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MAPF Performance: September, 2024

Sunday, October 6th, 2024

Malachite Aggressive Preferred Fund’s Net Asset Value per Unit as of the close September 30, 2024, was $10.3641 after a dividend distribution of $0.154798.

Performance was affected by FFH.PR.I underperforming (-2.08%, following last month’s underperformance), FTS.PR.M (-1.42%) and BN.PR.R (-1.23%, following last month’s underperformance). These were outweighed by outperformance from TRP.PR.E (+1.68%) together with a host of issues held in smaller size [small holdings are not considered for individual mention here].

FixedResets continue to yield more, in general, than PerpetualDiscounts although the spread has narrowed considerably in the past year; on September 30, I reported median YTWs of 6.56% and 5.96%, respectively, for these two indices; compare with mean Current Yields of 5.49% and 5.87%, respectively.

Returns to September 30, 2024
Period	MAPF	TXPR* Total Return	CPD – according to Blackrock
One Month	+0.57%	+0.48%	N/A
Three Months	+6.77%	+5.52%	N/A
One Year	+37.26%	+29.26%	+28.37%
Two Years (annualized)	+17.23%	+11.12%	N/A
Three Years (annualized)	+3.88%	+2.03%	+1.49%
Four Years (annualized)	+14.64%	+7.57%	N/A
Five Years (annualized)	+11.69%	+6.59%	+5.99%
Six Years (annualized)	+5.53%	+3.56%	N/A
Seven Years (annualized)	+6.19%	+3.78%	N/A
Eight Years (annualized)	+8.42%	+5.28%	N/A
Nine Years (annualized)	+8.48%	+5.64%	N/A
Ten Years (annualized)	+5.06%	+2.79%	+2.28%
Eleven Years (annualized)	+5.47%	+3.03%
Twelve Years (annualized)	+4.90%	+2.69%
Thirteen Years (annualized)	+5.47%	+2.98%
Fourteen Years (annualized)	+5.28%	+3.14%
Fifteen Years (annualized)	+5.93%	+3.52%
Sixteen Years (annualized)	+8.78%	+3.86%
Seventeen Years (annualized)	+8.00%	+3.12%
Eighteen Years (annualized)	+7.61%
Nineteen Years (annualized)	+7.52%
Twenty Years (annualized)	+7.50%
Twenty-One Years (annualized)	+7.87%
Twenty-Two Years (annualized)	+8.86%
Twenty-Three Years (annualized)	+8.22%
MAPF returns assume reinvestment of distributions, and are shown after expenses but before fees.
The BMO Capital Markets “50” Preferred Share Index is no longer being calculated. The final performance report incorporating this venerable index was published as of December, 2020.
“TXPR” is the S&P/TSX Preferred Share Index. It is calculated without accounting for fees, but does assume reinvestment of dividends.
CPD Returns are for the NAV and are after all fees and expenses. Reinvestment of dividends is assumed.
All fund and ETF returns shown below are after all fees and expenses
Figures for NBI Preferred Equity Income Fund, Series F [NBC780] (formerly Omega Preferred Equity) (which are after all fees and expenses) for 1-, 3- and 12-months are +0.84%, +5.79% and +30.96%, respectively, according to National Bank Investments after all fees & expenses. Three year performance is +2.82%; five year is +8.48%; ten year is +4.58%. Figures from Morningstar are no longer conveniently available.
Manulife Preferred Income Class Adv has been terminated by Manulife. The performance of this fund was last reported here in March, 2018.
Figures for Horizons Active Preferred Share ETF (HPR) (which are after all fees and expenses) for 1-, 3- and 12-months are +0.42%, +4.47% & +31.53%, respectively. Three year performance is +2.89%, five-year is +8.20%, ten year is +3.74%
Figures for NBI Preferred Equity Fund Series F [NBC710] (formerly Altamira Preferred Equity Fund) are +0.33%, +4.56% and +32.49% for one-, three- and twelve months, respectively. Three year performance is +3.32%; five-year is +8.59%; ten-year is +3.90% Acccording to the fund’s fact sheet as of June 30, 2016, the fund’s inception date was October 30, 2015. I do not know how they justify this nonsensical statement, but will assume that prior performance is being suppressed in some perfectly legal manner that somebody at National considers ethical. The last time Altamira Preferred Equity Fund’s performance was reported here was April, 2014; performance under the National Bank banner was first reported here May, 2014.
The figures for the NAV of BMO Laddered Preferred Share Index ETF (ZPR) is +30.60% for the past twelve months. Two year performance is +11.72%, three year is +2.84%, five year is +7.82%, ten year is +2.28% Note that analysis of ZPR shows some doubt as to whether this fund is either "laddered" or an "index fund". However, there was a remarkable improvement in the laddering in the six months following the publication of my analysis.
Figures for Fiera Canadian Preferred Share Class Cg Series F, (formerly Natixis Canadian Preferred Share Class Series F) (formerly NexGen Canadian Preferred Share Tax Managed Fund) are no longer available as the Fund is now the property of Canoe Financial. The last reported performance for the merged fund was May 2020.
Figures for BMO Preferred Share Fund (advisor series) are not available as the fund has been terminated. This is as per an announcement by the bank on 2024-5-28. The last performance report for this awful fund was as of July 31, 2024.
Figures for PowerShares Canadian Preferred Share Index Class, Series F (PPS) are no longer available since the fund has been terminated. Performance was last reported for the fund to month-end, March 2023
Figures for the First Asset Preferred Share Investment Trust (PSF.UN) are no longer available since the fund has merged with First Asset Preferred Share ETF (FPR). Performance for the fund was last reported here in September, 2016; the first report of unavailability was in October, 2016.
Figures for Lysander-Slater Preferred Share Dividend Fund (Class F) according to the company are +0.7%, +4.7% and +28.4% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Three year performance is +2.5%, five-year is +7.4%.
Figures for the Desjardins Canadian Preferred Share Fund F Class (F Class), as reported by the company are +0.30%, +5.44% and +29.21% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Two year performance is +11.49%, three-year is +2.03%, five-year is +6.68%
Figures for the RBC Canadian Preferred Share ETF (RPF) are reported as +0.4%, +4.3% and +31.4% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Three-year performance is +1.7%, five-year is +7.2%
Figures for the Dynamic Active Preferred Shares ETF (DXP) are +0.4%, +5.6% and +30.3% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Three-year performance is +4.0%; five-year is +9.5%
Figures for the Purpose Canadian Preferred Share Fund (Class F) are +0.30%, +3.42% and +28.48% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Three-year performance is +1.89%; four-year is +11.23%; five-year is +8.90%; seven-year is +3.68%; ten-year is +5.41%.
Figures for the TD Active Preferred Share ETF (TPRF) are +0.65%, +5.69% and +32.14% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Two-year performance is +12.83%, three-year is +4.06%; five-year is +10.03%. Note that “The TD ETF may also hold common shares, government and corporate bonds, and other income-producing securities. … The TD ETF may invest in foreign securities to an extent that will vary from time to time but is not typically expected to exceed 5% of its assets at the time that foreign securities are purchased. The non-preferred share components of the portfolio are relatively minor – as of their year-end 2023 report, they had $1.6-million in Canadian Natural Resources Limited common, $1.8-million in RBC common, $1.6-million in SLF common, and $1.75-million in Fortis common, totalling $6.75-million in a $220-million portfolio. I take the view that the purpose of this mandate is to destroy, or at least deprecate, comparability. Banks hate comparability.

The five-year Canada yield decreased, with the five-year Canada yield (“GOC-5”) moving from 2.97% at August month-end to 2.74% at September month-end.

I regret that I am behind in my duties this month. More commentary will follow.

I will note that the fund’s current holdings of FixedResets are now paying dividends based on their previous reset at an average GOC-5 rate of 1.69% (weighted by shares held).

Calculation of MAPF Sustainable Income Per Unit
Month	NAVPU	Portfolio Average YTW	Leverage Divisor	Securities Average YTW	Capital Gains Multiplier	Sustainable Income per current Unit
June, 2007	9.3114	5.16%	1.03	5.01%	1.3240	0.3524
September	9.1489	5.35%	0.98	5.46%	1.3240	0.3773
December, 2007	9.0070	5.53%	0.942	5.87%	1.3240	0.3993
March, 2008	8.8512	6.17%	1.047	5.89%	1.3240	0.3938
June	8.3419	6.034%	0.952	6.338%	1.3240	$0.3993
September	8.1886	7.108%	0.969	7.335%	1.3240	$0.4537
December, 2008	8.0464	9.24%	1.008	9.166%	1.3240	$0.5571
March 2009	$8.8317	8.60%	0.995	8.802%	1.3240	$0.5872
June	10.9846	7.05%	0.999	7.057%	1.3240	$0.5855
September	12.3462	6.03%	0.998	6.042%	1.3240	$0.5634
December 2009	10.5662	5.74%	0.981	5.851%	1.1141	$0.5549
March 2010	10.2497	6.03%	0.992	6.079%	1.1141	$0.5593
June	10.5770	5.96%	0.996	5.984%	1.1141	$0.5681
September	11.3901	5.43%	0.980	5.540%	1.1141	$0.5664
December 2010	10.7659	5.37%	0.993	5.408%	1.0298	$0.5654
March, 2011	11.0560	6.00%	0.994	5.964%	1.0298	$0.6403
June	11.1194	5.87%	1.018	5.976%	1.0298	$0.6453
September	10.2709	6.10% Note	1.001	6.106%	1.0298	$0.6090
December, 2011	10.0793	5.63% Note	1.031	5.805%	1.0000	$0.5851
March, 2012	10.3944	5.13% Note	0.996	5.109%	1.0000	$0.5310
June	10.2151	5.32% Note	1.012	5.384%	1.0000	$0.5500
September	10.6703	4.61% Note	0.997	4.624%	1.0000	$0.4934
December, 2012	10.8307	4.24%	0.989	4.287%	1.0000	$0.4643
March, 2013	10.9033	3.87%	0.996	3.886%	1.0000	$0.4237
June	10.3261	4.81%	0.998	4.80%	1.0000	$0.4957
September	10.0296	5.62%	0.996	5.643%	1.0000	$0.5660
December, 2013	9.8717	6.02%	1.008	5.972%	1.0000	$0.5895
March, 2014	10.2233	5.55%	0.998	5.561%	1.0000	$0.5685
June	10.5877	5.09%	0.998	5.100%	1.0000	$0.5395
September	10.4601	5.28%	0.997	5.296%	1.0000	$0.5540
December, 2014	10.5701	4.83%	1.009	4.787%	1.0000	$0.5060
March, 2015	9.9573	4.99%	1.001	4.985%	1.0000	$0.4964
June, 2015	9.4181	5.55%	1.002	5.539%	1.0000	$0.5217
September	7.8140	6.98%	0.999	6.987%	1.0000	$0.5460
December, 2015	8.1379	6.85%	0.997	6.871%	1.0000	$0.5592
March, 2016	7.4416	7.79%	0.998	7.805%	1.0000	$0.5808
June	7.6704	7.67%	1.011	7.587%	1.0000	$0.5819
September	8.0590	7.35%	0.993	7.402%	1.0000	$0.5965
December, 2016	8.5844	7.24%	0.990	7.313%	1.0000	$0.6278
March, 2017	9.3984	6.26%	0.994	6.298%	1.0000	$0.5919
June	9.5313	6.41%	0.998	6.423%	1.0000	$0.6122
September	9.7129	6.56%	0.998	6.573%	1.0000	$0.6384
December, 2017	10.0566	6.06%	1.004	6.036%	1.0000	$0.6070
March, 2018	10.2701	6.22%	1.007	6.177%	1.0000	$0.6344
June	10.2518	6.22%	0.995	6.251%	1.0000	$0.6408
September	10.2965	6.62%	1.018	6.503%	1.0000	$0.6696
December, 2018	8.6875	7.16%	0.997	7.182%	1.0000	$0.6240
March, 2019	8.4778	7.09%	1.007	7.041%	1.0000	$0.5969
June	8.0896	7.33%	0.996	7.359%	1.0000	$0.5953
September	7.7948	7.96%	0.998	7.976%	1.0000	$0.6217
December, 2019	8.0900	6.03%	0.995	6.060%	1.0000	$0.4903
March	5.5596	7.04%	1.006	6.998%	1.0000	$0.3891
June	6.3568	6.10%	0.9900	6.162%	1.0000	$0.3917
September	7.2852	5.32%	1.00	5.320%	1.0000	$0.3876
December, 2020	8.3947	4.46%	0.999	4.464%	1.0000	$0.3747
March, 2021	9.6473	4.48%	0.996	4.498%	1.0000	$0.4339
June	10.3712	3.92%	0.985	3.980%	1.0000	$0.4127
September	10.7572	4.08%	1.017	4.012%	1.0000	$0.4316
December, 2021	10.7432	4.31%	0.999	4.314%	1.0000	$0.4635
March, 2022	10.5040	5.53%	1.004	5.508%	1.0000	$0.5786
June	9.3115	7.04%	0.993	7.090%	1.0000	$0.6672
September	8.4093	8.10%	0.997	8.124%	1.0000	$0.6916
December, 2022	7.9921	8.47%	0.996	8.504%	1.0000	$0.6796
March, 2023	8.0788	7.90%	0.997	7.924%	1.0000	$0.6401
June 30	8.0197	9.19%	1.003	9.163%	1.0000	$0.7348
September 29	7.9922	9.86%	0.997	9.890%	1.0000	$0.7904
Decenber 29, 2023	8.4715	8.14%	1.002	8.124%	1.0000	$0.6882
March 28,2024	9.5892	7.60%	1.006	7.555%	1.0000	$0.7244
June 28, 2024	9.8516	7.32%	0.999	7.327%	1.0000	$0.7219
September 30,2024	10.3641	6.55%	0.990	6.616%	1.0000	$0.6857
NAVPU is shown after quarterly distributions of dividend income and annual distribution of capital gains. Portfolio YTW includes cash (or margin borrowing), with an assumed interest rate of 0.00% The Leverage Divisor indicates the level of cash in the account: if the portfolio is 1% in cash, the Leverage Divisor will be 0.99 Securities YTW divides “Portfolio YTW” by the “Leverage Divisor” to show the average YTW on the securities held; this assumes that the cash is invested in (or raised from) all securities held, in proportion to their holdings. The Capital Gains Multiplier adjusts for the effects of Capital Gains Dividends. On 2009-12-31, there was a capital gains distribution of $1.989262 which is assumed for this purpose to have been reinvested at the final price of $10.5662. Thus, a holder of one unit pre-distribution would have held 1.1883 units post-distribution; the CG Multiplier reflects this to make the time-series comparable. Note that Dividend Distributions are not assumed to be reinvested. Sustainable Income is the resultant estimate of the fund’s dividend income per current unit, before fees and expenses. Note that a “current unit” includes reinvestment of prior capital gains; a unitholder would have had the calculated sustainable income with only, say, 0.9 units in the past which, with reinvestment of capital gains, would become 1.0 current units.
DeemedRetractibles are comprised of all Straight Perpetuals (both PerpetualDiscount and PerpetualPremium) issued by BMO, BNS, CM, ELF, GWO, HSB, IAG, MFC, NA, RY, SLF and TD, which are not exchangable into common at the option of the company or the regulator (definition refined in May, 2011). These issues are analyzed as if their prospectuses included a requirement to redeem at par on or prior to 2022-1-31 (banks) or the Deemed Maturity date for insurers and insurance holding companies (see below)), in addition to the call schedule explicitly defined. See the Deemed Retractible Review: September 2016 for the rationale behind this analysis. The same reasoning is also applied to FixedResets from these issuers, other than explicitly defined NVCC from banks. In November, 2019, the assumption of DeemedRetraction for insurance issues was cancelled in the wake of the IAIS decision included in ICS 2.0. This resulted in a large drop in the yield calculated for these issues
The Deemed Maturity date for insurers was set at 2022-1-31 at the commencement of the process in February, 2011. It was extended to 2025-1-31 in April, 2013 and to 2030-1-31 in December, 2018. In November, 2019, the assumption of DeemedRetraction was cancelled in the wake of the IAIS decision included in ICS 2.0.
Yields for September, 2011, to January, 2012, were calculated by imposing a cap of 10% on the yields of YLO issues held, in order to avoid their extremely high calculated yields distorting the calculation and to reflect the uncertainty in the marketplace that these yields will be realized. From February to September 2012, yields on these issues have been set to zero. All YLO issues held were sold in October 2012.

