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Middlefield Canadian Trust - MCT
Posted: December 5th, 2021, 12:09 pm
by flyer61
Expecting a dividend raise here shortly.
The funds four biggest holdings are Canadian Banks which have all just announced substantial dividend increases.
Re: Middlefield Canadian Trust - MCT
Posted: December 5th, 2021, 6:55 pm
by toofast2live
Held since 2008. Decent dividends with about 1.5%pa growth. One to buy buy when the price gets slaughtered every few years. Or just be satisfied with the 4.5% - 5% annual income. Which beats an annuity
Re: Middlefield Canadian Trust - MCT
Posted: December 6th, 2021, 11:01 am
by 88V8
One thing that keeps me from adding is the lack of dividend cover.
Then there's the gearing, currently 23%.
And the miserable divi growth, which I see is 0.4% for the last five years.
Otherwise they seem to be a good way into the Canadian banking scene.
But... although their top holdings include Bank of Montreal and Canadian Imperial, they have more in real estate than they do in Financial Services, 30% vs 29%.
So one way and another, I'm not presently adding.
V8
Re: Middlefield Canadian Trust - MCT
Posted: December 6th, 2021, 11:43 am
by richfool
Re: Middlefield Canadian Trust - MCT
Posted: December 6th, 2021, 12:17 pm
by Arborbridge
Could it be that Canada has a stable well run economy with low inflation? In that case one might expect low dividend growth.
Arb.
Re: Middlefield Canadian Trust - MCT
Posted: December 6th, 2021, 12:29 pm
by Dod101
88V8 wrote:One thing that keeps me from adding is the lack of dividend cover.
Then there's the gearing, currently 23%.
And the miserable divi growth, which I see is 0.4% for the last five years.
Otherwise they seem to be a good way into the Canadian banking scene.
But... although their top holdings include Bank of Montreal and Canadian Imperial, they have more in real estate than they do in Financial Services, 30% vs 29%.
So one way and another, I'm not presently adding.
V8
I am not sure what you mean by lack of dividend cover. They appear to pay out virtually all of their revenue as dividends but then so do investment trusts. They have retained earnings at FY20 year end of nearly £60 million against annual dividends of around £5.4 million. The dividend looks pretty secure to me.
It is though a very small company with assets of only around £130 million.
Dod
Re: Middlefield Canadian Trust - MCT
Posted: December 6th, 2021, 12:32 pm
by Dod101
flyer61 wrote:Expecting a dividend raise here shortly.
The funds four biggest holdings are Canadian Banks which have all just announced substantial dividend increases.
My cousin who lives just outside of Toronto tells me that the newly elected Liberal government wants to increase taxes on the Canadian banks which may affect their profitability. OTOH she says that is likely that the banks just increase their fees.
Dod
Re: Middlefield Canadian Trust - MCT
Posted: December 8th, 2021, 10:22 am
by 88V8
Dod101 wrote:88V8 wrote:One thing that keeps me from adding is the lack of dividend cover.
I am not sure what you mean by lack of dividend cover. They appear to pay out virtually all of their revenue as dividends but then so do investment trusts. They have retained earnings at FY20 year end of nearly £60 million against annual dividends of around £5.4 million. The dividend looks pretty secure to me.
Well, the AIC
https://www.theaic.co.uk/companydata/0P00008Y6C shows dividend cover as zero.
I appreciate that cover is an artifice, rather than a crock of gold, but most Trusts show cover in varying degrees.
MUT for instance has cover of eight months
https://www.theaic.co.uk/companydata/0P00008ZOV and some Trusts as you know have considerably more.
Perhaps there is some way I should be looking behind these figures?
V8
Re: Middlefield Canadian Trust - MCT
Posted: December 8th, 2021, 11:22 am
by Dod101
88V8 wrote:Dod101 wrote:88V8 wrote:One thing that keeps me from adding is the lack of dividend cover.
I am not sure what you mean by lack of dividend cover. They appear to pay out virtually all of their revenue as dividends but then so do investment trusts. They have retained earnings at FY20 year end of nearly £60 million against annual dividends of around £5.4 million. The dividend looks pretty secure to me.
Well, the AIC
https://www.theaic.co.uk/companydata/0P00008Y6C shows dividend cover as zero.
I appreciate that cover is an artifice, rather than a crock of gold, but most Trusts show cover in varying degrees.
MUT for instance has cover of eight months
https://www.theaic.co.uk/companydata/0P00008ZOV and some Trusts as you know have considerably more.
Perhaps there is some way I should be looking behind these figures?
