Johnson Municipal Income Fund

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The goal of our Municipal Quality Core Fixed Income strategy is to outperform the Bloomberg AA Muni Index over a full market cycle. The strategy focuses on generating federally tax-free income which can help investors meet income goals and diversify portfolio risks. Our disciplined process seeks to consistently outperform the Bloomberg AA Muni Index without incurring unnecessary risks in the portfolio over time. Our goal is to deliver excess returns with comparable overall volatility to the market, and greater downside risk protection during difficult market periods.

Strategy Overview

The strategy focuses on federally tax-free, investment-grade municipal bonds with no security level maturity limitations. Our primary objective is to seek to outperform the market with comparable volatility by utilizing our proprietary and unique Quality Yield approach and the deep experience and continuity of our investment team.

The strategy maintains a preference for states with sound financials and demographics that offer spread to the municipal yield curve, avoiding states with elevated debt levels and/or in fundamental decline. Some income may be subject to state and local taxes.

Investment Philosophy

Johnson believes that bonds should offer investors reliability, especially during periods of economic and market stress. We believe combining both Quality and Yield may contribute to superior risk-adjusted returns. As a result, our strategy employs a quality yield approach.

Portfolio Overview

The cornerstone of our approach is to maintain a core portfolio of high-coupon, stable-revenue bonds with a focus on maturities across the yield curve. Decisions are made with respect to sector allocation, yield curve positioning, security structure, and issue selection that seek to capture the relative value of the bond market for client portfolios.

Investment Guidelines

  • Benchmark: Bloomberg Municipal AA Index
  • 100% federally tax-exempt securities
  • High-quality focus on primarily A+ or better rated issuers
  • Duration between 80% - 120% of benchmark (105% normal)
  • Diversification by sector, issuer and maturity
  • Generally, avoid stadium, airport, project–specific IDRs, tobacco, and AMT bonds
  • No derivatives, no junk, no foreign currency exposure
Emilia Connor-Brady
Meet the Portfolio Manager

Emilia J. Connor-Brady, CFA, CAIA

Emilia joined Johnson Asset Management in 2018 and is a Portfolio Manager. Prior to joining the Johnson team, she worked at Fund Evaluation Group as a Fixed Income and Diversifying Strategies Analyst intern. Prior to that position, Emilia was a Business Process Analyst intern at the Business Backer. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Cincinnati in 2018, and her Master’s of Science degree in Finance with S.T.E.M. designation from the University of Cincinnati in 2019. Emilia holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA®) and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designations.

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Fixed Income

We implement our proprietary Quality Yield investment approach across our suite of duration mandates with the objective of outperforming the market while maintaining a focus on downside risk management and comparable volatility.

Equity

Johnson Asset Management offers both enhanced return index capabilities and active equity solutions. We implement a repeatable and disciplined process that seeks to optimize return per unit of risk.

Mutual Funds

Johnson Asset Management’s Fixed Income and Equity solutions are accessible through our competitively priced mutual funds, which we have been providing institutional clients since 2000.

Disclaimer:

Investors should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of the Fund(s) before investing. The prospectus contains this and other information about the Fund(s) and should be read carefully before investing. The prospectus may be obtained at www.johnsonmutualfunds.com, or by calling, 800-541-0170, or 513-661-3100. Distributed by Ultimus Fund Distributors, LLC, Member FINRA/SIPC. Johnson Asset Management and Johnson Investment Counsel, Inc, are not a?liated with Ultimus Fund Distributors, LLC.

Investing involves risk including the possible loss of principal. 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 their original cost.

Diversification does not ensure a profit or guarantee against loss.

Municipal bond fund income may be subject to state and local income taxes and the alternative minimum tax. Capital gains, if any, will be subject to capital gains tax. Investments in municipal bonds are subject to interest rate risk, or the risk that the bonds will decline in value because of changes in market interest rates. Municipal bonds are also subject to call risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, below investment grade securities risk, and interest rate futures risk. A fund that invests primarily in instruments issued by or on behalf of one state will generally be more volatile and loss of principal could be greater due to state specific risk. In general, as prevailing interest rates rise, fixed income securities prices will fall. The Adviser primarily invests in Ohio municipal securities that provide income that is exempt from both Ohio and regular federal income tax." "Income from compounding is not guaranteed, and past distributions do not guarantee future payments. Bond laddering and yield-curve roll strategies do not ensure a profit, protect against market loss, or guarantee lower volatility. Stable-revenue bonds are subject to credit and liquidity risks, and fund shares are not guaranteed. The dividends and capital gain distributions you receive from the fund are subject to federal income taxes and may also be subject to state and local taxes. Because the fund invests primarily in bonds from the State of Ohio, it is particularly sensitive to political and economic factors that negatively affect Ohio.

Please refer to the prospectus for each fund's specific risks.

Definitions:

S&P 500 Index: An index of 500 leading U.S. public companies that is commonly used to represent the performance of the large-cap U.S. stock market.

Bloomberg US Intermediate Government/Credit Index: An index of investment-grade U.S. government and corporate bonds with intermediate-term maturities

Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index: A broad-based benchmark that measures the performance of the U.S. investment-grade taxable bond market, including government, corporate, mortgage-backed, and asset-backed securities.

ICE BofA US Govt & Corp 1-3 Yr Index: An index that measures the performance of U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade government and corporate bonds with remaining maturities between one and three years.

Russell 2500 Index: A market capitalization-weighted index that measures the performance of small- and mid-cap U.S. companies, representing approximately the 2,500 smallest companies in the Russell 3000 Index.