These calculations were performed assuming constant contemporary GOC-5 and 3-Month Bill rates, as follows:

Canada Yields Assumed in Calculations
Month-end	GOC-5	3-Month Bill
September, 2015	0.78%	0.40%
December, 2015	0.71%	0.46%
March, 2016	0.70%	0.44%
June	0.57%	0.47%
September	0.58%	0.53%
December, 2016	1.16%	0.47%
March, 2017	1.08%	0.55%
June	1.35%	0.69%
September	1.79%	0.97%
December, 2017	1.83%	1.00%
March, 2018	2.06%	1.08%
June	1.95%	1.22%
September	2.33%	1.55%
December, 2018	1.88%	1.65%
March, 2019	1.46%	1.66%
June	1.34%	1.66%
September	1.41%	1.66%
December, 2019	1.68%	1.68%
March, 2020	0.57%	0.21%
June	0.37%	0.21%
September	0.35%	0.14%
December, 2020	0.42%	0.08%
March, 2021	0.94%	0.09%
June	0.93%	0.13%
September	1.07%	0.13%
December, 2021	1.31%	0.16%
March, 2022	2.44%	0.53%
June	3.24%	2.11%
September	3.45%	3.60%
December, 2022	3.37%	4.35%
March, 2023	2.93%	4.44%
June	3.74%	5.00%
September	4.31%	5.21%
December, 2023	3.21%	5.13%
March, 2024	3.55%	5.06%
June	3.41%	4.71%
September, 2024	2.74%	3.94%

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MAPF Performance: August, 2024

Sunday, September 1st, 2024

Malachite Aggressive Preferred Fund’s Net Asset Value per Unit as of the close August 30, 2024, was $10.4589.

Performance was affected by CM.PR.S underperforming (+0.81%, following two months of outperformance); FFH.PR.I (+1.06%); and BN.PR.R (+2.43%). These were outweighed by GWO.PR.G (+7.45%), CU.PR.C (+5.64%, following outperformance in May and underperformance in June and July) and MFC.PR.B (+5.62%) [small holdings are not considered for individual mention here].

FixedResets continue to yield more, in general, than PerpetualDiscounts although the spread has narrowed considerably despite a bounce upwards in May; on August 30, I reported median YTWs of 6.76% and 6.08%, respectively, for these two indices; compare with mean Current Yields of 5.43% and 5.95%, respectively.

Returns to August 30, 2024
Period	MAPF	TXPR* Total Return	CPD – according to Blackrock
One Month	+3.38%	+2.71%	N/A
Three Months	+4.50%	+4.99%	N/A
One Year	+41.58%	+30.50%	+29.57%
Two Years (annualized)	+12.26%	+6.98%	N/A
Three Years (annualized)	+4.32%	+2.17%	+1.61%
Four Years (annualized)	+14.11%	+7.48%	N/A
Five Years (annualized)	+12.27%	+7.19%	+6.59%
Six Years (annualized)	+5.39%	+3.42%	N/A
Seven Years (annualized)	+6.25%	+3.91%	N/A
Eight Years (annualized)	+8.40%	+5.21%	N/A
Nine Years (annualized)	+7.59%	+4.92%	N/A
Ten Years (annualized)	+4.93%	+2.68%	+2.16%
Eleven Years (annualized)	+5.49%	+3.03%
Twelve Years (annualized)	+4.94%	+2.69%
Thirteen Years (annualized)	+4.88%	+2.88%
Fourteen Years (annualized)	+5.56%	+3.27%
Fifteen Years (annualized)	+5.81%	+3.45%
Sixteen Years (annualized)	+8.52%	+3.64%
Seventeen Years (annualized)	+7.92%	+3.02%
Eighteen Years (annualized)	+7.66%
Nineteen Years (annualized)	+7.57%
Twenty Years (annualized)	+7.52%
Twenty-One Years (annualized)	+8.00%
Twenty-Two Years (annualized)	+8.45%
Twenty-Three Years (annualized)	+8.39%
MAPF returns assume reinvestment of distributions, and are shown after expenses but before fees.
The BMO Capital Markets “50” Preferred Share Index is no longer being calculated. The final performance report incorporating this venerable index was published as of December, 2020.
“TXPR” is the S&P/TSX Preferred Share Index. It is calculated without accounting for fees, but does assume reinvestment of dividends.
CPD Returns are for the NAV and are after all fees and expenses. Reinvestment of dividends is assumed.
All fund and ETF returns shown below are after all fees and expenses
Figures for NBI Preferred Equity Income Fund, Series F [NBC780] (formerly Omega Preferred Equity) (which are after all fees and expenses) for 1-, 3- and 12-months are +2.15%, +4.35% and +31.87%, respectively, according to National Bank Investments after all fees & expenses. Three year performance is +2.86%; five year is +9.01%; ten year is +4.47%. Figures from Morningstar are no longer conveniently available.
Manulife Preferred Income Class Adv has been terminated by Manulife. The performance of this fund was last reported here in March, 2018.
Figures for Horizons Active Preferred Share ETF (HPR) (which are after all fees and expenses) for 1-, 3- and 12-months are +1.95%, +4.23% & +33.05%, respectively. Three year performance is +3.09%, five-year is +8.92%, ten year is +3.65%
Figures for NBI Preferred Equity Fund Series F [NBC710] (formerly Altamira Preferred Equity Fund) are +1.98%, +4.22% and +34.86% for one-, three- and twelve months, respectively. Three year performance is +3.55%; five-year is +9.35%; ten-year is +3.82% Acccording to the fund’s fact sheet as of June 30, 2016, the fund’s inception date was October 30, 2015. I do not know how they justify this nonsensical statement, but will assume that prior performance is being suppressed in some perfectly legal manner that somebody at National considers ethical. The last time Altamira Preferred Equity Fund’s performance was reported here was April, 2014; performance under the National Bank banner was first reported here May, 2014.
The figures for the NAV of BMO Laddered Preferred Share Index ETF (ZPR) is +31.97% for the past twelve months. Two year performance is +7.29%, three year is +2.92%, five year is +8.46%, ten year is +2.14% Note that analysis of ZPR shows some doubt as to whether this fund is either "laddered" or an "index fund". However, there was a remarkable improvement in the laddering in the six months following the publication of my analysis.
Figures for Fiera Canadian Preferred Share Class Cg Series F, (formerly Natixis Canadian Preferred Share Class Series F) (formerly NexGen Canadian Preferred Share Tax Managed Fund) are no longer available as the Fund is now the property of Canoe Financial. The last reported performance for the merged fund was May 2020.
Figures for BMO Preferred Share Fund (advisor series) are not available as the fund has been terminated. This is as per an announcement by the bank on 2024-5-28. The last performance report for this awful fund was as of July 31, 2024.
Figures for PowerShares Canadian Preferred Share Index Class, Series F (PPS) are no longer available since the fund has been terminated. Performance was last reported for the fund to month-end, March 2023
Figures for the First Asset Preferred Share Investment Trust (PSF.UN) are no longer available since the fund has merged with First Asset Preferred Share ETF (FPR). Performance for the fund was last reported here in September, 2016; the first report of unavailability was in October, 2016.
Figures for Lysander-Slater Preferred Share Dividend Fund (Class F) according to the company are +1.7%, +3.8% and +29.9% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Three year performance is +2.7%, five-year is +8.1%.
Figures for the Desjardins Canadian Preferred Share Fund F Class (F Class), as reported by the company are +2.74%, +5.10% and +29.40% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Two year performance is +6.71%, three-year is +1.42%, five-year is +6.44%
Figures for the RBC Canadian Preferred Share ETF (RPF) are reported as +2.2%, +3.8% and +32.0% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Three-year performance is +1.8%, five-year is +7.9%
Figures for the Dynamic Active Preferred Shares ETF (DXP) are +2.5%, +5.2% and +31.7% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Three-year performance is +4.2%; five-year is +10.1%
Figures for the Purpose Canadian Preferred Share Fund (Class F) are +1.83%, +3.41% and +31.26% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Three-year performance is +2.18%; four-year is +10.94%; five-year is +9.94%; seven-year is +3.92%; ten-year is +5.02%.
Figures for the TD Active Preferred Share ETF (TPRF) are +2.32%, +4.80% and +32.98% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Two-year performance is 8.45%, three-year is +4.52%; five-year is +10.95%. Note that “The TD ETF may also hold common shares, government and corporate bonds, and other income-producing securities. … The TD ETF may invest in foreign securities to an extent that will vary from time to time but is not typically expected to exceed 5% of its assets at the time that foreign securities are purchased. The non-preferred share components of the portfolio are relatively minor – as of their year-end 2023 report, they had $1.6-million in Canadian Natural Resources Limited common, $1.8-million in RBC common, $1.6-million in SLF common, and $1.75-million in Fortis common, totalling $6.75-million in a $220-million portfolio. I take the view that the purpose of this mandate is to destroy, or at least deprecate, comparability. Banks hate comparability.

The five-year Canada yield decreased, with the five-year Canada yield (“GOC-5”) moving from 3.24% at July month-end to 2.97% at August month-end.

The Seniority Spread (between long-term corporate bonds and interest-equivalent PerpetualDiscounts) was 305bp on 2024-08-28, a significant narrowing from the 325bp on 2024-7-31 (chart end-date 2024-8-9). This was, presumably, due to widespread reporting that inflation has been conquered:

The situation with FixedResets is interesting, with the spread between GOC-5 and the interest-adjusted FixedReset (Discount) rate widening significantly (despite recent narrowing) from its 2021-11-10 low of 344bp to a level of 589bp (as of 2024-8-28) … (chart end-date 2024-08-9):

…while at the same time the interest-equivalent spread between FixedReset (Discounts) and PerpetualDiscounts has narrowed to -94bp (as of 2024-8-28) from its 2021-7-28 level of +170bp (chart end-date 2024-07-31):

There is no significant correlation between the Issue Reset Spread and 1-month performance for discounted FixedResets for either the Pfd-2 or Pfd-3 Group issues.

There is no significant correlation between the Issue Reset Spread and 3-month performance for discounted FixedResets for either the Pfd-2 or Pfd-3 Group issues.

There is significant correlation for the Pfd-2 Group (26%) and for the Pfd-3 Group (24%) for 1-Month performance against term-to-reset:

… while the three-month returns vs. Term to Reset, show correlations for both the Pfd-2 Group (22%) and the Pfd-3 Group (55%):

It should be noted that to some extent a dependence (of performance on term-to-reset) can be justified as the nearer-term issues will receive the benefit (adverse effects) of higher (lower) projected dividend rates sooner as a result of higher GOC-5 yields and therefore, perhaps, for longer. Equations for the relationship between correlation slope and change in GOC-5 were derived in the August 2022 PrefLetter.

Upward-sloping correlations of Performance vs. Term are to be expected when GOC-5 declines.

I keep talking about ‘Sustainable Income’ and nowadays it’s far higher than the dividends that are currently being distributed. This is because Sustainable Income is the average yield-to-worst (YTW) of the portfolio when the YTW is calculated to perpetuity (or to redemption, of course, if the yield to redemption is lower), including resets at the current GOC-5 rate. The sharp increase in GOC-5 in the past few years has caused the difference between YTW and Current Yield to skyrocket, but one way or another I expect that these two values will become much closer – slowly at first, but quickening in the fairly near future. We have to wait for the reset date of the MAPF portfolio securities before we see a change in actual cash receipts – and, of course, there is no guarantee whatsoever that the rate used for estimation purposes now will be used for the actual calculation in the future (chart prepared as of 2024-8-9).

I will note that the fund’s current holdings of FixedResets are now paying dividends based on their previous reset at an average GOC-5 rate of 1.62% (weighted by shares held).

