WAM Active Ltd (ASX: WAA) has had a stellar year and is rewarding its shareholders with a special dividend, pushing its total shareholder return for the year past 40%.
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Fund outperforms its benchmarks by a healthy margin
The fund said in a statement to the ASX that its investment portfolio increased by a record 75.5% in the year to the end of June, outperforming the Bloomberg AusBond Bank Bill Index (Cash) and the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Accumulation Index by 71.6% and 69.8%, respectively.
Chairman Geoff Wilson said regarding the result:
FY2026 is the strongest year in WAM Active's history since the Company was established in January 2008. This record result reflects the strength of WAM Active's disciplined and flexible investment strategy, outstanding stock selection and active portfolio management. We remained focused on delivering strong long term returns and a growing stream of fully franked dividends for shareholders.
The WAM board has declared a fully-franked final dividend of 3.2 cents per share and a special dividend of 2 cents per share.
The fund added:
Including the special fully franked dividend of 1.0 cents per share announced in January 2026, shareholders will receive total fully franked dividends for FY2026 of 9.4 cents per share. The investment portfolio performance, together with the fully franked dividends paid during the year, delivered a record total shareholder return of 40.2% for the year to 30 June 2026.
WAM said the total dividends for FY26 represented a fully-franked dividend yield of 8.6% and a grossed-up dividend yield of 12.3%.
Fund leans into key themes
The fund's lead portfolio manager, Oscar Oberg, said the fund's outperformance was driven by exposure to four key themes: critical minerals, electrification and grid infrastructure, precious metals, and artificial intelligence (AI).
He added:
Equity markets over the 2026 financial year were characterised by elevated volatility, rapid shifts in macroeconomic expectations and pronounced rotation across sectors and themes. Changes to interest rate outlooks, geopolitical developments and the accelerating AI adoption contributed to periods where company fundamentals were often overshadowed by broader market positioning. These conditions created dislocations across parts of the market, particularly in smaller and less well-covered companies, providing opportunities for the investment team to identify mispriced securities using WAM Active's market-driven approach.
Dividends are still on the table
The ex-dividend dates for the fund's ordinary dividend and special dividend are 17 November and 4 December, respectively.
WAM shares are changing hands for $1.12, up 36.2% over a 12-month period.
