L1 Long Short Fund Limited reported exceptional investment performance for the year ended 31 March 2026, delivering a net return of 44.7% to shareholders compared to the ASX200AI’s 11.7%. This significant outperformance extends across longer timeframes, with the fund generating 15.9% per annum over three years, 16.1% per annum over five years, and 13.5% per annum since its inception in April 2018. Against the same ASX200AI benchmark, these figures represent a material performance advantage of between 4.9 percentage points and 7 percentage points annually depending on the measurement period.
The company’s strong results underscore the effectiveness of its long-short investment strategy in delivering alpha across different market conditions. The substantial outperformance in the 12-month period to 31 March 2026 is particularly noteworthy given the strength of equity markets during that timeframe, suggesting the fund’s investment approach has successfully navigated the recent environment while maintaining its core strategy of generating returns less correlated with broader market movements.
The Board has complemented strong investment performance by establishing an increasingly generous dividend stream. The company shifted to a quarterly dividend structure in FY2026, declaring payments of 3.50 cents, 3.60 cents, and 3.70 cents per share in the first three quarters, with a further 4.50 cents per share announced for the August quarter. This represents a total of 10.80 cents for FY2026 to date, compared to 12.75 cents for the full FY2025, and all dividends are fully franked. This transition to quarterly distributions provides greater visibility to investors and reflects the company’s confidence in sustaining an expanding dividend stream across future periods.
The trajectory of dividend growth since the first distribution of 1.5 cents per share in February 2021 demonstrates consistent commitment to returning capital to shareholders. Investors now have the opportunity to participate in the company’s Dividend Reinvestment Plan, which allows shareholders to reinvest dividend payments without incurring brokerage or transaction costs. The plan permits flexibility to reinvest all or part of dividends and to opt in or out for individual payments. Shareholders wishing to include the upcoming 3.70 cents per share payment scheduled for 22 June 2026 must submit their DRP election by 3 June 2026 at 5.00 pm AEDT.
Looking ahead, investors should monitor the fund’s ability to sustain this level of outperformance across market cycles, as well as the company’s track record of expanding dividend distributions. This announcement has been flagged as price sensitive and material by the ASX.
View the full ASX announcement (PDF)
About L1 Long Short Fund Limited (ASX: LSF)
L1 Long Short Fund Limited is a listed investment company (LIC) listed on the Australian Securities Exchange that implements a long/short investment strategy. The fund aims to achieve strong, positive, risk-adjusted returns over the long term measured in Australian dollars whilst seeking to preserve shareholder capital. It operates as a closed-ended investment vehicle managed by L1 Capital, with assets under management of approximately 2.7 billion dollars.
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