Calculation of MAPF Sustainable Income Per Unit
Month	NAVPU	Portfolio Average YTW	Leverage Divisor	Securities Average YTW	Capital Gains Multiplier	Sustainable Income per current Unit
June, 2007	9.3114	5.16%	1.03	5.01%	1.3240	0.3524
September	9.1489	5.35%	0.98	5.46%	1.3240	0.3773
December, 2007	9.0070	5.53%	0.942	5.87%	1.3240	0.3993
March, 2008	8.8512	6.17%	1.047	5.89%	1.3240	0.3938
June	8.3419	6.034%	0.952	6.338%	1.3240	$0.3993
September	8.1886	7.108%	0.969	7.335%	1.3240	$0.4537
December, 2008	8.0464	9.24%	1.008	9.166%	1.3240	$0.5571
March 2009	$8.8317	8.60%	0.995	8.802%	1.3240	$0.5872
June	10.9846	7.05%	0.999	7.057%	1.3240	$0.5855
September	12.3462	6.03%	0.998	6.042%	1.3240	$0.5634
December 2009	10.5662	5.74%	0.981	5.851%	1.1141	$0.5549
March 2010	10.2497	6.03%	0.992	6.079%	1.1141	$0.5593
June	10.5770	5.96%	0.996	5.984%	1.1141	$0.5681
September	11.3901	5.43%	0.980	5.540%	1.1141	$0.5664
December 2010	10.7659	5.37%	0.993	5.408%	1.0298	$0.5654
March, 2011	11.0560	6.00%	0.994	5.964%	1.0298	$0.6403
June	11.1194	5.87%	1.018	5.976%	1.0298	$0.6453
September	10.2709	6.10% Note	1.001	6.106%	1.0298	$0.6090
December, 2011	10.0793	5.63% Note	1.031	5.805%	1.0000	$0.5851
March, 2012	10.3944	5.13% Note	0.996	5.109%	1.0000	$0.5310
June	10.2151	5.32% Note	1.012	5.384%	1.0000	$0.5500
September	10.6703	4.61% Note	0.997	4.624%	1.0000	$0.4934
December, 2012	10.8307	4.24%	0.989	4.287%	1.0000	$0.4643
March, 2013	10.9033	3.87%	0.996	3.886%	1.0000	$0.4237
June	10.3261	4.81%	0.998	4.80%	1.0000	$0.4957
September	10.0296	5.62%	0.996	5.643%	1.0000	$0.5660
December, 2013	9.8717	6.02%	1.008	5.972%	1.0000	$0.5895
March, 2014	10.2233	5.55%	0.998	5.561%	1.0000	$0.5685
June	10.5877	5.09%	0.998	5.100%	1.0000	$0.5395
September	10.4601	5.28%	0.997	5.296%	1.0000	$0.5540
December, 2014	10.5701	4.83%	1.009	4.787%	1.0000	$0.5060
March, 2015	9.9573	4.99%	1.001	4.985%	1.0000	$0.4964
June, 2015	9.4181	5.55%	1.002	5.539%	1.0000	$0.5217
September	7.8140	6.98%	0.999	6.987%	1.0000	$0.5460
December, 2015	8.1379	6.85%	0.997	6.871%	1.0000	$0.5592
March, 2016	7.4416	7.79%	0.998	7.805%	1.0000	$0.5808
June	7.6704	7.67%	1.011	7.587%	1.0000	$0.5819
September	8.0590	7.35%	0.993	7.402%	1.0000	$0.5965
December, 2016	8.5844	7.24%	0.990	7.313%	1.0000	$0.6278
March, 2017	9.3984	6.26%	0.994	6.298%	1.0000	$0.5919
June	9.5313	6.41%	0.998	6.423%	1.0000	$0.6122
September	9.7129	6.56%	0.998	6.573%	1.0000	$0.6384
December, 2017	10.0566	6.06%	1.004	6.036%	1.0000	$0.6070
March, 2018	10.2701	6.22%	1.007	6.177%	1.0000	$0.6344
June	10.2518	6.22%	0.995	6.251%	1.0000	$0.6408
September	10.2965	6.62%	1.018	6.503%	1.0000	$0.6696
December, 2018	8.6875	7.16%	0.997	7.182%	1.0000	$0.6240
March, 2019	8.4778	7.09%	1.007	7.041%	1.0000	$0.5969
June	8.0896	7.33%	0.996	7.359%	1.0000	$0.5953
September	7.7948	7.96%	0.998	7.976%	1.0000	$0.6217
December, 2019	8.0900	6.03%	0.995	6.060%	1.0000	$0.4903
March	5.5596	7.04%	1.006	6.998%	1.0000	$0.3891
June	6.3568	6.10%	0.9900	6.162%	1.0000	$0.3917
September	7.2852	5.32%	1.00	5.320%	1.0000	$0.3876
December, 2020	8.3947	4.46%	0.999	4.464%	1.0000	$0.3747
March, 2021	9.6473	4.48%	0.996	4.498%	1.0000	$0.4339
June	10.3712	3.92%	0.985	3.980%	1.0000	$0.4127
September	10.7572	4.08%	1.017	4.012%	1.0000	$0.4316
December, 2021	10.7432	4.31%	0.999	4.314%	1.0000	$0.4635
March, 2022	10.5040	5.53%	1.004	5.508%	1.0000	$0.5786
June	9.3115	7.04%	0.993	7.090%	1.0000	$0.6672
September	8.4093	8.10%	0.997	8.124%	1.0000	$0.6916
December, 2022	7.9921	8.47%	0.996	8.504%	1.0000	$0.6796
March, 2023	8.0788	7.90%	0.997	7.924%	1.0000	$0.6401
June 30	8.0197	9.19%	1.003	9.163%	1.0000	$0.7348
September 29	7.9922	9.86%	0.997	9.890%	1.0000	$0.7904
Decenber 29, 2023	8.4715	8.14%	1.002	8.124%	1.0000	$0.6882
March 28,2024	9.5892	7.60%	1.006	7.555%	1.0000	$0.7244
June 28, 2024	9.8516	7.32%	0.999	7.327%	1.0000	$0.7219
August 30,2024	10.4589	6.77%	0.998	6.784%	1.0000	$0.7095
NAVPU is shown after quarterly distributions of dividend income and annual distribution of capital gains. Portfolio YTW includes cash (or margin borrowing), with an assumed interest rate of 0.00% The Leverage Divisor indicates the level of cash in the account: if the portfolio is 1% in cash, the Leverage Divisor will be 0.99 Securities YTW divides “Portfolio YTW” by the “Leverage Divisor” to show the average YTW on the securities held; this assumes that the cash is invested in (or raised from) all securities held, in proportion to their holdings. The Capital Gains Multiplier adjusts for the effects of Capital Gains Dividends. On 2009-12-31, there was a capital gains distribution of $1.989262 which is assumed for this purpose to have been reinvested at the final price of $10.5662. Thus, a holder of one unit pre-distribution would have held 1.1883 units post-distribution; the CG Multiplier reflects this to make the time-series comparable. Note that Dividend Distributions are not assumed to be reinvested. Sustainable Income is the resultant estimate of the fund’s dividend income per current unit, before fees and expenses. Note that a “current unit” includes reinvestment of prior capital gains; a unitholder would have had the calculated sustainable income with only, say, 0.9 units in the past which, with reinvestment of capital gains, would become 1.0 current units.
DeemedRetractibles are comprised of all Straight Perpetuals (both PerpetualDiscount and PerpetualPremium) issued by BMO, BNS, CM, ELF, GWO, HSB, IAG, MFC, NA, RY, SLF and TD, which are not exchangable into common at the option of the company or the regulator (definition refined in May, 2011). These issues are analyzed as if their prospectuses included a requirement to redeem at par on or prior to 2022-1-31 (banks) or the Deemed Maturity date for insurers and insurance holding companies (see below)), in addition to the call schedule explicitly defined. See the Deemed Retractible Review: September 2016 for the rationale behind this analysis. The same reasoning is also applied to FixedResets from these issuers, other than explicitly defined NVCC from banks. In November, 2019, the assumption of DeemedRetraction for insurance issues was cancelled in the wake of the IAIS decision included in ICS 2.0. This resulted in a large drop in the yield calculated for these issues
The Deemed Maturity date for insurers was set at 2022-1-31 at the commencement of the process in February, 2011. It was extended to 2025-1-31 in April, 2013 and to 2030-1-31 in December, 2018. In November, 2019, the assumption of DeemedRetraction was cancelled in the wake of the IAIS decision included in ICS 2.0.
Yields for September, 2011, to January, 2012, were calculated by imposing a cap of 10% on the yields of YLO issues held, in order to avoid their extremely high calculated yields distorting the calculation and to reflect the uncertainty in the marketplace that these yields will be realized. From February to September 2012, yields on these issues have been set to zero. All YLO issues held were sold in October 2012.

These calculations were performed assuming constant contemporary GOC-5 and 3-Month Bill rates, as follows:

Canada Yields Assumed in Calculations
Month-end	GOC-5	3-Month Bill
September, 2015	0.78%	0.40%
December, 2015	0.71%	0.46%
March, 2016	0.70%	0.44%
June	0.57%	0.47%
September	0.58%	0.53%
December, 2016	1.16%	0.47%
March, 2017	1.08%	0.55%
June	1.35%	0.69%
September	1.79%	0.97%
December, 2017	1.83%	1.00%
March, 2018	2.06%	1.08%
June	1.95%	1.22%
September	2.33%	1.55%
December, 2018	1.88%	1.65%
March, 2019	1.46%	1.66%
June	1.34%	1.66%
September	1.41%	1.66%
December, 2019	1.68%	1.68%
March, 2020	0.57%	0.21%
June	0.37%	0.21%
September	0.35%	0.14%
December, 2020	0.42%	0.08%
March, 2021	0.94%	0.09%
June	0.93%	0.13%
September	1.07%	0.13%
December, 2021	1.31%	0.16%
March, 2022	2.44%	0.53%
June	3.24%	2.11%
September	3.45%	3.60%
December, 2022	3.37%	4.35%
March, 2023	2.93%	4.44%
June	3.74%	5.00%
September	4.31%	5.21%
December, 2023	3.21%	5.13%
March, 2024	3.55%	5.06%
June	3.41%	4.71%
August, 2024	2.97%	4.29%

Posted in MAPF | 18 Comments »

Fund Suggestions for MAPF Comparisons, Please.

Sunday, September 1st, 2024

As most of you will know, I report performance for a variety of MAPF competitors every month in the fund’s performance reports. The August version contains the note:

Figures for BMO Preferred Share Fund (advisor series) are not available as the fund has been terminated. This is as per an announcement by the bank on 2024-5-28. The last performance report for this awful fund was as of July 31, 2024.

So I have space for a new fund to report every month. Help me out in the comments! Suggested funds should be:

Canadian preferred shares only
Reasonably big
Reasonably good performers – give me something that’s worth beating!
Preferably, at least a five-year track record
Publicly reported performance data in the usual format

Posted in Indices and ETFs, MAPF | 9 Comments »

MAPF Portfolio Composition: August, 2024

Saturday, August 31st, 2024

Turnover dipped to 8% in August.

Sectoral distribution of the MAPF portfolio on August 30, 2024, were:

MAPF Sectoral Analysis 2024-8-30
HIMI Indices Sector	Weighting	YTW	ModDur
Ratchet	0%	N/A	N/A
FixFloat	0%	N/A	N/A
Floater	0%	N/A	N/A
OpRet	0%	N/A	N/A
SplitShare	0%	N/A	N/A
Interest Rearing	0%	N/A	N/A
PerpetualPremium	0%	N/A	N/A
PerpetualDiscount	7.8%	6.54%	13.09
Fixed-Reset Discount	53.5%	6.92%	12.84
Insurance – Straight	17.2%	5.69%	14.44
FloatingReset	0%	N/A	N/A
FixedReset Premium	0%	N/A	N/A
FixedReset Bank non-NVCC	0%	N/A	N/A
FixedReset Insurance non-NVCC	8.2%	6.41%	13.77
Scraps – Ratchet	1.2%	10.52%	9.75
Scraps – FixedFloater	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – Floater	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – OpRet	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – SplitShare	2.3%	6.22%	3.14
Scraps – PerpPrem	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – PerpDisc	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – FR Discount	9.6%	8.14%	11.54
Scraps – Insurance Straight	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – FloatingReset	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – FR Premium	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – Bank non-NVCC	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – Ins non-NVCC	0%	N/A	N/A
Cash	+0.2%	0.00%	0.00
Total	100%	6.77%	12.80
Totals and changes will not add precisely due to rounding. Cash is included in totals with duration and yield both equal to zero.
The various “Scraps” indices include issues with a DBRS rating of Pfd-3(high) or lower and issues with an Average Trading Value (calculated with HIMIPref™ methodology, which is relatively complex) of less than $25,000. The issues considered “Scraps” are subdivided into indices which reflect those of the main indices.
DeemedRetractibles were comprised of all Straight Perpetuals (both PerpetualDiscount and PerpetualPremium) issued by BMO, BNS, CM, ELF, GWO, HSB, IAG, MFC, NA, RY, SLF and TD, which are not exchangable into common at the option of the company or the regulator. These issues are analyzed as if their prospectuses included a requirement to redeem at par on or prior to 2022-1-31 in the case of banks or normally in the case of insurers and insurance holding companies, in addition to the call schedule explicitly defined. See the Deemed Retractible Review: September 2016 for the rationale behind this analysis and IAIS Says No To DeemedRetractions for the recent change in policy with respect to insurers. Note that the estimate for the time this will become effective for insurers and insurance holding companies was extended by three years in April 2013, due to the delays in OSFI’s providing clarity on the issue and by a further five years in December, 2018; the estimate was eliminated in November. However, the distinctions are being kept because it is useful to distinguish insurance issues from others. The name of this subindex has been changed to “Insurance Straight” as of November, 2020
Calculations of yield and related attributes of resettable instruments are performed assuming a constant GOC-5 rate of 2.97%, a constant 3-Month Bill rate of 4.29% and a constant Canada Prime Rate of 6.70%

The “total” reflects the un-leveraged total portfolio (i.e., cash is included in the portfolio calculations and is deemed to have a duration and yield of 0.00.). MAPF will often have relatively large cash balances, both credit and debit, to facilitate trading. Figures presented in the table have been rounded to the indicated precision.

Credit distribution is:

MAPF Credit Analysis 2024-08-30
DBRS Rating	MAPF Weighting
Pfd-1	0
Pfd-1(low)	0
Pfd-2(high)	33.2%
Pfd-2	24.2%
Pfd-2(low)	29.3%
Pfd-3(high)	7.5%
Pfd-3	2.5%
Pfd-3(low)	2.9%
Pfd-4(high)	0.3%
Pfd-4	0%
Pfd-4(low)	0%
Pfd-5(high)	0%
Pfd-5	0%
Cash	0.2%
Totals will not add precisely due to rounding.
A position held in INE.PR.A is not rated by DBRS nor by S&P, but has been included as “Pfd-4(high)” in the above table on the basis of its last S&P rating of P-4(high) and its BB rating from Fitch. A “BB” rating would normally map to Pfd-3, but the company’s disdain for the two major preferred share agencies makes me nervous.

Liquidity Distribution is:

MAPF Liquidity Analysis 2024-08-30
Average Daily Trading	MAPF Weighting
<$50,000	4.1%
$50,000 – $100,000	44.3%
$100,000 – $200,000	16.7%
$200,000 – $300,000	12.7%
>$300,000	22.0%
Cash	0.2%
Totals will not add precisely due to rounding.

The distribution of Issue Reset Spreads is:

Range	MAPF Weight
<100bp	0%
100-149bp	2.0%
150-199bp	1.0%
200-249bp	47.3%
250-299bp	20.2%
300-349bp	0.3%
350-399bp	1.6%
400-449bp	0%
450-499bp	0%
500-549bp	0%
550-599bp	0%
>= 600bp	0%
Undefined	27.7%

Distribution of Floating Rate Start Dates is shown in the table below. This is the date of the next adjustment to the dividend rate, if the issue is currently paying a fixed rate for a limited time; which in practice is successive terms of 5 years. Issues that adjust quarterly are considered “Currently Floating”.

Range	MAPF Weight
Currently Floating	2.2%
0-1 Year	21.4%
1-2 Years	15.8%
2-3 Years	22.8%
3-4 Years	9.3%
4-5 Years	2.1%
5-6 Years	0%
>6 Years	0%
Not Floating Rate	26.5%

MAPF is, of course, Malachite Aggressive Preferred Fund, a “unit trust” managed by Hymas Investment Management Inc. Further information and links to performance, audited financials and subscription information are available the fund’s web page. The fund may be purchased directly from Hymas Investment Management. A “unit trust” is like a regular mutual fund, but are not sold with a prospectus This is cheaper, but means subscription is restricted to “accredited investors” (as defined by the Ontario Securities Commission). Fund past performances are not a guarantee of future performance. You can lose money investing in MAPF or any other fund.

