HIMI Preferred Indices

HIMI Preferred Indices : September, 1995

All indices were assigned a value of 1000.0 as of December 31, 1993.

HIMI Index Values 1995-9-29
Index Closing Value (Total Return) Issues Mean Credit Quality Median YTW Median DTW Median Daily Trading Mean Current Yield
Ratchet 1,267.3 0 0 0 0 0 0
FixedFloater 1,267.3 0 0 0 0 0 0
Floater 1,195.8 7 1.55 6.66% 13.0 109M 6.82%
OpRet 1,079.3 24 1.28 6.43% 5.9 67M 6.95%
SplitShare 1,079.3 0 0 0 0 0 0
Interest-Bearing 1,079.3 0 0 0 0 0 0
Perpetual-Premium 1,092.2 6 1.16 5.92% 2.4 49M 8.22%
Perpetual-Discount 1,042.7 0 0 0 0 0 0

Index Constitution, 1995-9-29, Pre-Rebalancing

Index Constitution, 1995-9-29, Post-Rebalancing

Market Action

November 21, 2006

Note that these indices are experimental; the absolute and relative daily values are expected to change in the final version
Index Mean Current Yield (at bid) Mean YTW Mean Average Trading Value Mean Mod Dur (YTW) Issues Day’s Perf. Index Value
Ratchet 4.21% 4.18% 31,888 10.47 2 +0.0804% 1,018.7
Fixed-Floater 4.81% 3.90% 114,214 8.93 7 +0.0625% 1,028.2
Floater 4.49% -20.18% 65,007 6.56 5 -0.3206% 1,031.3
Op. Retract 4.66% 0.98% 79,202 2.25 18 -0.0224% 1,027.8
Split-Share 4.99% 3.29% 151,621 3.32 9 +0.3434% 1,031.0
Interest Bearing 6.94% 6.12% 66,549 2.36 7 +0.0317% 1,016.1
Perpetual-Premium 5.08% 3.99% 218,219 4.20 49 -0.0572% 1,042.7
Perpetual-Discount 4.64% 4.66% 1,036,849 16.12 9 -0.0757% 1,035.3
Major Price Changes
Issue Index Change Notes
CGI.PR.C SplitShare +1.0959% Good return for this index today, led by this issue on volume of … 950 shares! Closed at 25.83-97, 3×5, pre-tax bid-YTW of 3.59% based on a softMaturity 2016-6-14.
Volume Highlights
Issue Index Volume Notes
GWO.PR.I PerpetualDiscount 189,913 Closed at 24.70-75 for a pre-tax YTW of 4.61%, 10bp more than the RY.PR.A.
MFC.PR.C PerpetualDiscount 168,700 Closed at 24.80-94 for a pre-tax YTW of 4.53%
RY.PR.B PerpetualPremium 144,050 Closed at 25.60-78 for a pre-tax bid-YTW of 4.39%, based on a call at par on 2015-9-23
PWF.PR.L PerpetualPremium 128,360 Closed at 26.36-54 for a pre-tax bid-YTW of 4.43%, based on a call at par on 2015-11-30.
CM.PR.I PerpetualDiscount 119,375 A recent new issue, closed at 24.89-94 for a pre-tax bid-YTW of 4.74%
BAM.PR.M PerpetualDiscount 114,750 An even more recent new issue, closed at 24.53-60 for a pre-tax bid-YTW of 4.86%. Remember that DBRS has this as Pfd-2(low), so it’s not as good quality as the issues listed above!
ACO.PR.A OpRet 104,011 Finally! A non-perpetual issue that is seasoned: issued 2001-7-10. Pre-Tax YTW is 1.68%, based on a call 2008-12-31 at $26.00. Desjardins crossed 100,000 at 28.06.

There were ten other index-included issues trading over 10,000 shares today.

HIMI Preferred Indices

HIMI Preferred Indices : August, 1995

All indices were assigned a value of 1000.0 as of December 31, 1993.

