Australian Foundation Investment Company (ASX:AFI) reported a full-year profit of $285m, down from A$296m the previous year, mainly due to lower dividends after trimming bank holdings. The final dividend was maintained at 14.5c per share fully franked, with an additional special dividend of 5c—bringing the total fully franked dividend to 31.5c, up 21% from last year’s 26c. Portfolio return was 10.7% versus the S&P/ASX 200 Accumulation Index’s 15.1%, partly due to underweight exposure to Commonwealth Bank (which rose 50%) and overweight positions in CSL and education stocks, which faced headwinds. The management expense ratio remained low at 0.16%.
Portfolio changes included trimming CBA, Wesfarmers, JB Hi-Fi, Coles, Transurban, and Telstra, while adding to Goodman Group, NextDC, CSL, ResMed, James Hardie, and ARB, and participating in Mirrabooka’s rights issue. A new position was established in Telix Pharmaceuticals, seen as having strong long-term growth potential in targeted cancer treatments.