Posted in MAPF | 1 Comment »

MAPF Performance: July, 2024

Saturday, August 10th, 2024

Malachite Aggressive Preferred Fund’s Net Asset Value per Unit as of the close July 31, 2024, was $10.1165.

Performance was affected by IFC.PR.C underperforming (-0.83%, following May’s outperformance and June’s underperformance); CU.PR.C (+0.51%, again following outperformance in May and underperformance in June); and FTS.PR.M (+1.69%, following June’s underperformance). These were outweighed by PWF.PR.R (+6.72%) and CM.PR.S (+3.77%, following June’s outperformance) [small holdings are not considered for individual mention here].

FixedResets continue to yield more, in general, than PerpetualDiscounts although the spread has narrowed considerably despite a bounce upwards in May; on July 31, I reported median YTWs of 6.95% and 6.30%, respectively, for these two indices; compare with mean Current Yields of 5.15% and 6.15%, respectively.

Returns to July 31, 2024
Period	MAPF	TXPR* Total Return	CPD – according to Blackrock
One Month	+2.69%	+2.25%	N/A
Three Months	+4.81%	+5.23%	N/A
One Year	+30.89%	+21.70%	+20.91%
Two Years (annualized)	+12.28%	+6.15%	N/A
Three Years (annualized)	+3.90%	+1.62%	+1.08%
Four Years (annualized)	+14.79%	+7.96%	N/A
Five Years (annualized)	+10.18%	+5.76%	+5.16%
Six Years (annualized)	+4.92%	+3.10%	N/A
Seven Years (annualized)	+5.71%	+3.40%	N/A
Eight Years (annualized)	+8.25%	+5.00%	N/A
Nine Years (annualized)	+6.53%	+4.15%	N/A
Ten Years (annualized)	+4.67%	+2.47%	+1.97%
Eleven Years (annualized)	+5.09%	+2.68%
Twelve Years (annualized)	+4.83%	+2.49%
Thirteen Years (annualized)	+4.67%	+2.63%
Fourteen Years (annualized)	+5.43%	+3.17%
Fifteen Years (annualized)	+6.07%	+3.48%
Sixteen Years (annualized)	+8.68%	+3.63%
Seventeen Years (annualized)	+7.69%	+2.89%
Eighteen Years (annualized)	+7.57%
Nineteen Years (annualized)	+7.41%
Twenty Years (annualized)	+7.40%
Twenty-One Years (annualized)	+7.94%
Twenty-Two Years (annualized)	+8.18%
Twenty-Three Years (annualized)	+8.32%
MAPF returns assume reinvestment of distributions, and are shown after expenses but before fees.
The BMO Capital Markets “50” Preferred Share Index is no longer being calculated. The final performance report incorporating this venerable index was published as of December, 2020.
“TXPR” is the S&P/TSX Preferred Share Index. It is calculated without accounting for fees, but does assume reinvestment of dividends.
CPD Returns are for the NAV and are after all fees and expenses. Reinvestment of dividends is assumed.
Figures for NBI Preferred Equity Income Fund, Series F [NBC780] (formerly Omega Preferred Equity) (which are after all fees and expenses) for 1-, 3- and 12-months are +%, +% and +%, respectively, according to National Bank Investments after all fees & expenses. Three year performance is +%; five year is +%; ten year is +%. Figures from Morningstar are no longer conveniently available.
Manulife Preferred Income Class Adv has been terminated by Manulife. The performance of this fund was last reported here in March, 2018.
Figures for Horizons Active Preferred Share ETF (HPR) (which are after all fees and expenses) for 1-, 3- and 12-months are +2.04%, +4.56% & +25.57%, respectively. Three year performance is +2.77%, five-year is +7.34%, ten year is +3.51%
Figures for NBI Preferred Equity Fund Series F [NBC710] (formerly Altamira Preferred Equity Fund) are +%, +% and +% for one-, three- and twelve months, respectively. Three year performance is +%; five-year is +%; ten-year is +% Acccording to the fund’s fact sheet as of June 30, 2016, the fund’s inception date was October 30, 2015. I do not know how they justify this nonsensical statement, but will assume that prior performance is being suppressed in some perfectly legal manner that somebody at National considers ethical. The last time Altamira Preferred Equity Fund’s performance was reported here was April, 2014; performance under the National Bank banner was first reported here May, 2014.
The figures for the NAV of BMO Laddered Preferred Share Index ETF (ZPR) is +23.36% for the past twelve months. Two year performance is +6.98%, three year is +2.51%, five year is +6.91%, ten year is +1.98% Note that analysis of ZPR shows some doubt as to whether this fund is either "laddered" or an "index fund". However, there was a remarkable improvement in the laddering in the six months following the publication of my analysis.
Figures for Fiera Canadian Preferred Share Class Cg Series F, (formerly Natixis Canadian Preferred Share Class Series F) (formerly NexGen Canadian Preferred Share Tax Managed Fund) are no longer available as the Fund is now the property of Canoe Financial. The last reported performance for the merged fund was May 2020.
Figures for BMO Preferred Share Fund (advisor series) according to BMO (Morningstar states there is “No Data Available) are +1.72%, +3.15% and +16.37% for the past one-, three- and twelve-months, respectively. Three year performance is -1.04%; five-year is +3.39%; ten-year is +0.38%.
Figures for PowerShares Canadian Preferred Share Index Class, Series F (PPS) are no longer available since the fund has been terminated. Performance was last reported for the fund to month-end, March 2023
Figures for the First Asset Preferred Share Investment Trust (PSF.UN) are no longer available since the fund has merged with First Asset Preferred Share ETF (FPR). Performance for the fund was last reported here in September, 2016; the first report of unavailability was in October, 2016.
Figures for Lysander-Slater Preferred Share Dividend Fund (Class F) according to the company are +2.3%, +4.5% and +23.6% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Three year performance is +2.5%, five-year is +6.4%.
Figures for the Desjardins Canadian Preferred Share Fund F Class (F Class), as reported by the company are +2.27%, +5.64% and +21.83% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Two year performance is +6.78%, three-year is +1.67%, five-year is +5.73%
Figures for the RBC Canadian Preferred Share ETF (RPF) are reported by Morningstar as being “No Data Available and RBC figures only extend to 2024-6-30. Ain’t Canadian banks wonderful? I don’t feel as bad about my late reporting any more. as -%, +% and +% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Three-year performance is +%, five-year is +%
Figures for the Dynamic Active Preferred Shares ETF (DXP) are -%, +% and +% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Three-year performance is +%; five-year is +%
Figures for the Purpose Canadian Preferred Share Fund (Class F) are +1.26%, +3.32% and +23.95% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Three-year performance is +2.02%; four-year is +12.28%; five-year is +8.14%; seven-year is +3.50%; ten-year is +5.13%.

The five-year Canada yield increased, with the five-year Canada yield (“GOC-5”) moving from 3.41% at June month-end to 3.24% at July month-end (n.b. – these are the figures used by HIMIPref™, which may lag daily market changes).

The Seniority Spread (between long-term corporate bonds and interest-equivalent PerpetualDiscounts) was 325bp on 2024-07-31, a dramatic narrowing from the 370bp on 2024-6-26 (chart end-date 2024-7-12). This was, presumably, due to widespread reporting that inflation has been conquered:

The situation with FixedResets is interesting, with the spread between GOC-5 and the interest-adjusted FixedReset (Discount) rate widening significantly (despite recent narrowing) from its 2021-11-10 low of 344bp to a level of 594bp (as of 2024-7-31) … (chart end-date 2024-07-12):

…while at the same time the interest-equivalent spread between FixedReset (Discounts) and PerpetualDiscounts has narrowed to -85bp (as of 2024-7-31) from its 2021-7-28 level of +170bp (chart end-date 2024-07-31):

There is no significant correlation between the Issue Reset Spread and 1-month performance for discounted FixedResets for either the Pfd-2 or Pfd-3 Group issues.

There is no significant correlation between the Issue Reset Spread and 3-month performance for discounted FixedResets for either the Pfd-2 or Pfd-3 Group issues.

There is no significant correlation for the Pfd-2 Group but there is for the Pfd-3 Group (23%) for 1-Month performance against term-to-reset:

… while the three-month returns vs. Term to Reset, show correlations for both the Pfd-2 Group (17%) and the Pfd-3 Group (23%):

Upward-sloping correlations of Performance vs. Term are to be expected when GOC-5 declines.

I will note that the fund’s current holdings of FixedResets are now paying dividends based on their previous reset at an average GOC-5 rate of 1.69% (weighted by shares held).

Calculation of MAPF Sustainable Income Per Unit
Month	NAVPU	Portfolio Average YTW	Leverage Divisor	Securities Average YTW	Capital Gains Multiplier	Sustainable Income per current Unit
June, 2007	9.3114	5.16%	1.03	5.01%	1.3240	0.3524
September	9.1489	5.35%	0.98	5.46%	1.3240	0.3773
December, 2007	9.0070	5.53%	0.942	5.87%	1.3240	0.3993
March, 2008	8.8512	6.17%	1.047	5.89%	1.3240	0.3938
June	8.3419	6.034%	0.952	6.338%	1.3240	$0.3993
September	8.1886	7.108%	0.969	7.335%	1.3240	$0.4537
December, 2008	8.0464	9.24%	1.008	9.166%	1.3240	$0.5571
March 2009	$8.8317	8.60%	0.995	8.802%	1.3240	$0.5872
June	10.9846	7.05%	0.999	7.057%	1.3240	$0.5855
September	12.3462	6.03%	0.998	6.042%	1.3240	$0.5634
December 2009	10.5662	5.74%	0.981	5.851%	1.1141	$0.5549
March 2010	10.2497	6.03%	0.992	6.079%	1.1141	$0.5593
June	10.5770	5.96%	0.996	5.984%	1.1141	$0.5681
September	11.3901	5.43%	0.980	5.540%	1.1141	$0.5664
December 2010	10.7659	5.37%	0.993	5.408%	1.0298	$0.5654
March, 2011	11.0560	6.00%	0.994	5.964%	1.0298	$0.6403
June	11.1194	5.87%	1.018	5.976%	1.0298	$0.6453
September	10.2709	6.10% Note	1.001	6.106%	1.0298	$0.6090
December, 2011	10.0793	5.63% Note	1.031	5.805%	1.0000	$0.5851
March, 2012	10.3944	5.13% Note	0.996	5.109%	1.0000	$0.5310
June	10.2151	5.32% Note	1.012	5.384%	1.0000	$0.5500
September	10.6703	4.61% Note	0.997	4.624%	1.0000	$0.4934
December, 2012	10.8307	4.24%	0.989	4.287%	1.0000	$0.4643
March, 2013	10.9033	3.87%	0.996	3.886%	1.0000	$0.4237
June	10.3261	4.81%	0.998	4.80%	1.0000	$0.4957
September	10.0296	5.62%	0.996	5.643%	1.0000	$0.5660
December, 2013	9.8717	6.02%	1.008	5.972%	1.0000	$0.5895
March, 2014	10.2233	5.55%	0.998	5.561%	1.0000	$0.5685
June	10.5877	5.09%	0.998	5.100%	1.0000	$0.5395
September	10.4601	5.28%	0.997	5.296%	1.0000	$0.5540
December, 2014	10.5701	4.83%	1.009	4.787%	1.0000	$0.5060
March, 2015	9.9573	4.99%	1.001	4.985%	1.0000	$0.4964
June, 2015	9.4181	5.55%	1.002	5.539%	1.0000	$0.5217
September	7.8140	6.98%	0.999	6.987%	1.0000	$0.5460
December, 2015	8.1379	6.85%	0.997	6.871%	1.0000	$0.5592
March, 2016	7.4416	7.79%	0.998	7.805%	1.0000	$0.5808
June	7.6704	7.67%	1.011	7.587%	1.0000	$0.5819
September	8.0590	7.35%	0.993	7.402%	1.0000	$0.5965
December, 2016	8.5844	7.24%	0.990	7.313%	1.0000	$0.6278
March, 2017	9.3984	6.26%	0.994	6.298%	1.0000	$0.5919
June	9.5313	6.41%	0.998	6.423%	1.0000	$0.6122
September	9.7129	6.56%	0.998	6.573%	1.0000	$0.6384
December, 2017	10.0566	6.06%	1.004	6.036%	1.0000	$0.6070
March, 2018	10.2701	6.22%	1.007	6.177%	1.0000	$0.6344
June	10.2518	6.22%	0.995	6.251%	1.0000	$0.6408
September	10.2965	6.62%	1.018	6.503%	1.0000	$0.6696
December, 2018	8.6875	7.16%	0.997	7.182%	1.0000	$0.6240
March, 2019	8.4778	7.09%	1.007	7.041%	1.0000	$0.5969
June	8.0896	7.33%	0.996	7.359%	1.0000	$0.5953
September	7.7948	7.96%	0.998	7.976%	1.0000	$0.6217
December, 2019	8.0900	6.03%	0.995	6.060%	1.0000	$0.4903
March	5.5596	7.04%	1.006	6.998%	1.0000	$0.3891
June	6.3568	6.10%	0.9900	6.162%	1.0000	$0.3917
September	7.2852	5.32%	1.00	5.320%	1.0000	$0.3876
December, 2020	8.3947	4.46%	0.999	4.464%	1.0000	$0.3747
March, 2021	9.6473	4.48%	0.996	4.498%	1.0000	$0.4339
June	10.3712	3.92%	0.985	3.980%	1.0000	$0.4127
September	10.7572	4.08%	1.017	4.012%	1.0000	$0.4316
December, 2021	10.7432	4.31%	0.999	4.314%	1.0000	$0.4635
March, 2022	10.5040	5.53%	1.004	5.508%	1.0000	$0.5786
June	9.3115	7.04%	0.993	7.090%	1.0000	$0.6672
September	8.4093	8.10%	0.997	8.124%	1.0000	$0.6916
December, 2022	7.9921	8.47%	0.996	8.504%	1.0000	$0.6796
March, 2023	8.0788	7.90%	0.997	7.924%	1.0000	$0.6401
June 30	8.0197	9.19%	1.003	9.163%	1.0000	$0.7348
September 29	7.9922	9.86%	0.997	9.890%	1.0000	$0.7904
Decenber 29, 2023	8.4715	8.14%	1.002	8.124%	1.0000	$0.6882
March 28,2024	9.5892	7.60%	1.006	7.555%	1.0000	$0.7244
June 28, 2024	9.8516	7.32%	0.999	7.327%	1.0000	$0.7219
July 31,2024	10.1165	7.19%	1.001	7.183%	1.0000	$0.7266
NAVPU is shown after quarterly distributions of dividend income and annual distribution of capital gains. Portfolio YTW includes cash (or margin borrowing), with an assumed interest rate of 0.00% The Leverage Divisor indicates the level of cash in the account: if the portfolio is 1% in cash, the Leverage Divisor will be 0.99 Securities YTW divides “Portfolio YTW” by the “Leverage Divisor” to show the average YTW on the securities held; this assumes that the cash is invested in (or raised from) all securities held, in proportion to their holdings. The Capital Gains Multiplier adjusts for the effects of Capital Gains Dividends. On 2009-12-31, there was a capital gains distribution of $1.989262 which is assumed for this purpose to have been reinvested at the final price of $10.5662. Thus, a holder of one unit pre-distribution would have held 1.1883 units post-distribution; the CG Multiplier reflects this to make the time-series comparable. Note that Dividend Distributions are not assumed to be reinvested. Sustainable Income is the resultant estimate of the fund’s dividend income per current unit, before fees and expenses. Note that a “current unit” includes reinvestment of prior capital gains; a unitholder would have had the calculated sustainable income with only, say, 0.9 units in the past which, with reinvestment of capital gains, would become 1.0 current units.
DeemedRetractibles are comprised of all Straight Perpetuals (both PerpetualDiscount and PerpetualPremium) issued by BMO, BNS, CM, ELF, GWO, HSB, IAG, MFC, NA, RY, SLF and TD, which are not exchangable into common at the option of the company or the regulator (definition refined in May, 2011). These issues are analyzed as if their prospectuses included a requirement to redeem at par on or prior to 2022-1-31 (banks) or the Deemed Maturity date for insurers and insurance holding companies (see below)), in addition to the call schedule explicitly defined. See the Deemed Retractible Review: September 2016 for the rationale behind this analysis. The same reasoning is also applied to FixedResets from these issuers, other than explicitly defined NVCC from banks. In November, 2019, the assumption of DeemedRetraction for insurance issues was cancelled in the wake of the IAIS decision included in ICS 2.0. This resulted in a large drop in the yield calculated for these issues
The Deemed Maturity date for insurers was set at 2022-1-31 at the commencement of the process in February, 2011. It was extended to 2025-1-31 in April, 2013 and to 2030-1-31 in December, 2018. In November, 2019, the assumption of DeemedRetraction was cancelled in the wake of the IAIS decision included in ICS 2.0.
Yields for September, 2011, to January, 2012, were calculated by imposing a cap of 10% on the yields of YLO issues held, in order to avoid their extremely high calculated yields distorting the calculation and to reflect the uncertainty in the marketplace that these yields will be realized. From February to September 2012, yields on these issues have been set to zero. All YLO issues held were sold in October 2012.

