Matthew answers questions on STI ETF (Part 2).

Thank You and Matthew Seah for the help! Appreciate it  I still have a few more questions to ask regarding STI ETFs which would require Matthew's or your help.  

SPDR STI: 

1) Matthew mentioned that "It is wrong to say that they paid $12M when they had $5M in cash. What you see as cash is only a snap shot “at 30 June 2015”. What has been paid out is cash they had previously from dividends collected over the six months prior, less management fees. " Based on this, am i right to say that net income would be a better gauge to determine whether the fund is paying dividends more than it can afford?

2) There is a significant increase in liabilities in 2013 due to purchases awaiting settlements. What purchases did they make? And how did they manage to pay off such a large amount by 2014? 

3) There is a change in source of credit rating in 2015. And the rating as a result improved from B*- to AA-. Did they change the rating source in order to improve their credit rating? Is this a source of concern?

Nikko AM STI:

1) Why is there suddenly an amount due to shareholder in 2015 under payable? 

2) The tracking error provided by nikko am is on a 3year annualised basis while for spdr, it is based on rolling 1year tracking error. Is it fair to compare this 2 tracking error directly? Is it sufficient to just look at the current tracking error in the fact sheet or should i look for past years tracking error of both ETFs? Where can i find past years tracking error of both ETFs? It wasn't in the annual report.

General: 

1) Would my returns be better if i chose to start DCA under a RSP plan when the index is cheaper as compared to when the index is higher?

Thank you and looking forward to your reply! 

From Matthew Seah:

SPDR STI 1) yes
2) The only liabilities the fund has is payables. Payables come mainly in the form of cash due to the brokerage at T+3. Since STI ETF is a cash ETF, they would have sufficient cash before purchasing the STI components.
3) you can review the credit ratings at http://investors.statestreet.com/CustomPage/Index?KeyGenPage=302726

Nikko AM STI ETF
1) Distribution payable is the cumulative dividends, less fees collected to be distributed to shareholders on a semi annual basis.
Are special dividends from any STI components? Is there a change in dividend yield when there is a switch of a STI component?
2) I am not sure where to find tracking error. But you can calculate by yourself.using excel and historical data for STI, SPDR and Nikko AM ETFs. The tracking error is generally very low and is not much of a concern.

General
1)http://singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.sg/2013/08/tea-with-matthew-seah-dollar-cost.html
read the comments as well for the Nikko AM STI ETF simulator
one ETF starts before the great financial crisis, the other starts near the bottom



Related post:
Matthew answers questions on SPDR STI ETF.