HIMI Index Values 1995-8-31
Index Closing Value (Total Return) Issues Mean Credit Quality Median YTW Median DTW Median Daily Trading Mean Current Yield
Ratchet 1,245.8 0 0 0 0 0 0
FixedFloater 1,245.8 0 0 0 0 0 0
Floater 1,175.6 7 1.55 6.80% 12.7 77M 6.89%
OpRet 1,068.7 25 1.27 6.53% 5.9 78M 6.98%
SplitShare 1,068.7 0 0 0 0 0 0
Interest-Bearing 1,068.7 0 0 0 0 0 0
Perpetual-Premium 1,084.7 6 1.16 5.91% 3.4 50M 8.22%
Perpetual-Discount 1,035.6 0 0 0 0 0 0

Index Constitution, 1995-8-31, Pre-Rebalancing

Index Constitution, 1995-8-31, Post-Rebalancing

Market Action

November 20, 2006

Note that these indices are experimental; the absolute and relative daily values are expected to change in the final version
Index Mean Current Yield (at bid) Mean YTW Mean Average Trading Value Mean Mod Dur (YTW) Issues Day’s Perf. Index Value
Ratchet 4.21% 4.16% 32,268 10.46 2 +0.1807% 1,017.9
Fixed-Floater 4.82% 3.87% 116,924 8.43 7 0.1646% 1,027.5
Floater 4.48% -23.30% 65,196 6.54 5 +0.1500% 1,034.6
Op. Retract 4.66% 0.97% 80,119 2.26 18 -0.0466% 1,028.0
Split-Share 5.01% 3.41% 153,586 3.31 9 -0.0820% 1,027.4
Interest Bearing 6.94% 5.96% 65,965 2.36 7 -0.3524% 1,015.7
Perpetual-Premium 5.07% 4.03% 218,236 4.19 49 +0.0068% 1,043.3
Perpetual-Discount 4.63% 4.65% 1,028,052 16.13 9 -0.2680% 1,036.1
Major Price Changes
Issue Index Change Notes
BSD.PR.A InterestBearing +1.2097% Continue to bounce around. No solid news yet about the upcoming retraction event.
Volume Highlights
Issue Index Volume Notes
BAM.PR.M PerpetualDiscount 395,480 New issue
SLF.PR.A PerpetualPremium 334,880 Closed at $25.41-59, with a YTW of 4.44% based on the bid price and a call at $25.00 2014-04-30. It pays $1.1875 – so “call protection” of 30 bp 7.5 years hence is being valued at 18bp p.a., compared to the SLF.PR.D. Whether there are ANY scenarios in which the SLF.PR.A have a better total return is left as an exercise for the reader.
CM.PR.I PerpetualDiscount 69,560 Another recent new issue, closing with a bid-YTW of 4.74%. An attractive issue at $24.88-90.
WN.PR.E PerpetualDiscount 29,978 It’s trying hard to be PerpetualPremium, at 24.96-99, but it’s full of dividend – the next ex-date is on or about 2006-12-13. Bid YTW is 4.81, based on perpetuity.
SLF.PR.D PerpetualDiscount 18,675 Still trading heavily.

There were fifteen other index-included issues trading over 10,000 shares today.

HIMI Preferred Indices

HIMI Preferred Indices : July, 1995

All indices were assigned a value of 1000.0 as of December 31, 1993.

HIMI Index Values 1995-7-31
Index Closing Value (Total Return) Issues Mean Credit Quality Median YTW Median DTW Median Daily Trading Mean Current Yield
Ratchet 1,243.0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FixedFloater 1,243.0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Floater 1,172.9 7 1.55 6.89% 12.7 75M 7.06%
OpRet 1,059.7 25 1.27 6.62% 5.9 89M 7.02%
SplitShare 1,059.7 0 0 0 0 0 0
Interest-Bearing 1,059.7 0 0 0 0 0 0
Perpetual-Premium 1,082.5 5 1.00 6.04% 3.5 51M 7.92%
Perpetual-Discount 1,033.5 0 0 0 0 0 0

Index Constitution, 1995-7-31, Pre-Rebalancing

Index Constitution, 1995-7-31, Post-Rebalancing

Data Changes

BAM.PR.M Disappoints on Opening

The Brookfield new issue closed today and dropped to a closing quotation of $24.59-60 on heavy volume of 395,480 shares.