These calculations were performed assuming constant contemporary GOC-5 and 3-Month Bill rates, as follows:

Canada Yields Assumed in Calculations
Month-end	GOC-5	3-Month Bill
September, 2015	0.78%	0.40%
December, 2015	0.71%	0.46%
March, 2016	0.70%	0.44%
June	0.57%	0.47%
September	0.58%	0.53%
December, 2016	1.16%	0.47%
March, 2017	1.08%	0.55%
June	1.35%	0.69%
September	1.79%	0.97%
December, 2017	1.83%	1.00%
March, 2018	2.06%	1.08%
June	1.95%	1.22%
September	2.33%	1.55%
December, 2018	1.88%	1.65%
March, 2019	1.46%	1.66%
June	1.34%	1.66%
September	1.41%	1.66%
December, 2019	1.68%	1.68%
March, 2020	0.57%	0.21%
June	0.37%	0.21%
September	0.35%	0.14%
December, 2020	0.42%	0.08%
March, 2021	0.94%	0.09%
June	0.93%	0.13%
September	1.07%	0.13%
December, 2021	1.31%	0.16%
March, 2022	2.44%	0.53%
June	3.24%	2.11%
September	3.45%	3.60%
December, 2022	3.37%	4.35%
March, 2023	2.93%	4.44%
June	3.74%	5.00%
September	4.31%	5.21%
December, 2023	3.21%	5.13%
March, 2024	3.55%	5.06%
June	3.41%	4.71%
July, 2024	3.24%	4.52%

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MAPF Portfolio Composition: July, 2024

Sunday, August 4th, 2024

Turnover remained high at 15% in July, but most of this was not due to ‘normal’ optimization due to relative price movements, but to a large migration into Enbridge issues, which was upgraded to Pfd-2(low) by DBRS at the end of June. Enbridge issues generally yield more than issues of comparable risk, so this trading activity boosted the fund’s portfolio yield relative to what would have been expected with the decline in projected five-year Canada yields.

Sectoral distribution of the MAPF portfolio on July 31, 2024, were:

MAPF Sectoral Analysis 2024-7-31
HIMI Indices Sector	Weighting	YTW	ModDur
Ratchet	0%	N/A	N/A
FixFloat	0%	N/A	N/A
Floater	0%	N/A	N/A
OpRet	0%	N/A	N/A
SplitShare	0%	N/A	N/A
Interest Rearing	0%	N/A	N/A
PerpetualPremium	0%	N/A	N/A
PerpetualDiscount	9.9%	6.53%	13.15
Fixed-Reset Discount	50.4%	7.41%	12.29
Insurance – Straight	16.4%	6.02%	13.85
FloatingReset	0%	N/A	N/A
FixedReset Premium	0%	N/A	N/A
FixedReset Bank non-NVCC	0%	N/A	N/A
FixedReset Insurance non-NVCC	7.9%	6.87%	13.25
Scraps – Ratchet	1.2%	10.61%	9.66
Scraps – FixedFloater	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – Floater	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – OpRet	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – SplitShare	3.0%	6.22%	2.72
Scraps – PerpPrem	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – PerpDisc	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – FR Discount	11.3%	8.52%	11.11
Scraps – Insurance Straight	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – FloatingReset	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – FR Premium	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – Bank non-NVCC	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – Ins non-NVCC	0%	N/A	N/A
Cash	-0.1%	0.00%	0.00
Total	100%	7.19%	12.27
Totals and changes will not add precisely due to rounding. Cash is included in totals with duration and yield both equal to zero.
The various “Scraps” indices include issues with a DBRS rating of Pfd-3(high) or lower and issues with an Average Trading Value (calculated with HIMIPref™ methodology, which is relatively complex) of less than $25,000. The issues considered “Scraps” are subdivided into indices which reflect those of the main indices.
DeemedRetractibles were comprised of all Straight Perpetuals (both PerpetualDiscount and PerpetualPremium) issued by BMO, BNS, CM, ELF, GWO, HSB, IAG, MFC, NA, RY, SLF and TD, which are not exchangable into common at the option of the company or the regulator. These issues are analyzed as if their prospectuses included a requirement to redeem at par on or prior to 2022-1-31 in the case of banks or normally in the case of insurers and insurance holding companies, in addition to the call schedule explicitly defined. See the Deemed Retractible Review: September 2016 for the rationale behind this analysis and IAIS Says No To DeemedRetractions for the recent change in policy with respect to insurers. Note that the estimate for the time this will become effective for insurers and insurance holding companies was extended by three years in April 2013, due to the delays in OSFI’s providing clarity on the issue and by a further five years in December, 2018; the estimate was eliminated in November. However, the distinctions are being kept because it is useful to distinguish insurance issues from others. The name of this subindex has been changed to “Insurance Straight” as of November, 2020
Calculations of yield and related attributes of resettable instruments are performed assuming a constant GOC-5 rate of 3.24%, a constant 3-Month Bill rate of 4.52% and a constant Canada Prime Rate of 6.70%

Credit distribution is:

MAPF Credit Analysis 2024-07-31
DBRS Rating	MAPF Weighting
Pfd-1	0
Pfd-1(low)	0
Pfd-2(high)	34.2%
Pfd-2	22.5%
Pfd-2(low)	29.8%
Pfd-3(high)	8.4%
Pfd-3	2.2%
Pfd-3(low)	2.9%
Pfd-4(high)	0.3%
Pfd-4	0%
Pfd-4(low)	0%
Pfd-5(high)	0%
Pfd-5	0%
Cash	-0.1%
Totals will not add precisely due to rounding.
A position held in INE.PR.A is not rated by DBRS nor by S&P, but has been included as “Pfd-4(high)” in the above table on the basis of its last S&P rating of P-4(high) and its BB rating from Fitch. A “BB” rating would normally map to Pfd-3, but the company’s disdain for the two major preferred share agencies makes me nervous.

Liquidity Distribution is:

MAPF Liquidity Analysis 2024-07-31
Average Daily Trading	MAPF Weighting
<$50,000	4.3%
$50,000 – $100,000	35.0%
$100,000 – $200,000	23.8%
$200,000 – $300,000	16.6%
>$300,000	20.4%
Cash	-0.1%
Totals will not add precisely due to rounding.

The distribution of Issue Reset Spreads is:

Range	MAPF Weight
<100bp	0%
100-149bp	1.7%
150-199bp	1.0%
200-249bp	43.9%
250-299bp	22.1%
300-349bp	0.3%
350-399bp	1.5%
400-449bp	0%
450-499bp	0%
500-549bp	0%
550-599bp	0%
>= 600bp	0%
Undefined	29.4%

Range	MAPF Weight
Currently Floating	2.2%
0-1 Year	18.9%
1-2 Years	15.7%
2-3 Years	21.6%
3-4 Years	7.6%
4-5 Years	5.8%
5-6 Years	0%
>6 Years	0%
Not Floating Rate	28.2%

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MAPF Performance: June, 2024

Sunday, June 30th, 2024

Malachite Aggressive Preferred Fund’s Net Asset Value per Unit as of the close June 28, 2024, was $9.8516 after a dividend distribution of $0.149146.

This quarter’s distribution was boosted a bit by the dividend earned on CM.PR.S, recently added to the fund’s holdings in good size; this issue reset in January, 2023, when GOC-5 was about 3.43%. It’s nice to see a progression towards cash payments of the increase in ‘sustainable yield’ I’ve been forecasting for so long! Such progress will not necessarily be in a straight line: if, for instance, it seems to me that total return projections will improve if I swap out of CM.PR.S into an issue with a lower current dividend but better long term prospects … that’s exactly what I will do. However, with every passing day we get a day closer to the next reset date of all the outstanding issues that currently pay dividends based on resets with very low GOC-5 rates and this particular market feature will vanish … at least until the next market convulsion!

Performance was affected by IFC.PR.C underperforming (-6.25%, following May’s outperformance); CU.PR.C (-4.24%, again following outperformance last month); and FTS.PR.M (-3.13%). These were mitigated, but not outweighed by CM.PR.S (+0.40%) and MFC.PR.B (-0.05%) [small holdings are not considered for individual mention here].

Returns have been wonderful following the lows of the TXPR price index on 2023-10-31, but yields remain elevated well above those available on instruments with similar risk; for instance, Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. recently noted they are refinancing BEP.PR.O on the “green perpetual subordinated notes” market at 70bp under the presumed reset rate of BEP.PR.O. Most of the refunding activity has been undertaken by the banks, most recently TD.PF.M and TD.PF.B.

FixedResets continue to yield more, in general, than PerpetualDiscounts although the spread has narrowed considerably despite a bounce upwards in May; on June 28, I reported median YTWs of 7.16% and 6.68%, respectively, for these two indices; compare with mean Current Yields of 5.16% and 6.49%, respectively.

The month closed with DBRS announcing an upgrade of ENB to Pfd-2(low), bringing its rating of the company back into alignment with S&P after years of ‘split rating’ status. The upgrade will provide a small tailwind to the return on ENB’s numerous issues, but I do not anticipate any price increase that is either very sharp or very immediate.

Returns to June 28, 2024
Period	MAPF	TXPR* Total Return	CPD – according to Blackrock
One Month	-1.57%	-0.02%	N/A
Three Months	+4.29%	+4.17%	N/A
One Year	+30.03%	+20.75%	+19.97%
Two Years (annualized)	+8.48%	+4.84%	N/A
Three Years (annualized)	+3.23%	+1.14%	+0.60%
Four Years (annualized)	+17.10%	+9.04%	N/A
Five Years (annualized)	+9.71%	+5.57%	+4.97%
Six Years (annualized)	+4.64%	+2.91%	N/A
Seven Years (annualized)	+5.62%	+3.24%	N/A
Eight Years (annualized)	+8.38%	+5.18%	N/A
Nine Years (annualized)	+5.66%	+3.41%	N/A
Ten Years (annualized)	+4.37%	+2.28%	+1.77%
Eleven Years (annualized)	+4.69%	+2.38%
Twelve Years (annualized)	+4.81%	+2.39%
Thirteen Years (annualized)	+4.42%	+2.51%
Fourteen Years (annualized)	+5.44%	+3.13%
Fifteen Years (annualized)	+6.40%	+3.55%
Sixteen Years (annualized)	+8.35%	+3.34%
Seventeen Years (annualized)	+7.55%	+2.75%
Eighteen Years (annualized)	+7.42%
Nineteen Years (annualized)	+7.27%
Twenty Years (annualized)	+7.40%
Twenty-One Years (annualized)	+7.98%
Twenty-Two Years (annualized)	+7.94%
Twenty-Three Years (annualized)	+8.26%
MAPF returns assume reinvestment of distributions, and are shown after expenses but before fees.
The BMO Capital Markets “50” Preferred Share Index is no longer being calculated. The final performance report incorporating this venerable index was published as of December, 2020.
“TXPR” is the S&P/TSX Preferred Share Index. It is calculated without accounting for fees, but does assume reinvestment of dividends.
CPD Returns are for the NAV and are after all fees and expenses. Reinvestment of dividends is assumed.
Figures for NBI Preferred Equity Income Fund, Series F [NBC780] (formerly Omega Preferred Equity) (which are after all fees and expenses) for 1-, 3- and 12-months are +0.54%, +4.16% and +22.86%, respectively, according to National Bank Investments after all fees & expenses. Three year performance is +1.99%; five year is +7.42%; ten year is +4.08%. Figures from Morningstar are no longer conveniently available.
Manulife Preferred Income Class Adv has been terminated by Manulife. The performance of this fund was last reported here in March, 2018.
Figures for Horizons Active Preferred Share ETF (HPR) (which are after all fees and expenses) for 1-, 3- and 12-months are +0.19%, +4.53% & +25.23%, respectively. Three year performance is +2.47%, five-year is +7.24%, ten year is +3.33%
Figures for NBI Preferred Equity Fund Series F [NBC710] (formerly Altamira Preferred Equity Fund) are +0.00%, +4.49% and +26.64% for one-, three- and twelve months, respectively. Three year performance is +2.85%; five-year is +7.60%; ten-year is +3.48% Acccording to the fund’s fact sheet as of June 30, 2016, the fund’s inception date was October 30, 2015. I do not know how they justify this nonsensical statement, but will assume that prior performance is being suppressed in some perfectly legal manner that somebody at National considers ethical. The last time Altamira Preferred Equity Fund’s performance was reported here was April, 2014; performance under the National Bank banner was first reported here May, 2014.
The figures for the NAV of BMO Laddered Preferred Share Index ETF (ZPR) is +23.58% for the past twelve months. Two year performance is +5.79%, three year is +2.26%, five year is +6.85%, ten year is +1.83% Note that analysis of ZPR shows some doubt as to whether this fund is either "laddered" or an "index fund".
Figures for Fiera Canadian Preferred Share Class Cg Series F, (formerly Natixis Canadian Preferred Share Class Series F) (formerly NexGen Canadian Preferred Share Tax Managed Fund) are no longer available as the Fund is now the property of Canoe Financial. The last reported performance for the merged fund was May 2020.
Figures for BMO Preferred Share Fund (advisor series) according to Morningstar are +0.04%, +1.46% and +16.48% for the past one-, three- and twelve-months, respectively. Three year performance is -1.31%; five-year is +3.37%; ten-year is +0.23%.
Figures for PowerShares Canadian Preferred Share Index Class, Series F (PPS) are no longer available since the fund has been terminated. Performance was last reported for the fund to month-end, March 2023
Figures for the First Asset Preferred Share Investment Trust (PSF.UN) are no longer available since the fund has merged with First Asset Preferred Share ETF (FPR). Performance for the fund was last reported here in September, 2016; the first report of unavailability was in October, 2016.
Figures for Lysander-Slater Preferred Share Dividend Fund (Class F) according to the company are -0.2%, +4.0% and +22.3% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Three year performance is +2.0%, five-year is +6.2%.
Figures for the Desjardins Canadian Preferred Share Fund F Class (F Class), as reported by the company are +0.16%, +4.45% and +20.70% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Two year performance is +5.16%, three-year is +1.19%, five-year is +5.56%
Figures for the RBC Canadian Preferred Share ETF (RPF) are reported by Morningstar as -0.15%, +4.29% and +21.94% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Three-year performance is +0.84%, five-year is +6.11%
Figures for the Dynamic Active Preferred Shares ETF (DXP) are -0.0%, +4.0% and +22.5% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Three-year performance is +3.2%; five-year is +8.3%
Figures for the Purpose Canadian Preferred Share Fund (Class F) are +0.29%, +4.48% and +25.31% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Three-year performance is +2.07%; four-year is +13.91%; five-year is +8.20%; seven-year is +3.51%; ten-year is +4.98%.

