of people.”

WAM Leaders portfolio manager, John Ayoub, said the beneficiaries from this crazy year can’t stay winners post-COVID.

“You can’t put a multiple on this year’s sales and this year’s earnings. We’d heed caution on that,” he said.

“Although people have suggested structural change has happened rapidly, as we know from the past, things don’t happen that quickly.”

Should you reduce tech in your portfolio?

Due to the inflation in tech share prices, even if you didn’t directly buy any during the year, the chances are they are taking up a higher percentage in your portfolio now.

The Motley Fool last week spoke to several fund managers about what investors can do if they fear overexposure to the sector.

Multiple professionals said the nature of the individual tech shares matter.

“Tech shares come in all shapes and sizes, manufacturers, service companies, intermediaries, intellectual property owners, etc,” Nucleus Wealth head of investments, Damien Klassen said.

“Show concern about your portfolio if you have too many growth and expensive stocks. But, tech shares aren’t all expensive. For every Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ: AMD) trading on 90 times last year’s earnings, there is an Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) trading on 9 times.”

Frazis Capital Partners portfolio manager, Michael Frazis, has done pretty well out of tech, but is now selling down. He’s turning his attention to another fast-growing sector.

“We are dramatically reducing what little we have left invested in 40x revenue businesses,” he told his clients last week.

“Longer term yields have begun to rise, tech valuations are at record highs, and we believe a period of serious multiple compression has already begun.”

More reading

• 2 ASX small cap shares tipped for big things
• 2 great ASX shares to buy
• Are these the new paths for growth of the Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price?
• I have too many tech shares: Do I sell, buy or hold?
• Is the Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price a buy today?

Tony Yoo owns shares of AFTERPAY T FPO and Temple & Webster Group Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Temple & Webster Group Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. recommends Intel. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of AFTERPAY T FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Temple & Webster Group Ltd. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

The post Tech shares could crash 40%, warns fundie appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

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The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) notched up another week of solid gains last week, pushing the index to its third week in a row of a finish in the green. Since the start of the month, the ASX 200 has added nearly 10%, meaning we are on track to see the best month for ASX 200 shares since April. Back then, the index was coming out of the coronavirus-induced freefall that we saw in March, making this month even more extraordinary. At the level the ASX 200 closed at on Friday afternoon (6,539 points), we are only 1.3% away from reaching the level the index began 2020 at, and 8.7% away from the all-time high of 7,162 points we saw in mid-February.

And all that was despite the… unexpected outage we saw in ASX trading on Monday.

ASX shutdown

Yes, the ASX was closed for the majority of trading on Monday, the first time the exchange has had to shut unexpectedly in years. In fact, after trading opened at 10am on Monday, investors were only treated to approximately 24 minutes of trading before the exchange was shut down by its operator ASX Ltd (ASX: ASX).

The cause? A system-wide IT glitch. As our in-depth coverage revealed at the time, the ASX attributed the system freeze to a new trading platform supplied by the United States Nasdaq exchange. The ASX has reportedly used this platform since January after extensive testing. The ASX said the issue appeared to have been caused by combination orders, which are normally used by large or institutional investors.

Even though trading resumed as normal on Tuesday without a hitch, the ASX is still in a lot of hot water over the issue. The company is currently being investigated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) over the incident, with ASIC releasing a statement that said the following:

ASIC is actively assessing ASX’s compliance with its market licence obligations and is considering further actions to ensure the adequacy of ASX’s human, financial and technological resources to operate its markets in an orderly manner.

ASIC isn’t the only government body to express concerns either. We also reported that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) weighed in on the outage, stating its “concern” over the incident.

Even so, the markets weren’t evidently as concerned as the regulators, since the ASX 200 promptly banked a 0.2% gain on Tuesday upon reopening. Speaking of…

How did the markets end the week?

The ASX 200 had a top week, rising from the 6,405.2 points it finished the prior week at to 6,539.2 points – a rise of 2.09%. Monday saw a healthy 1.24% gain in the 24 minutes it was open. Finally with a full day of trading under its belt on Tuesday, the ASX 200 gained the 0.21% we discussed earlier. Wednesday and Thursday backed these gains up with additional 0.51% and 0.25% rises respectively, with Friday delivering the only red day of the week with a 0.12% loss.

Meanwhile, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) also had a top week, starting out at 6,609.3 points and finishing up at 6,739.9 points for a week-to-week gain of 1.98%.

Which ASX 200 shares were the biggest winners and losers?

In our most salacious segment, we look at the ASX shares that topped and bottomed the ASX 200 charts the previous week. So put the kettle on while we start with the worst-performing ASX 200 shares from last week:

Worst ASX 200 losers	% loss for the week
Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN)	(8.85%)
Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX: GOR)	(8.63%)
Silver Lake Resources Limited  (ASX: SLR)	(7.18%)
Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST)	(7.15%)

As you can see, all four of our losers last week were gold miners (despite the slightly misleading name ‘Silver Lake’). This is likely linked to the price of gold dropping like a nugget over the past fortnight or so. Remember, gold is the quintessential ‘safe-haven’ asset, which likely explains why gold is up more than 23% in price this year. However, the recent news of potentially successful coronavirus vaccines have left investors less partial to a safe haven asset of late, explaining why gold is down ~4.3% in the last 3 weeks. That has likely flowed into the valuations of the ASX gold miners, which is probably why we are seeing such a heavy sell-off in this sector.