V8
I think the first thing we need to do is define what we mean by 'dividend cover'. This was discussed for investment trusts some time ago. MCT does not seem to be an investment trust but maybe it behaves in much the same way. After all, investment trusts must pay out at least 85% of their revenue (after expenses) as a dividend so in a conventional sense their dividend cover is always going to be modest. Revenue Reserves give ITs most of their security for their dividend and is I think sometimes (often?) called their dividend cover. By that measure MCT's appears to be very large, more in fact than most of our ITs, exceptions being Caledonia and now Alliance.
MCT is a small company and its accounts are relatively simple, in fact looking at the liability side of their Balance Sheet, it is made up of issued share capital and retained earnings only. They do not appear to define retained earnings now that I have looked at the accounts a bit more closely but it would appear to include unrealised capital gains and losses in its investment portfolio, in fact it may be entirely that for all I know. Whether these are distributable or not I do not know, but if not it may be distributing basically all its revenue without much if any in reserves. Hence the comment on the AIC site that dividend cover is zero.
I think you are right that we need to try to look behind the figures. maybe someone who holds the investment can tell us a bit more.
Dod
Re: Middlefield Canadian Trust - MCT
Posted: December 8th, 2021, 2:06 pm
by AleisterCrowley
Can someone explain the structure?
Looking at HSDL they appear to be prefs
MCT - MIDDLEFIELD CAN IN RED PTG PRF SHS GBP NPV
Re: Middlefield Canadian Trust - MCT
Posted: December 8th, 2021, 3:17 pm
by GrahamPlatt
AleisterCrowley wrote:Can someone explain the structure?
Looking at HSDL they appear to be prefs
MCT - MIDDLEFIELD CAN IN RED PTG PRF SHS GBP NPV
https://www.theaic.co.uk/companydata/0P ... -structurehttps://lt.morningstar.com/fav18yujpm/c ... F000000EMQ
Re: Middlefield Canadian Trust - MCT
Posted: December 8th, 2021, 3:28 pm
by monabri
AleisterCrowley wrote:Can someone explain the structure?
Looking at HSDL they appear to be prefs
MCT - MIDDLEFIELD CAN IN RED PTG PRF SHS GBP NPV
I had no idea of what the description meant, neither! What I can piece together...beyond that they are investing in Canadian assets for income and the share is traded in Sterling from a Jersey domicile.
On the London Stock Exchange we have them referred to as "MIDDLEFIELD CANADIAN INCOME PCC".
https://www.londonstockexchange.com/sto ... mpany-pageThe "PCC" bit at the end means Protected Cell Company- description/benefits here
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/pr ... ny-pcc.aspSo, MCT is a core with independent satellites containing assets.
The "NPV" bit you refer to above is "no par value".
https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answer ... -stock.aspWhen/If you buy shares (for example) in Legal & Gen (LGEN) you see "LGEN ORD 2 1/2P" the shares have a minimum or "par value" of 2.5p.
In the case of MCT, the link tells us
"In some states, companies are required by law to set a par value for their stocks. If not, they may choose to issue "no-par" stock shares.
This "no-par" status means that the company has not assigned a minimum value to its stock."
The "RED" bit means redeemable.
The annual report on page 32
https://www.fundslibrary.co.uk/FundsLib ... Jyzl7l&r=1
Here they mention preference shares.
That's about as far as I can understand. The significance of shares being "redeemable participating preference shares"...?
perhaps someone will explain.That's the structure part of the company, what they have bought into is more readily understood (looks like a large chunk is in Canadian banks & REITS).
Re: Middlefield Canadian Trust - MCT
Posted: December 8th, 2021, 3:38 pm
by AleisterCrowley
Thanks both, NPV means something different to me (which wouldn't be relevant to a share)
I will have a read
Re: Middlefield Canadian Trust - MCT
Posted: December 9th, 2021, 8:34 am
by Dod101
I cannot help as regard the share capital designation but having looked very closely at the income v the dividends paid, they have for at least the latest 18 month period, that is 1 January 2020 up to the last reporting period to 30 June 2021, paid out more in dividends than they have received in revenue which is why they have held their dividend. They intermingle revenue and capital gains/losses within the Retained Earnings account. Revenue seems to be fairly steady and not surprisingly they had a large capital loss for the year 2020 but it more than recovered in the 6 months to 30 June 2021.
They seem totally unconcerned about distributing in dividends more they earn in revenue but this enterprise seems designed to benefit Middlefield Canadian Income PCC and its associated advisers (of which it has many) rather than its shareholders. As I said the PC is a small fund of just over £100 million so expenses loom large. I am happier to hold T D Bank directly and will probably by another bank although of course the fund holds more than just Canadian banks.