The five-year Canada yield increased, with the five-year Canada yield (“GOC-5”) moving from 3.74% at May month-end to 3.41% at June month-end (n.b. – these are the figures used by HIMIPref™, which may lag daily market changes).

The Seniority Spread (between long-term corporate bonds and interest-equivalent PerpetualDiscounts) was 370bp on 2024-6-26 a violent widening from the 315bp on 2024-5-29 (chart end-date 2024-6-14) :

The situation with FixedResets is interesting, with the spread between GOC-5 and the interest-adjusted FixedReset (Discount) rate widening significantly (despite recent narrowing) from its 2021-11-10 low of 344bp to a level of 584bp (as of 2024-6-28) … (chart end-date 2024-06-14):

…while at the same time the interest-equivalent spread between FixedReset (Discounts) and PerpetualDiscounts has narrowed to -61bp (as of 2024-6-26) from its 2021-7-28 level of +170bp (chart end-date 2024-06-14):

There is no significant correlation between the Issue Reset Spread and 1-month performance for discounted FixedResets for either the Pfd-2 or Pfd-3 Group issues.

There is no significant correlation between the Issue Reset Spread and 3-month performance for discounted FixedResets for either the Pfd-2 or Pfd-3 Group issues.

There is no significant correlation for either the Pfd-2 Group or the Pfd-3 Group for 1-Month performance against term-to-reset:

… and we see similar behaviour for three-month returns vs. Term to Reset, with no correlation for either the Pfd-2 Group or the Pfd-3 Group:

It should be noted that to some extent a dependence (of performance on term-to-reset) can be justified as the nearer-term issues will receive the benefit of higher projected dividend rates sooner as a result of higher GOC-5 yields and therefore, perhaps, for longer. Equations for the relationship between correlation slope and change in GOC-5 were derived in the August 2022 PrefLetter.

Upwards-sloping correlations of Performance vs. Term are to be expected when GOC-5 declines.

I will note that the fund’s current holdings of FixedResets are now paying dividends based on their previous reset at an average GOC-5 rate of 1.70% (weighted by shares held).

Calculation of MAPF Sustainable Income Per Unit
Month	NAVPU	Portfolio Average YTW	Leverage Divisor	Securities Average YTW	Capital Gains Multiplier	Sustainable Income per current Unit
June, 2007	9.3114	5.16%	1.03	5.01%	1.3240	0.3524
September	9.1489	5.35%	0.98	5.46%	1.3240	0.3773
December, 2007	9.0070	5.53%	0.942	5.87%	1.3240	0.3993
March, 2008	8.8512	6.17%	1.047	5.89%	1.3240	0.3938
June	8.3419	6.034%	0.952	6.338%	1.3240	$0.3993
September	8.1886	7.108%	0.969	7.335%	1.3240	$0.4537
December, 2008	8.0464	9.24%	1.008	9.166%	1.3240	$0.5571
March 2009	$8.8317	8.60%	0.995	8.802%	1.3240	$0.5872
June	10.9846	7.05%	0.999	7.057%	1.3240	$0.5855
September	12.3462	6.03%	0.998	6.042%	1.3240	$0.5634
December 2009	10.5662	5.74%	0.981	5.851%	1.1141	$0.5549
March 2010	10.2497	6.03%	0.992	6.079%	1.1141	$0.5593
June	10.5770	5.96%	0.996	5.984%	1.1141	$0.5681
September	11.3901	5.43%	0.980	5.540%	1.1141	$0.5664
December 2010	10.7659	5.37%	0.993	5.408%	1.0298	$0.5654
March, 2011	11.0560	6.00%	0.994	5.964%	1.0298	$0.6403
June	11.1194	5.87%	1.018	5.976%	1.0298	$0.6453
September	10.2709	6.10% Note	1.001	6.106%	1.0298	$0.6090
December, 2011	10.0793	5.63% Note	1.031	5.805%	1.0000	$0.5851
March, 2012	10.3944	5.13% Note	0.996	5.109%	1.0000	$0.5310
June	10.2151	5.32% Note	1.012	5.384%	1.0000	$0.5500
September	10.6703	4.61% Note	0.997	4.624%	1.0000	$0.4934
December, 2012	10.8307	4.24%	0.989	4.287%	1.0000	$0.4643
March, 2013	10.9033	3.87%	0.996	3.886%	1.0000	$0.4237
June	10.3261	4.81%	0.998	4.80%	1.0000	$0.4957
September	10.0296	5.62%	0.996	5.643%	1.0000	$0.5660
December, 2013	9.8717	6.02%	1.008	5.972%	1.0000	$0.5895
March, 2014	10.2233	5.55%	0.998	5.561%	1.0000	$0.5685
June	10.5877	5.09%	0.998	5.100%	1.0000	$0.5395
September	10.4601	5.28%	0.997	5.296%	1.0000	$0.5540
December, 2014	10.5701	4.83%	1.009	4.787%	1.0000	$0.5060
March, 2015	9.9573	4.99%	1.001	4.985%	1.0000	$0.4964
June, 2015	9.4181	5.55%	1.002	5.539%	1.0000	$0.5217
September	7.8140	6.98%	0.999	6.987%	1.0000	$0.5460
December, 2015	8.1379	6.85%	0.997	6.871%	1.0000	$0.5592
March, 2016	7.4416	7.79%	0.998	7.805%	1.0000	$0.5808
June	7.6704	7.67%	1.011	7.587%	1.0000	$0.5819
September	8.0590	7.35%	0.993	7.402%	1.0000	$0.5965
December, 2016	8.5844	7.24%	0.990	7.313%	1.0000	$0.6278
March, 2017	9.3984	6.26%	0.994	6.298%	1.0000	$0.5919
June	9.5313	6.41%	0.998	6.423%	1.0000	$0.6122
September	9.7129	6.56%	0.998	6.573%	1.0000	$0.6384
December, 2017	10.0566	6.06%	1.004	6.036%	1.0000	$0.6070
March, 2018	10.2701	6.22%	1.007	6.177%	1.0000	$0.6344
June	10.2518	6.22%	0.995	6.251%	1.0000	$0.6408
September	10.2965	6.62%	1.018	6.503%	1.0000	$0.6696
December, 2018	8.6875	7.16%	0.997	7.182%	1.0000	$0.6240
March, 2019	8.4778	7.09%	1.007	7.041%	1.0000	$0.5969
June	8.0896	7.33%	0.996	7.359%	1.0000	$0.5953
September	7.7948	7.96%	0.998	7.976%	1.0000	$0.6217
December, 2019	8.0900	6.03%	0.995	6.060%	1.0000	$0.4903
March	5.5596	7.04%	1.006	6.998%	1.0000	$0.3891
June	6.3568	6.10%	0.9900	6.162%	1.0000	$0.3917
September	7.2852	5.32%	1.00	5.320%	1.0000	$0.3876
December, 2020	8.3947	4.46%	0.999	4.464%	1.0000	$0.3747
March, 2021	9.6473	4.48%	0.996	4.498%	1.0000	$0.4339
June	10.3712	3.92%	0.985	3.980%	1.0000	$0.4127
September	10.7572	4.08%	1.017	4.012%	1.0000	$0.4316
December, 2021	10.7432	4.31%	0.999	4.314%	1.0000	$0.4635
March, 2022	10.5040	5.53%	1.004	5.508%	1.0000	$0.5786
June	9.3115	7.04%	0.993	7.090%	1.0000	$0.6672
September	8.4093	8.10%	0.997	8.124%	1.0000	$0.6916
December, 2022	7.9921	8.47%	0.996	8.504%	1.0000	$0.6796
March, 2023	8.0788	7.90%	0.997	7.924%	1.0000	$0.6401
June 30	8.0197	9.19%	1.003	9.163%	1.0000	$0.7348
September 29	7.9922	9.86%	0.997	9.890%	1.0000	$0.7904
Decenber 29, 2023	8.4715	8.14%	1.002	8.124%	1.0000	$0.6882
March 28,2024	9.5892	7.60%	1.006	7.555%	1.0000	$0.7244
June 28, 2024	9.8516	7.32%	0.999	7.327%	1.0000	$0.7219
NAVPU is shown after quarterly distributions of dividend income and annual distribution of capital gains. Portfolio YTW includes cash (or margin borrowing), with an assumed interest rate of 0.00% The Leverage Divisor indicates the level of cash in the account: if the portfolio is 1% in cash, the Leverage Divisor will be 0.99 Securities YTW divides “Portfolio YTW” by the “Leverage Divisor” to show the average YTW on the securities held; this assumes that the cash is invested in (or raised from) all securities held, in proportion to their holdings. The Capital Gains Multiplier adjusts for the effects of Capital Gains Dividends. On 2009-12-31, there was a capital gains distribution of $1.989262 which is assumed for this purpose to have been reinvested at the final price of $10.5662. Thus, a holder of one unit pre-distribution would have held 1.1883 units post-distribution; the CG Multiplier reflects this to make the time-series comparable. Note that Dividend Distributions are not assumed to be reinvested. Sustainable Income is the resultant estimate of the fund’s dividend income per current unit, before fees and expenses. Note that a “current unit” includes reinvestment of prior capital gains; a unitholder would have had the calculated sustainable income with only, say, 0.9 units in the past which, with reinvestment of capital gains, would become 1.0 current units.
DeemedRetractibles are comprised of all Straight Perpetuals (both PerpetualDiscount and PerpetualPremium) issued by BMO, BNS, CM, ELF, GWO, HSB, IAG, MFC, NA, RY, SLF and TD, which are not exchangable into common at the option of the company or the regulator (definition refined in May, 2011). These issues are analyzed as if their prospectuses included a requirement to redeem at par on or prior to 2022-1-31 (banks) or the Deemed Maturity date for insurers and insurance holding companies (see below)), in addition to the call schedule explicitly defined. See the Deemed Retractible Review: September 2016 for the rationale behind this analysis. The same reasoning is also applied to FixedResets from these issuers, other than explicitly defined NVCC from banks. In November, 2019, the assumption of DeemedRetraction for insurance issues was cancelled in the wake of the IAIS decision included in ICS 2.0. This resulted in a large drop in the yield calculated for these issues
The Deemed Maturity date for insurers was set at 2022-1-31 at the commencement of the process in February, 2011. It was extended to 2025-1-31 in April, 2013 and to 2030-1-31 in December, 2018. In November, 2019, the assumption of DeemedRetraction was cancelled in the wake of the IAIS decision included in ICS 2.0.
Yields for September, 2011, to January, 2012, were calculated by imposing a cap of 10% on the yields of YLO issues held, in order to avoid their extremely high calculated yields distorting the calculation and to reflect the uncertainty in the marketplace that these yields will be realized. From February to September 2012, yields on these issues have been set to zero. All YLO issues held were sold in October 2012.

These calculations were performed assuming constant contemporary GOC-5 and 3-Month Bill rates, as follows:

Canada Yields Assumed in Calculations
Month-end	GOC-5	3-Month Bill
September, 2015	0.78%	0.40%
December, 2015	0.71%	0.46%
March, 2016	0.70%	0.44%
June	0.57%	0.47%
September	0.58%	0.53%
December, 2016	1.16%	0.47%
March, 2017	1.08%	0.55%
June	1.35%	0.69%
September	1.79%	0.97%
December, 2017	1.83%	1.00%
March, 2018	2.06%	1.08%
June	1.95%	1.22%
September	2.33%	1.55%
December, 2018	1.88%	1.65%
March, 2019	1.46%	1.66%
June	1.34%	1.66%
September	1.41%	1.66%
December, 2019	1.68%	1.68%
March, 2020	0.57%	0.21%
June	0.37%	0.21%
September	0.35%	0.14%
December, 2020	0.42%	0.08%
March, 2021	0.94%	0.09%
June	0.93%	0.13%
September	1.07%	0.13%
December, 2021	1.31%	0.16%
March, 2022	2.44%	0.53%
June	3.24%	2.11%
September	3.45%	3.60%
December, 2022	3.37%	4.35%
March, 2023	2.93%	4.44%
June	3.74%	5.00%
September	4.31%	5.21%
December, 2023	3.21%	5.13%
March, 2024	3.55%	5.06%
June, 2024	3.41%	4.71%

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MAPF Portfolio Composition: June, 2024

Sunday, June 30th, 2024

Turnover increased slightly to 14% in June, but remained healthy partly due to continued speculation regarding bank issues.