Let’s now turn to last week’s winners:

Best ASX 200 gainers	% gain for the week
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (ASX: URW)	25.68%
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX: BEN)	14.54%
Alumina Limited (ASX: AWC)	12.83%
Mesoblast Limited (ASX: MSB)	12%

Making it 2 weeks in a row on the top of the table last week was real estate investment trust (REIT), Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield. URW is likely to be continuing to benefit from optimism over a COVID-19 vaccine. Its malls across Europe have been hard hit by lockdowns in recent months. The URW share price is now up close to 50% over the past month.

ASX banks were all on fire last week, but Bendigo came out on top. The reasons for optimism in the banking sector are probably also related to vaccine news.

Alumina was being bought up despite no major news out of the resources company, whilst pharma company Mesoblast was in investors’ good books following an announcement of a partnership with Swiss giant Novartis (NYSE: NVS).

What does this week look like for the ASX 200?

We have a couple of notable events to keep an eye on this week. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corp Ltd (ASX: FPH) is reporting a half-year result on Wednesday. Further, Harvey Norman Holdings Limited (ASX: HVN) and WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC) are both holding their annual general meetings this week as well. I’m sure commentators and investors alike will find these companies’ guidances worth paying attention to.

Before we go, here is a look at the major ASX 200 blue chip shares as we start another week in paradise:

More reading

• Here are the 10 most shorted shares on the ASX
• 2 top ASX dividend shares with yields greater than 4%
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to sell next week
• 3 leading ASX dividend shares to buy for income

Sebastian Bowen owns shares of National Australia Bank Limited, Newcrest Mining Limited, and Telstra Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of CSL Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Macquarie Group Limited and Telstra Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of COLESGROUP DEF SET, Transurban Group, Wesfarmers Limited, WiseTech Global, and Woolworths Limited. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

The post ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX continues to climb, despite outage appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

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Every Monday I like to look at ASIC’s short position report to find out which shares are being targeted by short sellers.

This is because I believe it is well worth keeping a close eye on short interest levels as high levels can sometimes be a sign that something isn’t quite right with a company.

With that in mind, here are the 10 most shorted shares on the ASX this week according to ASIC:

• Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) continues to be the most shorted share on the ASX despite another reduction in short interest to 13.2%. Short sellers will be disappointed to learn that COVID-19 vaccine optimism has led to Webjet’s shares surging 50% higher month to date.
• Western Areas Ltd (ASX: WSA) has seen its short interest jump to 11.3%. Short sellers have been increasing their positions in this nickel producer following production issues at its Flying Fox operation.
• Myer Holdings Ltd (ASX: MYR) has seen its short interest rise to 9.7%. Last week US department store operator, Macy’s, reported a 20% decline in same store sales. Investors may be concerned that Myer will be experiencing similarly tough trading conditions.
• Speedcast International Ltd (ASX: SDA) has short interest of 9.4%. The communications satellite technology provider’s shares are still suspended while it undertakes a recapitalisation.
• InvoCare Limited (ASX: IVC) has short interest of 9.2%, which is down week on week. Short sellers may have been closing positions after the funerals company’s shares pushed higher following the announcement of acquisitions in the pet cremation industry.
• Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) is back in the top ten with short interest of 8.6%. Although the travel market outlook is improving greatly, some short sellers aren’t giving up on this travel agent.
• Inghams Group Ltd (ASX: ING) has 8.3% of its shares held short, which is down week on week. Short sellers continue to close positions after the poultry company revealed an improvement in its performance in FY 2021.
• Mesoblast Limited (ASX: MSB) has seen its short interest fall to 8.1%. Unfortunately for short sellers, the Mesoblast share price surged higher last week after announcing a major deal with pharma giant Novartis.
• A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M) has seen its short interest rise slightly to 7.8%. Weakness in the daigou channel is weighing heavily on the infant formula company’s performance and has many suggesting it could fail to achieve its guidance.
• Metcash Limited (ASX: MTS) is back in the top ten with 7.8% of its shares held short. It remains unclear why short sellers are targeting this wholesale distributor.

More reading

• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy next week
• These were the best performing ASX 200 shares last week
• ASX 200 ends flat on Friday
• Brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy right now

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended A2 Milk and Webjet Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Flight Centre Travel Group Limited and InvoCare Limited. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. 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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There are some very reliable ASX dividend share available to Aussie investors that are consistently growing their payouts for shareholders.

These two businesses are rated as buys by the Motley Fool Dividend Investor service:

Sonic Healthcare Ltd (ASX: SHL)

Sonic Healthcare is a global medical laboratory company. It has operations across many countries including the USA, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, UK, Ireland, Belgium and New Zealand.

It’s playing an important role in the fight against COVID-19. It has performed over 11 million COVID-19 tests to date.

The healthcare company has been awarded a number of contracts in the US, UK and Australia for testing.