At this price I like it more than BAM.PR.J – but not by enough (quite!) to perform the swap.

The issue has been added to the HIMIPref™ database with the securityCode A41222, as a reorg out of the pre-issue code, P25003.

It has been added to the PerpetualDiscount Index as of 2006-11-20

MAPF

MAPF Returns : October 31, 2006

The monthly return for Malachite Aggressive Preferred Fund has been calculated – it was calculated some time ago, actually, and I’m just getting around to updating the websites!

 The unit price as of October 31, 2006, was $9.6628
Returns may therefore be calculated as:

Period Ending October 31, 2006 Return (see Note)
Month +0.48%
Year +6.32%
Two Years (Annualized) +6.38%
Three Years (Annualized) +9.31%
Four Years (Annualized) +13.36%
Five Years (Annualized) +10.30%
MAPF returns are shown after expenses, but before fees.

Note that past performance should not be taken as a guarantee of future performance. You can lose money investing in MAPF or any other investment.
The nice thing about these returns is that they have been virtually entirely dividends and capital gains, resulting in a generally lower tax rate than for interest for most taxable investors.

The fund is available only to accredited investors in Ontario. If you are a Canadian accredited investor not in Ontario with a substantial amount of money to invest, contact me and we can discuss the possibility of Hymas Investment Management Inc. (HIMI) applying for registration in your province or territory.

For more information and documents regarding the fund, see the HIMI website

I have resumed transmission of information regarding the fund to Globefund. I confess to some amusement at the fact that MAPF – 100% invested in TSX listed preferred shares and the occasional preferred security – is categorized as “Canadian Equity” and gets THREE STARS anyway, despite the very favourable conditions for actual equity funds over the past few years.

Taxation

Saskatchewan Increases Dividend Tax Credit

According to an official news release, Saskatchewan intends to increase the dividend gross up and tax credit quite substantially.

The Government also introduced changes to the dividend tax credit (DTC). Effective for the 2006 taxation year, Saskatchewan will establish a new DTC on dividends received from larger corporations at a rate of 11 per cent. By increasing its DTC rate for larger businesses, Saskatchewan has now integrated with the changes announced in the May federal budget. Effective for the 2007 taxation year, the DTC rate on dividends received from small businesses will drop from 8 per cent to 6 per cent to reflect Saskatchewan’s lower small business corporate income tax rate.

I’ll keep an eye on the E&Y Tax Calculator and post again when they have accounted for this change. 

Hat-tip to Financial Webring Forum for bringing this to my attention. 

Update, 2006-11-18: Boy, that was fast!

Investors Taxable Income Marginal Rate on Interest Marginal Rate on Dividends Equivalency Factor
Widows & Orphans $30,000 26.25% 0.00% 1.36
Professionals $75,000 39.00% 13.10% 1.42
Plutocrats $150,000 44.00% 20.35% 1.42

Issue Comments

BAM.PR.S Called for Redemption

All good things must come to an end.

BAM.PR.S has been a wonderful issue, paying $2.0875 interest every year but it’s time to wave farewell to the old friend.

Brookfield called it for redemption:

Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (NYSE/TSX: BAM) announced today that it intends to redeem its 8.35% Preferred Securities (“Securities”) on January 2, 2007 for C$25.00 per Security plus accrued interest of C$0.01144, representing a total Redemption Price of C$25.01144 per Security.

Enjoy the company of BAM.PR.T while you can, because it’s going to get called shortly as well (or, at least, so I predict). These were all issued during a small craze for interest-bearing prefs … they were a bit expensive compared to regular bonds, but these things had a stated term of 50-years. Not only could Brookfield not issue 50-year regular bonds (at least, I don’t think they could) but still get away with offering the preferred securities, but I believe there is some accounting convention whereby a 50-year bond is considered equity for at least some capital adequacy purposes.

Update 2007-01-05 : This post has been singled out for spamming for some odd reason; I have therefore disabled the comment function.