Sectoral distribution of the MAPF portfolio on June 28, 2024, were:

MAPF Sectoral Analysis 2024-6-28
HIMI Indices Sector	Weighting	YTW	ModDur
Ratchet	0%	N/A	N/A
FixFloat	0%	N/A	N/A
Floater	0%	N/A	N/A
OpRet	0%	N/A	N/A
SplitShare	0%	N/A	N/A
Interest Rearing	0%	N/A	N/A
PerpetualPremium	0%	N/A	N/A
PerpetualDiscount	9.4%	6.88%	12.66
Fixed-Reset Discount	49.0%	7.42%	12.36
Insurance – Straight	16.5%	6.19%	13.67
FloatingReset	0%	N/A	N/A
FixedReset Premium	0%	N/A	N/A
FixedReset Bank non-NVCC	0%	N/A	N/A
FixedReset Insurance non-NVCC	9.4%	6.98%	13.21
Scraps – Ratchet	1.2%	11.12%	9.29
Scraps – FixedFloater	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – Floater	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – OpRet	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – SplitShare	3.3%	7.12%	2.80
Scraps – PerpPrem	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – PerpDisc	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – FR Discount	11.0%	8.98%	10.73
Scraps – Insurance Straight	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – FloatingReset	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – FR Premium	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – Bank non-NVCC	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – Ins non-NVCC	0%	N/A	N/A
Cash	+0.1%	0.00%	0.00
Total	100%	7.32%	12.14
Totals and changes will not add precisely due to rounding. Cash is included in totals with duration and yield both equal to zero.
The various “Scraps” indices include issues with a DBRS rating of Pfd-3(high) or lower and issues with an Average Trading Value (calculated with HIMIPref™ methodology, which is relatively complex) of less than $25,000. The issues considered “Scraps” are subdivided into indices which reflect those of the main indices.
DeemedRetractibles were comprised of all Straight Perpetuals (both PerpetualDiscount and PerpetualPremium) issued by BMO, BNS, CM, ELF, GWO, HSB, IAG, MFC, NA, RY, SLF and TD, which are not exchangable into common at the option of the company or the regulator. These issues are analyzed as if their prospectuses included a requirement to redeem at par on or prior to 2022-1-31 in the case of banks or normally in the case of insurers and insurance holding companies, in addition to the call schedule explicitly defined. See the Deemed Retractible Review: September 2016 for the rationale behind this analysis and IAIS Says No To DeemedRetractions for the recent change in policy with respect to insurers. Note that the estimate for the time this will become effective for insurers and insurance holding companies was extended by three years in April 2013, due to the delays in OSFI’s providing clarity on the issue and by a further five years in December, 2018; the estimate was eliminated in November. However, the distinctions are being kept because it is useful to distinguish insurance issues from others. The name of this subindex has been changed to “Insurance Straight” as of November, 2020
Calculations of yield and related attributes of resettable instruments are performed assuming a constant GOC-5 rate of 3.41%, a constant 3-Month Bill rate of 4.71% and a constant Canada Prime Rate of 6.95%

Credit distribution is:

MAPF Credit Analysis 2024-06-28
DBRS Rating	MAPF Weighting
Pfd-1	0
Pfd-1(low)	0
Pfd-2(high)	37.0%
Pfd-2	27.2%
Pfd-2(low)	20.2%
Pfd-3(high)	8.8%
Pfd-3	3.2%
Pfd-3(low)	3.3%
Pfd-4(high)	0.2%
Pfd-4	0%
Pfd-4(low)	0%
Pfd-5(high)	0%
Pfd-5	0%
Cash	+0.1%
Totals will not add precisely due to rounding.
A position held in INE.PR.A is not rated by DBRS nor by S&P, but has been included as “Pfd-4(high)” in the above table on the basis of its last S&P rating of P-4(high) and its BB rating from Fitch. A “BB” rating would normally map to Pfd-3, but the company’s disdain for the two major preferred share agencies makes me nervous.

Liquidity Distribution is:

MAPF Liquidity Analysis 2024-06-28
Average Daily Trading	MAPF Weighting
<$50,000	4.1%
$50,000 – $100,000	44.8%
$100,000 – $200,000	19.7%
$200,000 – $300,000	12.2%
>$300,000	19.0%
Cash	+0.1%
Totals will not add precisely due to rounding.

The distribution of Issue Reset Spreads is:

Range	MAPF Weight
<100bp	0%
100-149bp	1.3%
150-199bp	1.0%
200-249bp	45.8%
250-299bp	19.1%
300-349bp	2.7%
350-399bp	0.6%
400-449bp	0%
450-499bp	0%
500-549bp	0%
550-599bp	0%
>= 600bp	0%
Undefined	29.6%

Range	MAPF Weight
Currently Floating	2.2%
0-1 Year	17.2%
1-2 Years	10.6%
2-3 Years	26.2%
3-4 Years	8.9%
4-5 Years	6.6%
5-6 Years	0%
>6 Years	0%
Not Floating Rate	28.4%

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MAPF Performance: May, 2024

Sunday, June 2nd, 2024

Malachite Aggressive Preferred Fund’s Net Asset Value per Unit as of the close May 31, 2024, was $10.1600.

Performance was affected by RY.PR.J underperforming (-1.13%, following three months of outperformance) outweighed by good performance from MFC.PR.C (+7.39%, after two months of underperformance), CU.PR.C (+5.68%), IFC.PR.C (+5.47%) and PWF.PR.R (+5.43%, following last month’s underperformance) [small holdings are not considered for individual mention here].

The last six months has been very good to preferred shareholders, following the lows of the TXPR price index on 2023-10-31, but yields remain elevated well above those available on instruments with similar risk; for instance, Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. recently noted they are refinancing BEP.PR.O on the “green perpetual subordinated notes” market at 70bp under the presumed reset rate of BEP.PR.O.

FixedResets continue to yield more, in general, than PerpetualDiscounts although the spread has narrowed considerably despite a bounce upwards in May; on May 31, I reported median YTWs of 7.30% and 6.53%, respectively, for these two indices; compare with mean Current Yields of 5.23% and 6.33%, respectively.

As the yield spread between FixedResets and PerpetualDiscounts has narrowed, there has been less and less reason to overweight the former class in portfolios; as those who pay close attention to the MAPF Portfolio Composition: May, 2024 will notice, the proportion of Straight Perpetuals held by the fund has been increasing over the past few months.

Returns to May 31, 2024
Period	MAPF	TXPR* Total Return	CPD – according to Blackrock
One Month	+3.69%	+2.94%	N/A
Three Months	+10.98%	+7.81%	N/A
One Year	+37.82%	+22.33%	+21.52%
Two Years (annualized)	+6.10%	+2.05%	N/A
Three Years (annualized)	+4.54%	+1.07%	+0.53%
Four Years (annualized)	+18.51%	+10.10%	N/A
Five Years (annualized)	+10.28%	+5.74%	+5.14%
Six Years (annualized)	+5.03%	+2.96%	N/A
Seven Years (annualized)	+6.54%	+3.65%	N/A
Eight Years (annualized)	+8.39%	+5.10%	N/A
Nine Years (annualized)	+5.42%	+3.05%	N/A
Ten Years (annualized)	+4.64%	+2.42%	+1.91%
Eleven Years (annualized)	+4.49%	+2.18%
Twelve Years (annualized)	+4.93%	+2.46%
Thirteen Years (annualized)	+4.50%	+2.52%
Fourteen Years (annualized)	+5.97%	+3.32%
Fifteen Years (annualized)	+6.85%	+3.65%
Sixteen Years (annualized)	+8.01%	+3.06%
Seventeen Years (annualized)	+7.69%
Eighteen Years (annualized)	+7.55%
Nineteen Years (annualized)	+7.42%
Twenty Years (annualized)	+7.56%
Twenty-One Years (annualized)	+8.18%
Twenty-Two Years (annualized)	+8.10%
Twenty-Three Years (annualized)	+8.45%
MAPF returns assume reinvestment of distributions, and are shown after expenses but before fees.
The BMO Capital Markets “50” Preferred Share Index is no longer being calculated. The final performance report incorporating this venerable index was published as of December, 2020.
“TXPR” is the S&P/TSX Preferred Share Index. It is calculated without accounting for fees, but does assume reinvestment of dividends.
CPD Returns are for the NAV and are after all fees and expenses. Reinvestment of dividends is assumed.
Figures for NBI Preferred Equity Income Fund [NBC480] (formerly Omega Preferred Equity) (which are after all fees and expenses) for 1-, 3- and 12-months are +2.96%, +8.82% and +25.30%, respectively, according to National Bank Investments after all fees & expenses. Three year performance is +1.35%; five year is +6.70%; ten year is +3.39%. Figures from Morningstar are no longer conveniently available.
Manulife Preferred Income Class Adv has been terminated by Manulife. The performance of this fund was last reported here in March, 2018.
Figures for Horizons Active Preferred Share ETF (HPR) (which are after all fees and expenses) for 1-, 3- and 12-months are +2.27%, +8.59% & +27.70%, respectively. Three year performance is +2.27%, five-year is +7.29%, ten year is +3.44%
Figures for NBI Preferred Equity Fund [NBC410] (formerly Altamira Preferred Equity Fund) are +2.12%, +8.79% and +28.86% for one-, three- and twelve months, respectively. Three year performance is +1.84%; five-year is +6.77%; ten-year is +2.75% Acccording to the fund’s fact sheet as of June 30, 2016, the fund’s inception date was October 30, 2015. I do not know how they justify this nonsensical statement, but will assume that prior performance is being suppressed in some perfectly legal manner that somebody at National considers ethical. The last time Altamira Preferred Equity Fund’s performance was reported here was April, 2014; performance under the National Bank banner was first reported here May, 2014.
The figures for the NAV of BMO Laddered Preferred Share Index ETF (ZPR) is +27.00% for the past twelve months. Two year performance is +3.31%, three year is +2.29%, five year is +7.07%, ten year is +2.03% Note that analysis of ZPR shows some doubt as to whether this fund is either "laddered" or an "index fund".
Figures for Fiera Canadian Preferred Share Class Cg Series F, (formerly Natixis Canadian Preferred Share Class Series F) (formerly NexGen Canadian Preferred Share Tax Managed Fund) are no longer available as the Fund is now the property of Canoe Financial. The last reported performance for the merged fund was May 2020.
Figures for BMO Preferred Share Fund (advisor series) according to Morningstar are +1.36%, +4.33% and +18.24% for the past one-, three- and twelve-months, respectively. Three year performance is -1.52%; five-year is +3.52%; ten-year is +0.34%.
Figures for PowerShares Canadian Preferred Share Index Class, Series F (PPS) are no longer available since the fund has been terminated. Performance was last reported for the fund to month-end, March 2023
Figures for the First Asset Preferred Share Investment Trust (PSF.UN) are no longer available since the fund has merged with First Asset Preferred Share ETF (FPR). Performance for the fund was last reported here in September, 2016; the first report of unavailability was in October, 2016.
Figures for Lysander-Slater Preferred Share Dividend Fund (Class F) according to the company are +2.3%, +7.7% and +23.7% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Three year performance is +2.1%, five-year is +6.2%.
Figures for the Desjardins Canadian Preferred Share Fund A Class (A Class), as reported by the company are +3.07%, +7.13% and +21.47% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Two year performance is +1.66%, three-year is +0.31%, five-year is +4.78%
Figures for the RBC Canadian Preferred Share ETF (RPF) are reported by Morningstar as +2.01%, +8.50% and +25.80% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Three-year performance is +1.04%, five-year is +6.18%
Figures for the Dynamic Active Preferred Shares ETF (DXP) are +2.7%, +7.7% and +24.6% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Three-year performance is +3.2%; five-year is +8.3%
Figures for the Purpose Canadian Preferred Share Fund (Class F) are +1.74%, +7.75% and +28.46% for the past one, three and twelve months, respectively. Three-year performance is +1.85%; five-year is +8.07%; seven-year is +3.88%; ten-year is +5.16%.

The five-year Canada yield increased, with the five-year Canada yield (“GOC-5”) moving from 3.85% at April month-end to 3.74% at May month-end.

The Seniority Spread (between long-term corporate bonds and interest-equivalent PerpetualDiscounts) was 315bp on 2024-5-29 a significant narrowing from the 345bp on 2024-5-1 (chart end-date 2024-5-10) :

The situation with FixedResets is interesting, with the spread between GOC-5 and the interest-adjusted FixedReset (Discount) rate widening significantly (despite recent narrowing) from its 2021-11-10 low of 344bp to a level of 536bp (as of 2024-5-29) … (chart end-date 2024-05-10):

…while at the same time the interest-equivalent spread between FixedReset (Discounts) and PerpetualDiscounts has narrowed to -71bp (as of 2024-5-29) from its 2021-7-28 level of +170bp (chart end-date 2024-05-10):

There is no significant correlation between the Issue Reset Spread and 1-month performance for discounted FixedResets for either the Pfd-2 or Pfd-3 Group issues.

There is no significant correlation between the Issue Reset Spread and 3-month performance for discounted FixedResets for either the Pfd-2 or Pfd-3 Group issues.

There is a small correlations for the Pfd-2 Group (14%) but none for the Pfd-3 Group for 1-Month performance against term-to-reset:

… and we see similar behaviour for three-month returns vs. Term to Reset, with correlation for the Pfd-2 Group (27%) but none for the Pfd-3 Group:

It is of great interest to note that the slope of the correlation between the Pfd-2 group and term changes sign between the one-month and three=month correlations. Is this indicative of a change in sentiment? Or a statistical blip? Or perhaps simply due to widespread speculation that all bank issues will be redeemed, yielding immense profits, being … more muted?

Upwards-sloping correlations of Performance vs. Term are to be expected when GOC-5 declines.

I keep talking about ‘Sustainable Income’ and nowadays it’s far higher than the dividends that are currently being distributed. This is because Sustainable Income is the average yield-to-worst (YTW) of the portfolio when the YTW is calculated to perpetuity (or to redemption, of course, if the yield to redemption is lower), including resets at the current GOC-5 rate. The sharp increase in GOC-5 in the past year-odd has caused the difference between YTW and Current Yield to skyrocket, but one way or another I expect that these two values will become much closer – slowly at first, but quickening in about two years. We have to wait for the reset date of the MAPF portfolio securities before we see a change in actual cash receipts – and, of course, there is no guarantee whatsoever that the rate used for estimation purposes now will be used for the actual calculation in the future (chart prepared as of 2024-5-10).

I will note that the fund’s current holdings of FixedResets are now paying dividends based on their previous reset at an average GOC-5 rate of 1.66% (weighted by shares held). The jump from last month’s measurement of 1.59% is due to the fund’s continued purchases of CM.PR.S (which reset 2023-1-31, with a GOC-5 rate of 3.43%) and FTS.PR.K (reset 2024-3-1 with GOC-5 at 3.42%). However, CM.PR.S has not yet earned a dividend at the new rates – nor has the fund’s extant holding in TRP.PR.D (reset 2024-4-30 at 3.60%), while FTS.PR.K remains a very small holding.