Despite COVID-19 severely impacting volumes in the early stages of the pandemic, there has been a recovery and it grew revenue by 11% in FY20, which helped underlying net profit increase by 7%.

In FY20 the ASX dividend share maintained its final dividend, but there had been a 3% increase of its interim dividend, which meant the total FY20 dividend was increased by 1.2% to $0.85 per share.

Due to COVID-19, Sonic wasn’t able to give any FY21 guidance. However, it did say that in general, COVID-19 related falls in its base business saw an associated increase in COVID-19 testing volumes. Base laboratory business revenue (excluding COVID-19 testing) is up on prior year levels in most countries, with negative but improving growth in the US and UK.

Strong COVID-19 testing volumes is currently augmenting growth for Sonic.

In the first quarter of FY21 it saw revenue growth of 29% and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) growth of 71%.

Sonic has a steadily growing dividend and FY20 was another year in that long streak. At the current Sonic share price it offers a grossed-up dividend yield of 2.9%.

Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Ltd (ASX: SOL)

Soul Patts is an investment conglomerate which has been listed since 1903 when it started out as a pharmacy business.

It has a diversified portfolio of different assets.

Soul Patts has large stakes in listed businesses spread across many sectors like building products, telecommunications, resources, listed investment companies (LICs), banks, fund managers and pharmacies.

The actual shares the ASX dividend share owns in its portfolio includes TPG Telecom Ltd (ASX: TPG), Brickworks Limited (ASX: BKW), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), Milton Corporation Limited (ASX: MLT), Bki Investment Co Ltd (ASX: BKI), Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG) and Pengana Capital Group Ltd (ASX: PCG).

It also owns unlisted businesses, either wholly or with sizeable stakes. Some of the unlisted businesses include resources, financial services, swimming schools, agriculture and Ampcontrol.

The investment house recently made a takeover bid for aged care operator Regis Healthcare Ltd (ASX: REG), though the public bid was knocked back because the Regis board believed it materially undervalued the company.

There has also been reports that Soul Patts is investing in regional data centres, though this hasn’t been properly outlined by the company in an ASX announcement yet.

In terms of the dividend, Soul Patts has paid a dividend every year since it listed 1903. It has also increased its dividend every year since 2000, which is the best consecutive dividend growth record on the ASX.

The Soul Patts dividend is funded by the investment income it receives, largely being the dividends from its holdings.

At the current Soul Patts share price it has a trailing grossed-up dividend yield of 3.1%. If a 2 cents per share annual increase of the dividend is paid in FY21 then it offers a forward 3.2% grossed-up dividend yield.

More reading

• 3 leading ASX dividend shares to buy for income
• ASX 200 ends flat on Friday
• ASX stock of the day: Japara Healthcare (ASX:JHC) share price soars 23%
• Why the Oil Search (ASX:OSH) share price is the worst performer today
• Why Kogan, Oil Search, Orica, & Soul Pattinson shares are dropping lower

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison owns shares of Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Company Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Brickworks and Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Company Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Sonic Healthcare Limited. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. 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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It certainly is a tough time to be an income investor.

At present, Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) is offering investors interest rates of 0.6% per annum on five-year term deposits.

This means that even if you put $100,000 into them, you would earn interest of just $600 each year.

The good news is that there are countless dividend shares on the Australian share market that offer significantly better yields.

Two ASX dividend shares with yields greater than 4% are listed below:

Aventus Group (ASX: AVN)

Aventus is the owner and operator of 20 large format retail parks across Australia. Among its retail parks you will find major retailers such as ALDI, Bunnings, Officeworks, and The Good Guys as tenants.

This high weighting to national retailers and every day needs has allowed Aventus to perform much stronger than other property companies during 2020. In fact, the company was largely able to collect the majority of its rent as normal in FY 2020.

Last week analysts at Goldman Sachs reiterated their buy rating and $2.76 price target on its shares. It notes that Aventus has a quality portfolio with opportunities to create value with its land bank. Based on the latest Aventus share price, the broker estimates that it offers a forward 6.1% dividend yield.

Rural Funds Group (ASX: RFF)

Rural Funds is a real estate investment trust (REIT) which owns a diversified portfolio of high quality Australian agricultural assets that are leased to experienced agricultural operators such as wine giant Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (ASX: TWE).

At the end of FY 2020, the company owned 61 properties with a combined value of $1 billion and a weighted average lease expiry (WALE) of 10.9 years. From this, it was generating adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) of 11.7 cents per share. This allowed the Rural Funds board to declare a full year distribution of 10.8 cents per share.

Thanks to rental increases, the company intends to grow this distribution by its 4% per annum target growth rate in FY 2021 to 11.28 cents per share. Based on the current Rural Funds share price, this works out to be a 4.3% yield.

More reading

• 2 ASX blue chip dividend shares to buy this month
• Brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy right now
• What would it take for the ASX 200 to hit 7,000 again?
• 2 high quality ASX dividend shares to buy today
• Why ASX bank share dividends might be surging soon

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro owns shares of Westpac Banking. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended RURALFUNDS STAPLED and Treasury Wine Estates Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended AVENTUS RE UNIT. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. 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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