Progress in managing PFAS has been delayed by fragmented efforts, unclear regulations, high costs, limited treatment options, and the need to keep customer bills low. These challenges have made it difficult for water utilities to justify and implement PFAS solutions in their filings. As detailed in our recently released white paper, regulatory developments in the US and UK have instigated a step change in water sector investment needs for PFAS monitoring and reduction technologies over the next 4-5 year

Another strong quarter and another intra-period record high for both the Australian market (S&P/ASX 300 Total Return Index) as well as the NASDAQ Composite and the S&P 500. The two major features of the market this past quarter have been the debate around the timing and size of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, and the Australian reporting season.

Getting out of the office to meet management teams and conduct site tours is one of the most engaging and essential responsibilities for the investment team. Georgia and Steve’s recent visit to the 407 Express Toll Route (ETR) toll road in Toronto, Canada, reinforced our view that toll roads are more than just bond proxies; they highlight how concession infrastructure can provide exposure to economic growth and can create value even when interest rates are rising.

The Maple-Brown Abbott Global Listed Infrastructure (GLI) team has long held that data center companies do not exhibit the requisite “core” characteristics of infrastructure, namely due to lower barriers to entry, higher competition and typically shorter contract lengths relative to other “core” sectors. We believe data centers offer inadequate inflation protection, higher cash flow volatility, and better align with real estate or "core-plus" infrastructure rather than core infrastructure.

Visiting company management and touring infrastructure provides invaluable insights into management practices, highlights potential opportunities and enriches our ESG engagement efforts.

It is hard to overstate the impact of Nvidia and its cohort on the market and related sentiment, however we believe Australian equities do not have the same driving factors as the US. Nonetheless, in our view the local bourse has a level of valuation excess, with the recent Guzman y Gomez float providing a fascinating insight into valuation extremes.

Global listed infrastructure can offer investors stable, reliable investment returns at relatively attractive valuations. Many infrastructure assets are also currently benefitting from some major global growth themes such as digitisation, decarbonisation and electrification.

The nexus between organisational culture and company financial performance makes sense: when people feel cared for and invested in, it often results in higher employee performance, better decision-making and lower incidences of unethical behaviour. As an investor with a deeply integrated approach to ESG, we pay particular attention to culture – including short term signals to help avoid share price underperformance – when assessing and engaging with companies.

Recent research trips to the US and New Zealand highlighted the global reach of the Australian small cap cohort, and yielded vastly different reports on sentiment and fundamentals. The market contrasts underscore the benefits of actively managing an ‘all weather’ bottom-up portfolio comprised of stocks that rank well based on earnings delivery, business sustainability factors and risk measures.