The City of North Battleford鈥檚 investment portfolio was a key topic at a presentation before city council Monday.
Council heard from Jerrod Schafer and Brendon Boothman of RBC Wealth Management about the investment portfolio and strategy of the city; Schafer is also a former mayor of the City of Swift Current. In particular, council learned about where the city鈥檚 portfolio stood as of this month.
The good news for the city is that their investment portfolio, which they started in 2018, is in positive territory despite all the negative stock market swings that took place this year due to COVID-19.
Here is how the portfolio looks for the City of North Battleford based on the presentation Monday:
As of Dec. 8, the short term pool was $8,929,702.31, which has grown considerably over the past little while. This is described as money in and money out. It consisting of $1,271,665.90 in cash equivalents (interest savings), and $7,658,046.341 in a Global Short Maturity Bond pool. It has grown 1.15 per cent since its inception.
The city鈥檚 Long Term Pool account stands at $10,637,337.45 as of Dec. 8. The original investment was $10.5 million so it has grown since then. The current asset mix consists of 37.5 percent Cash and Fixed Income and 62.5 percent Global Equity diversified by professional portfolio managers around the world.
As of Dec. 8, 2020 the Year to Date return is 9.12 per cent year to Date Return (2020) and 6.65 per cent since its inception (May 17, 2018).
While 2018 was a down year for returns in global equity markets, 2019 was a strong year and 2020 was all over the map, said Schafer. 鈥淎 little better than six-and-a-half percent is a resounding success for the citizens of North Battleford 鈥�
It was noted there has been over $1.6 million of investment return and $1,559,428.85 withdrawn from the long term pool and either added to the short term pool or taken back by the city for use within the budget since inception.