It is a very small component of the Middlefield Group and does not appear to be an investment trust in the UK meaning of the term although it confusingly uses the term to describe itself in its reports.
I would appreciate other takes on this enterprise from anyone who knows more about it than me.
Dod
Re: Middlefield Canadian Trust - MCT
Posted: December 9th, 2021, 12:34 pm
by richfool
NPV is shown after channel island based companies, where no stamp duty is levied on share purchases. And also embraces some overseas companies like Polymetal.
Re: Middlefield Canadian Trust - MCT
Posted: January 6th, 2022, 6:05 pm
by monabri
https://www.investegate.co.uk/middlefie ... 4807H7619/"Middlefield Canadian Income PCC is pleased to announce that the board of directors has declared a quarterly dividend of 1.275 pence per Share with respect to Middlefield Canadian Income – GBP PC (the “Fund”).
The dividend will be paid gross on Monday, 31 January 2022 to Shareholders of record on Friday, 14 January 2022. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, 13 January 2022."
Re: Middlefield Canadian Trust - MCT
Posted: January 9th, 2022, 2:36 pm
by mickeypops
I hold MCT as part of my Investment Trust Income portfolio (reviewed here...)
viewtopic.php?f=56&t=30591It's a decent diversifier away from UK focused ITs and has reliably paid out steady dividends throughout the pandemic, which while being unspectacular is to be noted as a positive in my view.
I'm yielding 5.3% against the starting value in the portfolio. The capital value has risen 20% so the current yield is about 4.5% - still not too shabby. It would be nice though for the dividends to start to climb to mirror the capital growth.
Re: Middlefield Canadian Trust - MCT
Posted: January 13th, 2022, 11:11 am
by AleisterCrowley
monabri wrote:https://www.investegate.co.uk/middlefield-canadian/gnw/middlefield-canadian-income-pcc---dividend-declaration/20220106094807H7619/
"Middlefield Canadian Income PCC is pleased to announce that the board of directors has declared a quarterly dividend of 1.275 pence per Share with respect to Middlefield Canadian Income – GBP PC (the “Fund”).
The dividend will be paid gross on Monday, 31 January 2022 to Shareholders of record on Friday, 14 January 2022. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, 13 January 2022."
https://www.investments.halifax.co.uk/i ... PV034/I154Looking at the HSDL research page
Dividend overview
Last dividend:
GBP 1.275 (29/10/2021)
Dividend yield:
4.36%
Next dividend:
GBP 1.275 (31/01/2022)
Ex-Dividend date:
13/01/2022~£1.28 a share would be nice...
Assume it should be 1.275 p or GBP 0.01275.. or is this some allowable format that I don't know about? Quoted per 100 shares? I have an odd number, not a multiple of 100
Re: Middlefield Canadian Trust - MCT
Posted: January 13th, 2022, 11:45 am
by monabri
AleisterCrowley wrote:monabri wrote:https://www.investegate.co.uk/middlefield-canadian/gnw/middlefield-canadian-income-pcc---dividend-declaration/20220106094807H7619/
"Middlefield Canadian Income PCC is pleased to announce that the board of directors has declared a quarterly dividend of 1.275 pence per Share with respect to Middlefield Canadian Income – GBP PC (the “Fund”).
The dividend will be paid gross on Monday, 31 January 2022 to Shareholders of record on Friday, 14 January 2022. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, 13 January 2022."
https://www.investments.halifax.co.uk/i ... PV034/I154Looking at the HSDL research page
Dividend overview
Last dividend:
GBP 1.275 (29/10/2021)
Dividend yield:
4.36%
Next dividend:
GBP 1.275 (31/01/2022)
Ex-Dividend date:
13/01/2022~£1.28 a share would be nice...
Assume it should be 1.275 p or GBP 0.01275.. or is this some allowable format that I don't know about? Quoted per 100 shares? I have an odd number, not a multiple of 100
Owners of shares in LIndsell Train Investment (LTI) are going to be disappointed according to HSDL....an annual dividend of GBP 50. So if MCT has a dividend of GBP 1.275, then the LTI is only 39.21 times greater (incorrect) and not 3921 times (correct).
Regardless of how they define GBP , there are inconsistencies and one of these two dividends is incorrectly stated.
I prefer dividend data !
https://www.dividenddata.co.uk/
Re: Middlefield Canadian Trust - MCT
Posted: January 13th, 2022, 12:29 pm
by AleisterCrowley
having checked ... prices in pence should be GBX (or GBp)