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South Carolina Intermediate Tax-Free Fund

Mutual Funds

South Carolina Intermediate Tax-Free Fund


Fund Managers

Photo of Robert  Millikan

Robert Millikan, CFA®

Photo of Michael  McVicker

Michael McVicker

Overview

C
Shares

BSCCX

Inception
Date

02.01.2012

Investment
Min.

$1,000

Subsequent
Investment Min.1

N/A

Max. Up Front
Sales Charge

N/A

Max. Deferred
Sales Charge

1%

1If subsequent investments are made as part of an AIP, the minimum is $25.

Philosophy & Process

The Fund seeks current income exempt from federal and South Carolina income taxes consistent with preservation of capital.

In managing the Fund, the team specializes in actively building and managing a high credit quality fixed income portfolio focused on the intermediate segment of the yield curve offering. The team employs a top-down investment process that focuses on: duration management, yield curve strategy and finding the best relative value with limited amount of risk in order to maximize the risk-adjusted total return.

Buy Strategy: We buy high quality, liquid issues and seek the best relative sector and security values available. We attempt to maximize total return and current income while reducing price volatility.

Sell Strategy: We will consider selling a security we own in order to reposition the Fund along the yield curve and adjust the Fund's average maturity or duration. In addition, we might replace a security with one that offers greater potential for total return or when its credit fundamentals are deteriorating.

Investment Considerations

The funds are subject to the same risks as the underlying bonds in the portfolios such as credit, prepayment and interest rate risk. As interest rates rise, the value of bond prices will decline and an investor may lose money. The funds are non-diversified and may invest a greater percentage of its assets in a single issuer than funds that are more diversified. Furthermore, the funds invest primarily in state-specific municipal obligations of issuers and therefore will be affected by economic, political or other events affecting municipal issuers.

Fund Facts

Term Class A Shares Class C Shares Class I Shares
Ticker BASCXBSCCXBSCIX
Inception Date 10.20.199702.01.201210.20.1997
Investment Min. $1,000$1,000$1,000,000
Subsequent Investment Min.2 N/AN/AN/A
Max. Up Front Sales Charge 2%N/AN/A
Max. Deferred Sales Charge N/A1%N/A

2If subsequent investments are made as part of an AIP, the minimum is $25.

South Carolina Intermediate Tax-Free Fund

Management

View professional designations disclosures

Photo of Robert  Millikan

Robert Millikan, CFA®

Co-Portfolio Manager

Photo of Michael  McVicker

Michael McVicker

Co-Portfolio Manager

Performance

Fund Performance as of 06.30.2023

Term QTR YTD 1 Year 3 Years 5 Years 10 Years Since Inception
A Shares with 2.00% Sales Charge -2.76% -1.03% -0.61% -1.89% 0.65% 1.35% 3.11%
A Shares without Sales Charge -0.75% 0.95% 1.47% -1.23% 1.06% 1.55% 3.18%
Institutional Shares -0.69% 1.08% 1.82% -0.97% 1.32% 1.80% 3.41%
Lipper Other States Intermediate Municipal Median -0.53% 1.31% 1.93% -1.14% 1.14% 1.69% N/A

The total expense ratios for Class A, C and I Shares are 0.81%, 1.56% and 0.56%, respectively.

Past performance does not guarantee future results. The performance data quoted represents past performance and current returns may be lower or higher. The investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than the original cost. To obtain performance information current to the most recent month end, please visit the performance summary.

The performance of the South Carolina Intermediate Tax-Free Fund reflects the deduction of fees for value-added services associated with a mutual fund, such as investment management and fund accounting fees. The inception date for Class A Shares is 10.20.1997. The inception date for Class C Shares is 02.01.2012. The inception date for Class Inst'l Shares is 10.20.1997. Performance reflects 12b-1 fees and applicable expenses. Performance for Class C Shares for periods prior to inception is based on the performance of Class A Shares of the Fund. The performance shown reflects the reinvestment of all dividend and capital gains distributions.

Characteristics

Quality Breakdown as of 06.30.2023

Credit quality ratings using Moody's rating symbols reflect the credit quality of the underlying bonds in the fund portfolio and not of the Fund itself. Moody's assigns a range of ratings from AAA being the highest quality to C being the lowest rated class of bonds. Securities not rated by Moody's may be rated by S&P, Fitch or if no agency rating is available, the Fund will assign a rating of not rated. Bond quality ratings are subject to change.

Effective Duration Breakdown as of 06.30.2023

Name Value
0-1 Yr. 6.0
1-2 Yr. 12.0
2-3 Yr. 10.0
3-5 Yr. 30.0
5-10 Yr. 35.0
10+ Yrs. 5.0

Current and future portfolio holdings are subject to change and risk. Based on Market Value of securities.