Market Action

November 17, 2006

Note that these indices are experimental; the absolute and relative daily values are expected to change in the final version
Index Mean Current Yield (at bid) Mean YTW Mean Average Trading Value Mean Mod Dur (YTW) Issues Day’s Perf. Index Value
Ratchet 4.21% 4.17% 33,598 16.94 2 -0.1603% 1,016.0
Fixed-Floater 4.82% 3.94% 120,062 12.93 7 -0.0500% 1,025.8
Floater 4.49% -23.33% 65,900 6.52 5 +0.3540% 1,033.0
Op. Retract 4.66% 0.72% 80,926 2.26 18 +0.1157% 1,028.5
Split-Share 5.00% 3.37% 155,337 3.32 9 -0.0510% 1,028.3
Interest Bearing 6.92% 5.72% 66,261 2.04 7 +0.2431% 1,019.3
Perpetual-Premium 5.07% 3.96% 221,242 4.18 49 -0.0143% 1,043.3
Perpetual-Discount 4.59% 4.63% 833,444 16.15 8 +0.0763% 1,038.9
Major Price Changes
Issue Index Change Notes
DFN.PR.A SplitShares -1.0476 These split-shares are non-callable, which is nice … they mature on Dec. 1, 2009, according to their prospectus. And at today’s closing bid of $10.39, they have a yield-to-maturity of 3.95% – equivalent to 5.53% interest for many investors. For a three-year fixed income instrument, that’s not bad!
BSD.PR.A InterestBearing +1.6393% These things have been bouncing around a lot lately, due to a combination of fear of the income-trusts that ultimately back the paper, and the upcoming retraction event.
TOC.PR.B FloatingRate +1.9208% A client of TD Securities appears to have completely lost his mind, as TDS was on the buy side of the last ten trades of this issue, starting with 100 at $26.00 at 10:32am and continuing until 2:26pm with a final buy of 1,000 shares at $26.49. These ten trades accounted for 4,350 of the 7,750 shares traded today; the issue closed at $26.00-40, 1×1, a substantial change from the $25.50 closing bid yesterday. These puppies pay 70% of prime on $25.00 face value, so $1.05 annually. I don’t get it. A floater isn’t even a money market instrument!
Volume Highlights
Issue Index Volume Notes
CM.PR.I PerpetualDiscount 98,143 The new issue continues to lead the volume list.
SLF.PR.D PerpetualDiscount 26,544 Still seem to be huge chunks of hot shares looking for a home!
BAM.PR.S InterestBearing 24,370 Called for redemption today, effective January 2, 2007.
TD.PR.M OpRet 18,200 Scotia crossed 12,500 at $27.49. At the closing bid of $27.45, these have a pre-tax YTW of 2.34%, based on a call 2009-5-30 … since this is only the equivalent of 3.26% on a bond, we will be charitable and assume the purchasers have good reason to think that it will last until its soft maturity 2013-10-30, when it will have yielded 3.17% pre-tax, interest equivalent of 4.44%, which is roughly maybe sorta equivalent to where TD bonds are trading institutionally. And who knows – maybe the purchasers will be right! Seems like a risky play to me, however, with no upside to compensate for the chance of an early call.
SLF.PR.A PerpetualPremium 14,775 Not the worst issue in town, with a pre-tax YTW of 4.42% based on a bid of $25.72 and a call at $25.00 2014-4-30. This is now ex-dividend, as today was the last day of trading cum-dividend. But I still say it’s expensive. And not just because they not only don’t post dividend information on their website, but use a service that doesn’t allow direct linking! Go to PRNewswire and search for “Sun Life” to verify dividend info, if you don’t trust me.

There were eight other index-included issues trading over 10,000 shares today.

Update, 2006-11-18: I stand corrected on my snarky comment about Sunlife and the alleged lack of preferred share information on their website – see the comments section. I will, however, say that this information is not as easy to find as it should be! “Shareholder FAQs”? What on earth is the information doing in “Shareholder FAQs”? I mean, especially since all the questions refer to preferred shares, why isn’t the information linked on the menu as “Preferred Shares”? And why aren’t there links to the prospectuses?

Yes, I made a mistake and maybe I’m being a little defensive. But they sure made it easy for the mistake to be made!