UNITED CORPORATIONS LIMITED
ANNUAL REPORT
2023
UNITED CORPORATIONS LIMITED
THE FISCAL YEAR AT A GLANCE | ||||
Year ended March 31 | 2023 | 2022 | ||
Net equity value per Common Share 1 | $ | 164.13 | $ | 166.49 |
Net investment income per Common Share 1 | $ | 1.45 | $ | 0.30 |
Net income (loss) per Common Share | $ | 1.14 | $ | (1.94) |
Cash dividends paid per Common Share | $ | 1.20 | ||
Quarterly | $ | 1.20 | ||
Additional 2 | $ - | $ | 1.11 | |
Special | $ | 4.50 | $ - | |
Net assets 3 | $ | 1,911,779 | $ | 2,018,799 |
Net investment income 1, 3 | $ | 17,483 | $ | 3,989 |
Number of Common Shares outstanding at year end | 11,600,648 | 12,078,793 |
- See Management's Discussion and Analysis for Use of Non-GAAP measures.
- This additional dividend represents the annual distribution of the prior year's annual net investment income after payment of Preferred Share dividends and quarterly dividends.
- In thousands of Canadian dollars.
ANNUAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS
The Annual Meeting of Shareholders ("AGM") will be held Wednesday, June 21, 2023 at 11:30 a.m (Toronto time). The AGM will be held as a virtual-only meeting. All shareholders are invited to attend.
UNITED CORPORATIONS LIMITED
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
DUNCAN N. R. JACKMAN
Chairman and President
United Corporations Limited
CHRISTOPER A. ALEXANDER
Executive
Hakluyt & Company
DAVID J. DAWSON
Managing Director
Protiviti Canada
C.O. TRINITY JACKMAN
Instructor, History Department
York University
FAHAD KHAN
Vice-President and Chief Investment Officer
E-L Financial Corporation Limited
KIM SHANNON
Founder and Co-Chief Investment Officer
Sionna Investment Managers Inc.
MICHAEL J. WHITE
Chairman of the Board
Addenda Capital Inc.
DAVID R. WINGFIELD
Partner
Strosberg Sasso Sutts LLP
HONORARY DIRECTOR
THE HONOURABLE HENRY N. R. JACKMAN
Honorary Chairman
The Empire Life Insurance Company
OFFICERS
DUNCAN N. R. JACKMAN
Chairman and President
SCOTT F. EWERT
Vice-President
RICHARD B. CARTY
Corporate Secretary
FRANK J. GLOSNEK
Treasurer
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UNITED CORPORATIONS LIMITED
MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
This document has been prepared for the purpose of providing Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") of the financial performance and financial condition for the years ended March 31, 2023 and 2022. This MD&A should be read in conjunction with the March 31, 2023 year-end financial statements of United Corporations Limited ("United" or the "Company") which form part of this Annual Report dated May 4, 2023. These financial statements have been prepared in compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards, as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board ("IFRS"). The reporting currency for the Company is the Canadian dollar, and all amounts in the following discussion are in Canadian dollars.
This MD&A may contain certain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause the results or events mentioned in this discussion to differ materially from actual results or events. No assurance can be given that results, performance or achievement expressed in, or implied by, any forward-looking statements within this disclosure will occur, or if they do, that any benefits may be derived from them.
The Company
The Company has been a closed-end investment corporation since 1929. The Common Shares have persistently traded at a discount to their net asset value, ranging from approximately a 20% discount to a 42% discount over the past 10 years. Management believes that shareholders who have invested in the Common Shares of the Company recognize that the Common Shares of the Company usually trade at a discount to their net asset value.
Closed-end investment corporations have the following benefits: they often allow investors the opportunity to purchase assets at a discounted price; they have management expense ratios which are generally much lower than those for actively-managedopen-ended funds; and the management of a closed-end investment corporation's portfolio is not impacted by shareholder subscription or redemption activities.
United has no plans to become an open-ended investment fund.
The majority of the Company's investment portfolio is actively managed by Comgest Asset Management International Limited ("Comgest"), Harding Loevner LP ("Harding Loevner"), Causeway Capital Management LLC ("Causeway") and Neuberger Berman Canada ULC ("Neuberger Berman Canada"). Each of these managers has a global equity mandate. As of March 31, 2023, $500,649,000 (2022 - $547,731,000), $450,851,000 (2022 - $547,461,000), $452,985,000 (2022
- $413,477,000) and $399,637,000 (2022 - $393,865,000) of equity investments were managed by Comgest, Harding Loevner, Causeway, and Neuberger Berman Canada respectively. During March 2022, the Company announced that it appointed Neuberger Berman Canada to provide portfolio management services for a portion of its assets previously managed by Comgest and Harding Loevner.
Comgest is part of the Comgest group which is an independent, international asset management group, with headquarters in Paris and offices in Amsterdam, Boston, Brussels, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Hong Kong, Milan, Singapore, Tokyo and a representative office in London. Since inception in 1985, Comgest has pursued a long-term 'Quality Growth' investment style. The portfolio will generally hold between 30 - 40 companies.
Harding Loevner is a global investment manager and is based out of Bridgewater, New Jersey, USA. The investment philosophy emphasizes the merits of long-term investment in high-quality, growing businesses, and the investment approach relies on in-depth fundamental research including analysis of the competitive structure of global industries and the competitive position of individual companies. The portfolio will generally hold between 35 - 75 companies.
Causeway Capital is a global investment manager and is based out of Los Angeles, California, USA. The investment philosophy emphasizes the merits of value investing and combines both fundamental and quantitative research to identify investment opportunities in equity markets around the world. The portfolio will generally hold between 40 - 60 companies.
Neuberger Berman Canada is an investment management firm headquartered in Toronto. Neuberger Berman Canada manages its portfolio by investing in global equities tracking the MSCIAll Country World Index. Neuberger Berman Canada is a business of Neuberger Berman. Neuberger Berman, founded in 1939, is a private, independent, employee-owned investment manager headquartered in New York. The firm manages a range of strategies including equity, fixed income, quantitative and multi-asset class, private equity, real estate and hedge funds on behalf of institutions, advisors and individual investors globally. With offices in 25 countries, Neuberger Berman's diverse team has over 2,400 professionals.
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United Corporations Limited published this content on 17 May 2023 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 17 May 2023 21:18:27 UTC.