Summary Statistics as of 06.30.2023

Name Value
Number of Holdings 34
Average Life 6.57 Years
Effective Duration 4.63 Years
Annual Turnover 14%

Portfolio Composition as of 06.30.2023

Composition Fund Index
General Obligation 29.9% 28.8%
Pre-Refunded 3.1% 3.3%
Revenue 63.8% 67.8%
[Cash] 3.2% 0.0%

Top Ten Holdings as of 06.30.2023

# Company Name Value
1 Orangeburg Cty SC Facs Corp Inst Pur Rev 5.0% 1-12-29 4.37%
2 Brookland Cayce SC Sch Dist No 002 5.0% 1-3-30 4.05%
3 Richland Cty SC 5.0% 1-3-30 3.72%
4 S Carolina St 5.0% 1-4-30 3.63%
5 Mt Pleasant SC 5.0% 1-6-30 3.52%
6 Lugoff-Elgin Wtr Auth SC Wtrwks Sys Rev 5.0% 1-7-30 3.24%
7 Spartanburg Cty SC Sch Dist No 005 5.0% 1-3-37 3.19%
8 Columbia SC Wtrwks & Swr Sys Rev 5.25% 1-2-52 3.16%
9 Charleston SC Wtrwks & Swr Rev 5.0% 1-1-38 3.12%
10 Spartanburg Cty SC Sch Dist No 004 5.0% 1-3-40 3.12%

Current and future portfolio holdings are subject to change and risk. Based on Market Value of securities.

Growth of $10,000 as of 06.30.2023

The Growth of $10,000 is hypothetical based upon the performance of net A Shares at NAV for the period ended 06.30.2023. It includes the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains.

Distribution

Monthly Dividend Distribution as of 08.31.2023

Month Class A Shares Class C Shares Class Inst'l Shares
August 2023 $0.0187 $0.0120 $0.0207
July 2023 $0.0183 $0.0117 $0.0204
June 2023 $0.0169 $0.0104 $0.0189
May 2023 $0.0174 $0.0107 $0.0195
April 2023 $0.0165 $0.0099 $0.0185
March 2023 $0.0175 $0.0108 $0.0196
February 2023 $0.0152 $0.0091 $0.0172
January 2023 $0.0166 $0.0098 $0.0187
December 2022 $0.0156 $0.0088 $0.0177
November 2022 $0.0149 $0.0085 $0.0169
October 2022 $0.0154 $0.0089 $0.0175
September 2022 $0.0157 $0.0090 $0.0177

30-Day SEC Yield as of 08.31.2023

Share Class Without Waivers With Waivers
Class A 3.07% 3.10%
Class C 2.38% 2.41%
Class I 3.39% 3.42%

Fixed Income Funds

Insights

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09.21.2023 • Andrew Richman, CTFA

Fed Reiterates-Higher for Longer

While the Federal Reserve (Fed) met expectations with a pause/skip this meeting, the real story was the upward movement in both the Fed Funds rate this year and next year. The consensus is now for one more 25 basis point hike in 2023 with the Fed funds rate median at 5.60%.

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09.07.2023 • Shane Burke

An Updated Look at the FOMC and Yield Curve

An Updated Look at the FOMC and Yield Curve

09.06.2023 • Charles Wittmann, CFA®

The Lead - "Balancing Yield"

- One of the risks in seeking higher dividend yields in non-financial companies can be the increased balance sheet leverage that correlates with higher dividend yield. - For many companies, the cost of this leverage is rising with interest rates, potentially placing pressure on cash flows to pay future dividends as interest expense may take a greater share of corporate cash flow. - We believe that owning stocks with strong balance sheets has the potential to minimize this risk as we endeavor to generate attractive above-average total returns with below-average risk for clients.

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08.02.2023 • Andrew Richman, CTFA

Fitch Lowers Long-Term U.S. Debt Rating from AAA to AA+

Fitch Lowers Long-Term U.S. Debt Rating from AAA to AA+

08.01.2023 • Charles Wittmann, CFA®

The Lead - "Long-Term Dividends"

- What are the investing environment conditions that can cause dividend payers to lag on a short-term basis? - Looking back at Bloomberg data over the past twenty years, when dividend payers outperformed the Russell 1000 Value, non-earners underperformed and vice versa (56% of the time). - Over the twenty year period, dividend payer’s quarterly outperformance outweighed underperformance in contrast to non-earners. - In our quest to generate above-average returns with below-average risk for our clients, our approach is to take advantage of the long-term benefits of dividend payers that grow their dividends and seek to create value now and in the future.

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07.25.2023 • Andrew DiZio, CFA®

Real Estate Returns Following Fed Rate Hike Cycles

Over the last 15 months, the Federal Reserve (Fed) has meaningfully raised the benchmark fed funds rate in an effort to tamp down inflation. The Fed paused its hiking campaign during the June meeting, but issued an outlook suggesting additional rate increases are to be expected. Regardless of whether the Fed has finished raising rates, we believe the end of the tightening cycle is near and view now as a prudent time to examine the performance of Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) stocks following historical periods of fed funds increases.

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