Calculation of MAPF Sustainable Income Per Unit
Month	NAVPU	Portfolio Average YTW	Leverage Divisor	Securities Average YTW	Capital Gains Multiplier	Sustainable Income per current Unit
June, 2007	9.3114	5.16%	1.03	5.01%	1.3240	0.3524
September	9.1489	5.35%	0.98	5.46%	1.3240	0.3773
December, 2007	9.0070	5.53%	0.942	5.87%	1.3240	0.3993
March, 2008	8.8512	6.17%	1.047	5.89%	1.3240	0.3938
June	8.3419	6.034%	0.952	6.338%	1.3240	$0.3993
September	8.1886	7.108%	0.969	7.335%	1.3240	$0.4537
December, 2008	8.0464	9.24%	1.008	9.166%	1.3240	$0.5571
March 2009	$8.8317	8.60%	0.995	8.802%	1.3240	$0.5872
June	10.9846	7.05%	0.999	7.057%	1.3240	$0.5855
September	12.3462	6.03%	0.998	6.042%	1.3240	$0.5634
December 2009	10.5662	5.74%	0.981	5.851%	1.1141	$0.5549
March 2010	10.2497	6.03%	0.992	6.079%	1.1141	$0.5593
June	10.5770	5.96%	0.996	5.984%	1.1141	$0.5681
September	11.3901	5.43%	0.980	5.540%	1.1141	$0.5664
December 2010	10.7659	5.37%	0.993	5.408%	1.0298	$0.5654
March, 2011	11.0560	6.00%	0.994	5.964%	1.0298	$0.6403
June	11.1194	5.87%	1.018	5.976%	1.0298	$0.6453
September	10.2709	6.10% Note	1.001	6.106%	1.0298	$0.6090
December, 2011	10.0793	5.63% Note	1.031	5.805%	1.0000	$0.5851
March, 2012	10.3944	5.13% Note	0.996	5.109%	1.0000	$0.5310
June	10.2151	5.32% Note	1.012	5.384%	1.0000	$0.5500
September	10.6703	4.61% Note	0.997	4.624%	1.0000	$0.4934
December, 2012	10.8307	4.24%	0.989	4.287%	1.0000	$0.4643
March, 2013	10.9033	3.87%	0.996	3.886%	1.0000	$0.4237
June	10.3261	4.81%	0.998	4.80%	1.0000	$0.4957
September	10.0296	5.62%	0.996	5.643%	1.0000	$0.5660
December, 2013	9.8717	6.02%	1.008	5.972%	1.0000	$0.5895
March, 2014	10.2233	5.55%	0.998	5.561%	1.0000	$0.5685
June	10.5877	5.09%	0.998	5.100%	1.0000	$0.5395
September	10.4601	5.28%	0.997	5.296%	1.0000	$0.5540
December, 2014	10.5701	4.83%	1.009	4.787%	1.0000	$0.5060
March, 2015	9.9573	4.99%	1.001	4.985%	1.0000	$0.4964
June, 2015	9.4181	5.55%	1.002	5.539%	1.0000	$0.5217
September	7.8140	6.98%	0.999	6.987%	1.0000	$0.5460
December, 2015	8.1379	6.85%	0.997	6.871%	1.0000	$0.5592
March, 2016	7.4416	7.79%	0.998	7.805%	1.0000	$0.5808
June	7.6704	7.67%	1.011	7.587%	1.0000	$0.5819
September	8.0590	7.35%	0.993	7.402%	1.0000	$0.5965
December, 2016	8.5844	7.24%	0.990	7.313%	1.0000	$0.6278
March, 2017	9.3984	6.26%	0.994	6.298%	1.0000	$0.5919
June	9.5313	6.41%	0.998	6.423%	1.0000	$0.6122
September	9.7129	6.56%	0.998	6.573%	1.0000	$0.6384
December, 2017	10.0566	6.06%	1.004	6.036%	1.0000	$0.6070
March, 2018	10.2701	6.22%	1.007	6.177%	1.0000	$0.6344
June	10.2518	6.22%	0.995	6.251%	1.0000	$0.6408
September	10.2965	6.62%	1.018	6.503%	1.0000	$0.6696
December, 2018	8.6875	7.16%	0.997	7.182%	1.0000	$0.6240
March, 2019	8.4778	7.09%	1.007	7.041%	1.0000	$0.5969
June	8.0896	7.33%	0.996	7.359%	1.0000	$0.5953
September	7.7948	7.96%	0.998	7.976%	1.0000	$0.6217
December, 2019	8.0900	6.03%	0.995	6.060%	1.0000	$0.4903
March	5.5596	7.04%	1.006	6.998%	1.0000	$0.3891
June	6.3568	6.10%	0.9900	6.162%	1.0000	$0.3917
September	7.2852	5.32%	1.00	5.320%	1.0000	$0.3876
December, 2020	8.3947	4.46%	0.999	4.464%	1.0000	$0.3747
March, 2021	9.6473	4.48%	0.996	4.498%	1.0000	$0.4339
June	10.3712	3.92%	0.985	3.980%	1.0000	$0.4127
September	10.7572	4.08%	1.017	4.012%	1.0000	$0.4316
December, 2021	10.7432	4.31%	0.999	4.314%	1.0000	$0.4635
March, 2022	10.5040	5.53%	1.004	5.508%	1.0000	$0.5786
June	9.3115	7.04%	0.993	7.090%	1.0000	$0.6672
September	8.4093	8.10%	0.997	8.124%	1.0000	$0.6916
December, 2022	7.9921	8.47%	0.996	8.504%	1.0000	$0.6796
March, 2023	8.0788	7.90%	0.997	7.924%	1.0000	$0.6401
June 30	8.0197	9.19%	1.003	9.163%	1.0000	$0.7348
September 29	7.9922	9.86%	0.997	9.890%	1.0000	$0.7904
Decenber 29, 2023	8.4715	8.14%	1.002	8.124%	1.0000	$0.6882
March 28,2024	9.5892	7.60%	1.006	7.555%	1.0000	$0.7244
May 31, 2024	10.1600	7.31%	0.993	7.362%	1.0000	$0.7479
NAVPU is shown after quarterly distributions of dividend income and annual distribution of capital gains. Portfolio YTW includes cash (or margin borrowing), with an assumed interest rate of 0.00% The Leverage Divisor indicates the level of cash in the account: if the portfolio is 1% in cash, the Leverage Divisor will be 0.99 Securities YTW divides “Portfolio YTW” by the “Leverage Divisor” to show the average YTW on the securities held; this assumes that the cash is invested in (or raised from) all securities held, in proportion to their holdings. The Capital Gains Multiplier adjusts for the effects of Capital Gains Dividends. On 2009-12-31, there was a capital gains distribution of $1.989262 which is assumed for this purpose to have been reinvested at the final price of $10.5662. Thus, a holder of one unit pre-distribution would have held 1.1883 units post-distribution; the CG Multiplier reflects this to make the time-series comparable. Note that Dividend Distributions are not assumed to be reinvested. Sustainable Income is the resultant estimate of the fund’s dividend income per current unit, before fees and expenses. Note that a “current unit” includes reinvestment of prior capital gains; a unitholder would have had the calculated sustainable income with only, say, 0.9 units in the past which, with reinvestment of capital gains, would become 1.0 current units.
DeemedRetractibles are comprised of all Straight Perpetuals (both PerpetualDiscount and PerpetualPremium) issued by BMO, BNS, CM, ELF, GWO, HSB, IAG, MFC, NA, RY, SLF and TD, which are not exchangable into common at the option of the company or the regulator (definition refined in May, 2011). These issues are analyzed as if their prospectuses included a requirement to redeem at par on or prior to 2022-1-31 (banks) or the Deemed Maturity date for insurers and insurance holding companies (see below)), in addition to the call schedule explicitly defined. See the Deemed Retractible Review: September 2016 for the rationale behind this analysis. The same reasoning is also applied to FixedResets from these issuers, other than explicitly defined NVCC from banks. In November, 2019, the assumption of DeemedRetraction for insurance issues was cancelled in the wake of the IAIS decision included in ICS 2.0. This resulted in a large drop in the yield calculated for these issues
The Deemed Maturity date for insurers was set at 2022-1-31 at the commencement of the process in February, 2011. It was extended to 2025-1-31 in April, 2013 and to 2030-1-31 in December, 2018. In November, 2019, the assumption of DeemedRetraction was cancelled in the wake of the IAIS decision included in ICS 2.0.
Yields for September, 2011, to January, 2012, were calculated by imposing a cap of 10% on the yields of YLO issues held, in order to avoid their extremely high calculated yields distorting the calculation and to reflect the uncertainty in the marketplace that these yields will be realized. From February to September 2012, yields on these issues have been set to zero. All YLO issues held were sold in October 2012.

These calculations were performed assuming constant contemporary GOC-5 and 3-Month Bill rates, as follows:

Canada Yields Assumed in Calculations
Month-end	GOC-5	3-Month Bill
September, 2015	0.78%	0.40%
December, 2015	0.71%	0.46%
March, 2016	0.70%	0.44%
June	0.57%	0.47%
September	0.58%	0.53%
December, 2016	1.16%	0.47%
March, 2017	1.08%	0.55%
June	1.35%	0.69%
September	1.79%	0.97%
December, 2017	1.83%	1.00%
March, 2018	2.06%	1.08%
June	1.95%	1.22%
September	2.33%	1.55%
December, 2018	1.88%	1.65%
March, 2019	1.46%	1.66%
June	1.34%	1.66%
September	1.41%	1.66%
December, 2019	1.68%	1.68%
March, 2020	0.57%	0.21%
June	0.37%	0.21%
September	0.35%	0.14%
December, 2020	0.42%	0.08%
March, 2021	0.94%	0.09%
June	0.93%	0.13%
September	1.07%	0.13%
December, 2021	1.31%	0.16%
March, 2022	2.44%	0.53%
June	3.24%	2.11%
September	3.45%	3.60%
December, 2022	3.37%	4.35%
March, 2023	2.93%	4.44%
June	3.74%	5.00%
September	4.31%	5.21%
December, 2023	3.21%	5.13%
March, 2024	3.55%	5.06%
May, 2024	3.74%	4.92%

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MAPF Portfolio Composition: May, 2024

Sunday, June 2nd, 2024

Turnover eased to 12% in May, but remained healthy partly due to a continued move into Straight Perpetuals.

Sectoral distribution of the MAPF portfolio on May 31, 2024, were:

MAPF Sectoral Analysis 2024-5-31
HIMI Indices Sector	Weighting	YTW	ModDur
Ratchet	0%	N/A	N/A
FixFloat	0%	N/A	N/A
Floater	0%	N/A	N/A
OpRet	0%	N/A	N/A
SplitShare	0%	N/A	N/A
Interest Rearing	0%	N/A	N/A
PerpetualPremium	0%	N/A	N/A
PerpetualDiscount	9.9%	6.76%	12.80
Fixed-Reset Discount	52.6%	7.43%	12.38
Insurance – Straight	15.2%	6.10%	13.84
FloatingReset	0%	N/A	N/A
FixedReset Premium	0%	N/A	N/A
FixedReset Bank non-NVCC	0%	N/A	N/A
FixedReset Insurance non-NVCC	4.9%	6.80%	13.36
Scraps – Ratchet	1.3%	10.29%	9.85
Scraps – FixedFloater	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – Floater	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – OpRet	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – SplitShare	3.9%	7.18%	2.98
Scraps – PerpPrem	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – PerpDisc	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – FR Discount	11.4%	9.22%	10.63
Scraps – Insurance Straight	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – FloatingReset	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – FR Premium	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – Bank non-NVCC	0%	N/A	N/A
Scraps – Ins non-NVCC	0%	N/A	N/A
Cash	+0.8%	0.00%	0.00
Total	100%	7.31%	12.00
Totals and changes will not add precisely due to rounding. Cash is included in totals with duration and yield both equal to zero.
The various “Scraps” indices include issues with a DBRS rating of Pfd-3(high) or lower and issues with an Average Trading Value (calculated with HIMIPref™ methodology, which is relatively complex) of less than $25,000. The issues considered “Scraps” are subdivided into indices which reflect those of the main indices.
DeemedRetractibles were comprised of all Straight Perpetuals (both PerpetualDiscount and PerpetualPremium) issued by BMO, BNS, CM, ELF, GWO, HSB, IAG, MFC, NA, RY, SLF and TD, which are not exchangable into common at the option of the company or the regulator. These issues are analyzed as if their prospectuses included a requirement to redeem at par on or prior to 2022-1-31 in the case of banks or normally in the case of insurers and insurance holding companies, in addition to the call schedule explicitly defined. See the Deemed Retractible Review: September 2016 for the rationale behind this analysis and IAIS Says No To DeemedRetractions for the recent change in policy with respect to insurers. Note that the estimate for the time this will become effective for insurers and insurance holding companies was extended by three years in April 2013, due to the delays in OSFI’s providing clarity on the issue and by a further five years in December, 2018; the estimate was eliminated in November. However, the distinctions are being kept because it is useful to distinguish insurance issues from others. The name of this subindex has been changed to “Insurance Straight” as of November, 2020
Calculations of yield and related attributes of resettable instruments are performed assuming a constant GOC-5 rate of 3.74%, a constant 3-Month Bill rate of 4.92% and a constant Canada Prime Rate of 7.20%

Credit distribution is:

MAPF Credit Analysis 2024-05-31
DBRS Rating	MAPF Weighting
Pfd-1	0
Pfd-1(low)	0
Pfd-2(high)	39.3%
Pfd-2	25.5%
Pfd-2(low)	17.9%
Pfd-3(high)	9.0%
Pfd-3	3.5%
Pfd-3(low)	3.8%
Pfd-4(high)	0.2%
Pfd-4	0%
Pfd-4(low)	0%
Pfd-5(high)	0%
Pfd-5	0%
Cash	+0.8%
Totals will not add precisely due to rounding.
A position held in INE.PR.A is not rated by DBRS nor by S&P, but has been included as “Pfd-4(high)” in the above table on the basis of its last S&P rating of P-4(high) and its BB rating from Fitch. A “BB” rating would normally map to Pfd-3, but the company’s disdain for the two major preferred share agencies makes me nervous.

Liquidity Distribution is:

MAPF Liquidity Analysis 2024-05-31
Average Daily Trading	MAPF Weighting
<$50,000	4.7%
$50,000 – $100,000	41.8%
$100,000 – $200,000	14.5%
$200,000 – $300,000	13.4%
>$300,000	24.8%
Cash	+0.8%
Totals will not add precisely due to rounding.

The distribution of Issue Reset Spreads is:

Range	MAPF Weight
<100bp	0%
100-149bp	0%
150-199bp	1.0%
200-249bp	46.3%
250-299bp	20.4%
300-349bp	1.7%
350-399bp	0.6%
400-449bp	0%
450-499bp	0%
500-549bp	0%
550-599bp	0%
>= 600bp	0%
Undefined	30.0%

Range	MAPF Weight
Currently Floating	2.2%
0-1 Year	23.3%
1-2 Years	8.9%
2-3 Years	14.3%
3-4 Years	17.7%
4-5 Years	4.8%
5-6 Years	0%
>6 Years	0%
Not Floating Rate	28.8%

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Archive for the ‘MAPF’ Category

MAPF Performance: September, 2024

MAPF Performance: August, 2024

Fund Suggestions for MAPF Comparisons, Please.

MAPF Portfolio Composition: August, 2024

MAPF Performance: July, 2024

MAPF Portfolio Composition: July, 2024

MAPF Performance: June, 2024

MAPF Portfolio Composition: June, 2024

MAPF Performance: May, 2024

MAPF Portfolio Composition: May, 2024

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