AFIC’s international portfolio

During the 2020 AFIC AGM, they indicated, they were going to start investing internationally (other than New Zealand). This was an exciting announcements as they were probably running out of companies to invest in Australia.

In the recent FY21 Annual Report AFIC noted what their current International holdings were (see screenshot below):

AFIC’s international portfolio from their FY21 Annual Report, Page 69

My initial thoughts on the portfolio are:

• Great to see Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, Facebook & Microsoft;

• Interesting to only see PepsiCo and not Coke;

• Unilever but no Proctor and Gamble;

• No Tesla - obviously not a risk taker;

• Nvidia & Intel have been left out which I thought was a little disappointing;

• No airlines or oil and gas operators (Exxon, BP etc) - probably a smart call these days;

• Aena - seems like a play similar to Sydney Airport;

• No United Health Care which is interesting because I would have thought that was a good steady longterm hold;

• Ferguson seems very similar to their Reece play.

Overall it seems like a safe, conservative start for AFIC in their international portfolio. I would have liked a few risky bets like Tesla, but I can understand why they’ve gone for the “high quality currently” strategy.

They also noted in the Annual report they might look to spin this off into its own listed investment company in the future. But for now they’re keeping it within AFIC.

Link to the annual report: AFIC FY21 Annual Report