- February proved to be a very eventful month, mainly dominated by Australian corporate earnings, which were much better than market expectations and revealed that many Australian companies are managing higher inflation pressures and interest rates well, with the Australian consumer remaining resilient.
- The Atlas High Income Property Fund fell by -2.1% in February, mirroring that of the wider property market minus Goodman Group. Overall, it is frustrating not to post a strong gain, as the companies in the Fund have performed remarkably well, with the market seeing twice as many earnings beats than misses. February demonstrated that our companies are in good health, mainly owning assets with high-quality tenants that offer non-discretionary goods and services, whose demand remains steady in the face of higher interest rates.
- Given the macroeconomic backdrop of higher interest costs, it was pleasing to see the companies in the Fund able to maintain their distributions at the same level as last February. This compares favourably to the wider Listed Property sector which saw average distribution cuts of -4%.
Go to Monthly Newsletters for a more detailed discussion of the listed property market and the fund’s strategy going into 2024.